New educational facilities must always employ fire alarm monitoring in accordance with 9.6.4 (14.3.4.3.2). For more detail on what “in accordance with 9.6.3” means, check out that section NFPA 101 and/or review part one in this series.Įducational occupancies may also use a positive alarm sequence (outlined in section 9.6.3.4), which allows for a slight delay between alarm initiation and occupant notification. Overall, occupant notification “shall be accomplished automatically in accordance with 9.6.3” and “shall utilize an emergency voice/alarm communication system in accordance with 9.6.3 where the building has an occupant load of more than 100” (14.3.4.3.1.1 and 14.3.4.3.1.2). New facilities don’t get this provision.ġ5.3.4.2.1(2) In buildings where all normally occupied spaces are provided with a two-way communication system between such spaces and a constantly attended receiving station from where a general evacuation alarm can be sounded, the manual fire alarm boxes shall not be required, except in locations specifically designated by the authority having jurisdiction. When provided, an automatic sprinkler system that activates must also activate the fire alarm system (14.3.4.2.2 and 15.3.4.2.2).Įxisting educational occupancies may also forgo manual alarm boxes in classrooms where a two-way PA system is available to notify an on-site, constantly supervised location that can contact emergency forces. If the building is protected throughout with an approved sprinkler system, NFPA 101 allows for the exclusion of manual boxes as long as a provision is made to activate the fire alarm system at a central point (14.3.4.2.3.2 and 15.3.4.2.3.2). Some exceptions can be applied, such as in 14.3.4.1.2 and 15.3.4.1.2, for smaller, single-classroom buildings.Īlarms should initiate by manual fire alarm boxes – commonly called pull stations (14.3.4.2.1 and 15.3.4.2.1) but the code allows for the exclusion of manual boxes in some spaces (such as laboratories and cafeterias) serviced by an automatic sprinkler system or other detection devices (14.3.4.2.3.1 and 15.3.4.2.3.1). Educational occupanciesįor both new and existing educational occupancies, NFPA 101 requires fire alarm systems (14.3.4.1.1 and 15.3.4.1.1). A facility housing at least one person under restraint is a detention and correctional occupancy (6.1.7.1). NFPA 101 states that a facility where six or more people up to grade 12 receive instruction for four or more hours a day is considered an educational occupancy (6.1.3.1). The video below can help clarify which code to apply to your building:įire alarm requirements for educational and detention and correctional occupanciesĮducational and detention and correctional occupancies have similar requirements for alarms and their monitoring. NFPA 101 also distinguishes between new and existing structures and applies different codes to each of them. In this scenario, each occupancy is separated by fire barriers, resulting in distinctly separate spaces with different alarm requirements. Last, there is a “ separated occupancy” (6.1.14.4). Section 6.1.14.3 allows for a “ mixed occupancy” approach, where the most restrictive requirements of the occupancies involved are typically applied to all of them. An example of this is a small mercantile gift shop in a hotel.įor scenarios involving the coexistence of larger occupancies, the code has two general approaches. Some occupancies are considered an “ incidental occupancy” to the predominant occupancy, and they can be treated as part of that larger occupancy. The code offers different ways to address this. Beyond a clear definition, multiple types of occupancies can also coexist in an overall structure either together in the same space, or next to one another and separated. If you’re not sure which occupancy type your building falls under, refer to this article or NFPA 101, section 6.1 for guidance. To get the most out of the read, we suggest cozying up with your copy of NFPA 101 to follow along! What is my building’s occupancy type? In the meantime, this article serves as a basis for understanding pretty dense code and, as such, requires a lot of references. Stay tuned for Part 3, where we’ll cover these requirements for one- and two-family dwellings, hotels and dormitories, apartments, residential board and care facilities, inpatient and outpatient healthcare, and daycare occupancies. In this piece, we cover how NFPA 101: Life Safety Code specifically requires the following occupancies to perform those functions: In the first installment of this series, we talked about the various ways of accomplishing the initiation, occupant notification, and monitoring of a fire alarm system. Fire alarm requirements for educational, detention, assembly, business, mercantile, storage, and industrial occupancies
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |