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All About Fire Safety and Evacuation Plans
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What is a fire safety plan?
What is an evacuation plan?
What to include in a fire safety plan
Use of fire safety plans
Fire safety plans and the fire code.
Who is responsible for having a fire safety plan
List of buildings required to have a fire safety plan in Ontario
Ethical considerations of fire safety
Professional Fire Safety Plan Design Service
What is a fire safety plan?
A fire safety plan is required by all North American national, state and provincial fire codes based on building use or occupancy types. The owner of the building is responsible for the preparation of a fire safety plan. After the plan has been prepared, it must be submitted to the Chief Fire Official or authority having jurisdiction for approval. Once approved, the owner is responsible for implementing the fire safety plan and training all staff in their duties. It is also the owner’s responsibility to ensure that all visitors and staff are informed of what to do in case of fire. During a fire emergency, a copy of the approved fire safety plan must be available for the responding fire departments to use.
What is an evacuation plan?
Evacuation plans may be included in a fire safety plan. Evacuation plans use safety signage, emergency lighting and emergency communication systems to increase the speed of evacuation for building occupants in situations where seconds count. Emergency evacuation maps show where the primary and secondary exits are located, and the quickest routes to use when exiting a particular building location.
What's in a fire safety plan
- Key contact information
- Utility services shut-off valves for water, gas and electric
- Access issues
- Dangerous stored materials
- Location of people with special needs
- Connections to sprinkler system
- Layout, drawing, and site plan of building
- Maintenance schedules for life safety systems
- Personnel training and fire drill procedures
Use of fire safety plans
According to FEMA, 8 percent of all fire fighter deaths in 2009 occurred due to a structural collapse or because the fire fighter got lost. One fire fighter fatality occurred when water was inappropriately used to extinguish a burning garbage dumpster resulting in an explosion. [1] Using fire safety plans, fire fighters can locate potential dangers or areas that may require specialized fire suppression such as hazardous material storage areas, flammable chemicals or radiation dangers. Fire safety plans can outline any possible structural hazards, as well as give the fire fighter knowledge of where he is in the building.
Fire safety plans in the fire code
Fire safety plans are required for all buildings which fit the fire code occupancy type, such as commercial, industrial, multi-unit residential, and places of assembly. Not having a fire safety plan for buildings can result in a fine.
Ontario Fire Code - Div. B, 2.8.1.1.(1)
The
requirements of this Section shall apply to buildings containing
(a) assembly occupancy or care or detention occupancy,
(b) residential occupancy where the occupant load exceeds 10,
(c) business and personal services occupancy where the occupant load
exceeds
300,
(d) mercantile occupancy where the occupant load exceeds 300,
(e) high hazard industrial occupancy where the occupant load exceeds 25,
(f) medium hazard industrial occupancy where the occupant load exceeds
100, or
(g) low hazard industrial occupancy where the occupant load exceeds 300.
The Fire Code requires the owner to be responsible for carrying out the provisions for fire safety, and defines “owner” as “any person, firm or corporation having control over any portion of the building or property under consideration and includes the persons in the building or property”. The owner may be any one of or a combination of parties, such as building management, maintenance staff, or tenant groups.
List of building occupancy types requiring a fire safety plan
Residential
Apartments, Boarding houses, Residential Clubs , Residential Colleges,
Convents, Dormitories, Hotels, Lodging houses, Monasteries, Motels and
Residential Schools
Retail
Department stores, Exhibition halls, Markets, Shops, Stores and
Supermarkets
Business and Personal Services
Banks, Barber and Hairdressing shops, Beauty shops, Laundries self
service, Medical offices, Dry cleaning establishments self-service not
using flammable or explosive solvents or cleaners, Offices, Police
stations without detention quarters, Radio stations, Small tool rental and
service establishments, Appliance rental and service establishments.
Industrial
High Hazard
Bulk plants for flammable liquids, Bulk storage warehouses for hazardous
substances, Distilleries, Cereal Mills, Chemical manufacturing or
processing plants, Dry cleaning plants, Feed mills, Flour mills, Grain
elevators, Lacquer factories, Mattress factories, Paint Varnish and
pyroxylin product factories, Rubber processing plants, Spray painting
operations and Waste paper processing plants.
Medium Hazard
Aircraft hangers, Box factories, Candy plants, Cold storage plants,
Electrical substations, Dry cleaning establishments not using flammable or
explosive solvents or cleaners, Factories, Freight depots, Helicopter
landing areas on roofs, Laboratories, Laundries except self-service,
Mattress factories, Planning mills, Printing plants, Repair garages,
Salesrooms, Workshops, Television studios not admitting a viewing
audience, Warehouse, Wholesale rooms and Woodworking factories.
Low Hazard
Creameries, Factories, Laboratories, Power plants, Salesrooms, Sample
display rooms, Workshops, Storage garages including open air parking
garages, Storage rooms and Warehouses.
Health Care and Custodial
Children’s custodial homes, Convalescent homes, Hospitals, Infirmaries,
Nursing homes, Orphanages, Psychiatric hospitals without detention
quarters, Reformatories without detention quarters and Sanatoria without
detention quarters.
Detention Occupancies
Jails, Penitentiaries, Police stations with detention quarters, Prisons,
Reformatories with detention quarters and Psychiatric hospitals with
detention quarters.
Buildings of Assembly
Motion picture theatres, Opera houses, Television studios admitting a
viewing audience and Theatres including experimental theatres.
Art galleries, Auditoria, Bowling alleys, Churches and similar places of
worship, Clubs non-residential, Community halls, Courtrooms, Dance halls,
Exhibition halls, Gymnasia, Lecture halls, Libraries, Licensed beverage
establishments, Museums, Passenger stations and depots, Recreational
piers, Restaurants, Undertaking premises and Schools and colleges
non-residential.
Arenas, Indoor swimming pools with or without spectator seating and Rinks.
Amusement park structures, Bleachers, Grandstands, Reviewing stands and
Stadiums.
Ethical Considerations
A basic human right is the right of personal safety. In North America, there are millions of buildings that legally require a fire safety plan. Buildings are generally added to the local fire authority's database when a business license or certificate of occupancy is issued. Legally, it is the owner's responsibility to create, maintain and implement the required fire safety plan even if the premises are unknown to the fire authority. But sometimes, due to changes in building usage and unlicensed usage of premises, not all buildings required to have fire plans come to the attention of inspectors. And sometimes, although a fire safety plan may have been filed with the fire department, it might not be updated after renovations. Fire safety planning where building owners are proactive, because people's lives are at stake, benefits us all, with peace of mind in public spaces and lower insurance premiums.
Professional Fire Safety Plans
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