RESEARCH PAPER IN UTILITIES II Submitted by: Wendee Lyn V. Marinduque Student Submitted to: Ferdinad Migullas Instructor 1.) LIFE SAFETY SYSTEM IN A BUILDING . INTRODUCTION Buildings represent most of the built infrastructure and play an important role in a country's socioeconomic development. Most of the buildings are built to last several decades and to provide residential and functional services to many people throughout their design life. Buildings are subjected to a variety of natural (earthquake, hurricane, tsunami, etc.) and man-made (fire, explosion, etc.) hazards over this long period of time, which can result in a partial or complete collapse of the building and incapacity of building operations. In the event of a hazard, such destruction or incapacity can jeopardize the lives of residents and cause significant direct and indirect monetary losses. As a result, buildings are designed to withstand actions from a variety of anticipated hazards in order to ensure life and structural safety throughout their design life. A fire hazard in a building is the potential for an accidental or intentional fire to endanger life, terms of severity and versatility due to rapid development around the world and have become a growing concern in recent years. Over the last two decades (1993-2015), 86.4 million fire incidents resulted in more than one million fire deaths (Brushlinsky et al., 2017), and total annual loss from global fire hazard accounts for about 1% of global GDP (Bulletin, 2014) (approximately US$857.9 billion [GDP, 2018]). Every year, 3.8 million fires kill 44,300 people in both developed and developing countries around the world (Brushlinsky et al., 2017). Between 2010 and 2014, the United States had the highest number of fires (600,000-1,500,000 per year) and the second highest number of fire deaths (1,000-10,000 per year) in the world (Brushlinsky et al., 2016). Developing countries such as India and Pakistan, on the other hand, experienced the highest number of fire fatalities (10,000-25,000 per year) and the second highest number of fires (100,000-600,000 per year) (Brushlinsky et al., 2016). As a result, it is critical to provide necessary fire safety in buildings to mitigate the negative effects of fire hazards. WHAT IS LIFE SAFETY SYSEM? Any interior building element designed to protect and evacuate the building population in emergencies, including fires and earthquakes, and less critical events, such as power failures. Firedetection systems include electronic heat and smoke detectors that can activate audible alarms and automatically notify local fire departments. For fire suppression, hand-operated fire extinguishers and, often, building sprinkler systems are provided. Smoke is as dangerous as fire, so protective measures include the automatic shutdown of ventilating systems and elevators and the division of the building into smokeproof compartments. Examples of Life Safety Systems EARLY DECTATION Smoke and the toxic gases it produce can easily go unnoticed. Without a smoke detector, a small home or office fire could develop into a large blaze before people have the chance to notice and as a result, they may find themselves trapped inside. Thankfully, smoke detectors are inexpensive products and can help facilitate a rapid response to early signs of a fire by detecting it in its early stages. The same goes for a carbon monoxide detector by alerting you to any potential gas leak as soon as it starts. ALARM SYSTEMS Not only does a fire alarm have the obvious advantage of having the potential to save lives by giving people prompt warning to evacuate before a fire develops and potentially leaving them trapped inside, having one installed can also see your home or building insurance reduced. It shows insurance companies you are taking responsibility over potential emergencies and also decreases the extent of damage that could be caused should a fire break out and subsequent value of any claim. SPRINKLERS For areas where a small fire can rapidly grow, like a large warehouse, an automated sprinkler system can see the chance of a fire spreading and damage caused significantly reduced. What’s more, releasing water onto a fire early can help to combat smoke and the level of heat produced by the fire, increasing the chance of survival should people be trapped inside. EXTINGUISHING SYSTEMS A fire extinguisher is not simply a case of a one size fits all. Different types exist for different purposes and a good starting point is to understand the class of materials inside a building. A fire containing cooking oils for example would require a different class of extinguisher to a fire containing flammable liquids such as petrol. Here at Sovereign, our gas suppression systems extinguish fires using gas rather than water, thus helping to reduce the damage. For more information on the benefits of gas extinguishing systems, ask a member of our friendly team today. VIDEO SMOKE DETECTION Video smoke detectors can detect smoke from the way it distorts and blurs the imagery. In comparison to the spot detection of the smoke detectors that monitor the air, the video system allows vast expanses to be monitored, making it an excellent life safety system for large areas such as a warehouse or industrial plants. EMERGENCY AND EXIT LIGHTING Should an emergency situation occur, you need to ensure occupants can clearly see their exit route from the building so that they can leave promptly and in a safe and orderly fashion. Emergency and exit lighting is a prime example of an inexpensive life safety system that can significantly reduce the risk of injury or loss of life in cases where a building needs to be evacuated. PAV VOICE SYSTEMS This life safety system comes into its element in public buildings. A PAV voice system allows you to quickly announce any important information that might help to respond to an emergency situation including evacuation procedures. LONE WORKER SYSTEMS Understanding the best life safety systems for your building may depend on the number of people you need to protect. If your business involves lone workers in your building and you want to find out the best life safety systems for this situation, Sovereign Fire and Security can offer you expert guidance. CARBON MONOXIDE DETECTOR SOME SAFETY STRATEGIES According to (blog.qrfs.com/339) fire extinguishers, fire hose reels, fire hydrants, hydrant valves, fire blankets, and fire protection systems such as automatic fire detection and alarm systems, automatic fire sprinkler systems, emergency warning and intercommunication systems are examples of fire protection equipment. Automatic fire detection system A system of fire detectors is installed in a building or other space and linked to a control panel that can provide an automatic warning when a detector detects a fire. Automatic sprinkler system A sprinkler system is equipped with a fusible link or another sensing device that detects a fire and sprays water on the contents. Sprinkler heads, water supply, and appropriate control valves are required for the system. Automatic release mechanism A device that allows a door that has been held open to close automatically when a signal from a fire alarm system, a detection system, or a manually operated switch is received. Automatic self-closing device A device that closes a door after it has been opened and released. Basement Part of a building below the surrounding ground level is intended to be used for accommodation, car parking, or other purposes. Boundary The demarcation between buildings adjacent to each other or between a building and the center of a road, street, or stream. Cavity Concealed space within building elements or between building elements, such as in a hollow wall or between a ceiling and a roof. Ceiling Underneath the side of a floor, or a separate construction provided below a floor, or a roof with a gap above. Circulation space Common space used by occupants of a building to gain access from a room to an exit or a stairway or a lobby. It may be a corridor or a foyer or an entrance hall. SUMMARIZING Renesas building security systems realize convenience and peace of mind through sensing, connectivity, and user interface technologies. In the context of building automation, security systems are composed of two constituent elements. The figure below is a conceptual diagram. The first is a monitoring system that oversees what is going on in and around the building by means of cameras and sensors of various types. The second is a crime prevention systems that perform ingress and egress management and control based on the information from the monitoring systems. Communication Networks of Security Systems Via the network, the large volumes of data making up the security logs, operation logs, and entrance and exit logs from the monitoring and crime prevention systems are tracked on security monitoring PCs and stored and managed on secure data servers. This information may also be linked via a network to other building automation systems (air conditioning systems, lighting systems, etc.) to enable more efficient building security management.
