Building and Maintenance
| Fighting fire |
|
|
|
| Written by Joanne Gualda, Group Marketing Director, Bagnalls, 2008 | |
|
Following the implementation of the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order in 2006, fire protection has become a crucial consideration during a refurbishment project. Joanne Gualda of Bagnalls outlines the legislation, and describes how the use of a flame-retardant paint system can help to ensure the highest level of fire protection.
The latest fire statistics report published by Communities and Local Government states that in 2006 32,900 fires were recorded in the UK in buildings other than dwellings.
Table 1. Fires by building type - 2006. Source: Fire Statistics, United Kingdom 2006.[1] Latest legislationThe new requirements mean that those responsible for any premises 'where people gather' or go to work are held accountable for managing any fire risk within the property. This covers nearly every type of building, except for private homes and individual flats in a block or house. However, communal areas in multi-occupancy residential properties will be subject to the legislation. Furthermore, the legislation states that those responsible for these premises must take all reasonable steps to reduce the risk of fire and ensure that people can safely escape in the event of an evacuation. This includes everyone who uses the premises, as well as those in the immediate vicinity, who might also be at risk. The current legislation affects all areas of fire safety within a building and there is much to take on board to ensure the regulations are met. However, by utilising the wealth of support and expertise available from paint manufacturers and decorating contractors, as well as government publications and fire safety consultants, ensuring a completed refurbishment project complies with legislation can be much more straightforward. A helping handThe Department for Communities and Local Government has produced a series of 12 guides, all aimed at different building usage, such as residential care and sleeping accommodation, each detailing the procedure for carrying out a risk assessment, broken down into five stages. The first step is to identify fire hazards, and this is broken down into three further sections: sources of ignition, sources of fuel and sources of oxygen. When referring to sources of fuel, the guides specifically refer to "materials used to line walls and ceilings" as a potential source of fuel for fire. They also state that additional finishes, for example decorative paint, applied to these surfaces can be detrimental to fire performance. However, one way of improving fire safety in any building is to protect interior wall and ceiling surfaces with a specialist flame-retardant paint system. An ideal solutionMany communal areas have years of paint build-up due to cyclical maintenance programmes and over-painting high graffiti areas. This repeated painting often means that the original Class 0 fire rating of a surface (as defined in Section B2 of Approved Document B of the UK Building Regulations) will be reduced to Class 2 or worse. However, painted surfaces can be brought back into the highest category of fire protection, Class 0, without removing the existing paint, saving money and time. Flame-retardant paint systems provide fire protection through the combination of intumescent basecoats, finishes and anti-graffiti glazes. The systems, when applied at the specified spreading rates, effectively slow down the spread of flame by eliminating one or more of the three elements required to perpetuate fire growth - heat, oxygen and fuel. An intumescent basecoat, for example, is used to coat new combustible surfaces such as timber-based boards, and previously decorated non-combustible substrates that have multiple layers of conventional paint. Formulated to restrict the fuel available to feed a fire by swelling to give a foamed carbon char, the basecoat insulates and protects the underlying combustible substrate, reducing its temperature rise and risk of ignition. An intumescent basecoat must be used with a flame-retardant finish to provide a further barrier to the underlying substrate. At the elevated temperatures of a fire, the finish produces a char reaction that creates a non-flammable gas - this dilutes the amount of oxygen available for combustion, and thus restricts fire growth. On both new and some previously painted non-combustible substrates, a flame-retardant finish can be used in isolation to provide exceptional fire protection and bring the surface into the highest-rated fire protection bracket. An outbreak of fire can put anyone in a vulnerable position and it is crucial to ensure adequate protection to allow time to escape. The correct application of flame-retardant paints is one way of slowing the spread of flame, creating crucial extra time for people to escape to safety. While helping to deliver exceptional performance against flame spread, flame-retardant systems have also been developed to incorporate aspects such as anti-graffiti protection. Available in a wide palette of colours, and designed to provide a durable, high-performance finish, these systems enable the creation of environment that is safe and secure for building users, as well as aesthetically pleasing. Raising performanceAn example of a flame-retardant paint system being used to protect vulnerable groups was its specification during the redecoration of communal areas at Newton House, a residential scheme managed by Chester and District Housing Trust (CDHT). To determine what was required to bring the communal areas in line with the legislation, a careful assessment of existing paintwork was carried out and a personalised technical specification created. The essential requirement of the redecoration programme was to achieve the Class 0 rating needed for circulation areas and escape routes. To meet these demands, a flame-retardant paint system was used in communal areas and corridors in order to slow the potential spread of flame in the event of a fire, giving residents and staff extra time to evacuate. This solution has had a positive impact on the standard of housing at Newton House, and has been replicated throughout all CHDT properties. Within just 18 months, the Audit Commission - the organisation tasked with measuring landlords' performance - returned a much improved inspection report, which raised the Trust's rating from 'no star, poor service' to 'two stars, excellent'. Fire (Scotland) Act 2005The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 is not applicable in Scotland, which has its own legislation created by the Scottish Executive. As with the English and Welsh version, the Fire (Scotland) Act 2005 supersedes all former legislation and places responsibility upon an identified 'responsible person'. Also in common with the English version, the legislation came into effect on 1 October 2006. At present, Scottish fire safety legislation is supported by nine sector-specific guides. The absence of an appropriate sector guide, however, does not remove the obligation to carry out the required fire risk assessment. The two Scottish guides that address sleeping accommodation differ significantly from the one guide that covers England and Wales. Currently, Scottish legislation states that a fire risk assessment must be carried out within all areas of a building, rather than just the communal areas, as is the case in the rest of the UK. More information on the Fire (Scotland) Act 2005 and the available guides can be found at www.infoscotland.com/firelaw Reference 1. Produced by Communities and Local Government. Published 30 May 2008. Further informationJoanne Gualda Group Marketing Director Bagnalls Tel: 01274 714800 Fax: 01274 530171 To find out more about the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, and to access the guides offering advice, visit www.communities.gov.uk |
| < Prev |
|---|
