All posts by : Iain Hoey

In their latest blog, NFPA discuss ensuring the operation of your fire alarm system during loss of primary power.

We rely on a fire alarm system to constantly monitor for hazardous conditions (such as fire, smoke, carbon monoxide, and even combustible and toxic vapors) within a building, and notify the occupants so they can exit the building safely, notify first responders, and even activate systems to mitigate the hazard such as fire suppression or ventilation.

The fire alarm system needs to be able to operate continuously during the life of a building, this includes times in which primary power to the building is lost.

Secondary Power Supply

Fire alarm systems are provided with a secondary source of power in order to remain operational after loss of primary power. The most common forms of secondary power supplies are batteries or an emergency generator.

Secondary power supplies are designed to provide enough capacity to power the entire system for 24 hours on standby and then operate the system for at least 5 minutes under emergency conditions (15 minutes for mass notification systems).

If a generator is used for secondary power, batteries are still required, but only need to provide capacity for 4 hours, this gives time to get the generator operational if there is an issue.

In order to ensure that the secondary power supply is always available, the fire alarm system itself is able to monitor for the presence of voltage and monitor the battery charging system, and will then annunciate a trouble signal if there is an issue with the power supply or charging system.

Battery Inspection Testing and Maintenance

Although the system can monitor some aspects of the secondary power supply, there is some inspection, testing, and maintenance (ITM) that needs to be completed to ensure that the secondary power supply is reliable. For ITM specific to the generator, refer to the blog that I wrote on Maintaining your Emergency Power Supply.

Batteries need to be inspected semiannually to confirm that the connections are tight and there is no corrosion on the connections. When inspecting, the batteries need to be checked for damage such as cracks in the case, bulges, or leaking.

The batteries need to be marked with the month and year of manufacture (not the date of installation), this information is important for tracking the batteries age. If the battery’s age exceeds the manufacturer’s replacement date, the battery needs to be replaced.

The batteries and charger need to be tested semiannually; these tests include:

• Measuring the temperature to ensure that the battery is not 18F (10 C) above ambient temperature
• Measure the voltage to ensure that the battery and charger are still operational
• Measure the voltage at each cell of the battery to confirm each cell is greater than 13.26 volts
• Measure the internal ohmic value of each battery and compare to previous tests to ensure that the battery does not have 30% or more conductance or 40% or more resistance or impedance than previous tests or is outside the manufacturer’s acceptable ranges.

Every three years the batteries need to either be replaced or a load test needs to be conducted. Load tests are conducted by putting a known load on the battery for a given time (found from the battery manufacturer).

The battery is discharged until it reaches its end voltage. Based on the known load and the time taken to discharge you can then calculate the capacity of the battery and apply any adjustments for temperature. The battery must be replaced if the capacity is less than 80% of its rated capacity.

Secondary Power Operation

All the requirements for ITM above focused on the batteries themselves, but there are some tests that need to be completed in order to make sure that the entire system will operate under secondary power.

First, if the system is supplied by an emergency generator, power will need to be transferred to the generator monthly to ensure that the transfer switch and generator will be able to supply the fire alarm.

Additionally, all primary power to the system needs to be disconnected annually so the required standby and alarm current to the system can be measured and compared to the available battery capacity.

Remember, these batteries need to be able to provide the 24 hour standby and 5 (or 15) minutes of alarm or 4 hours of standby if there is also an emergency generator. Finally, the system needs to be operated under secondary power in alarm for at least 5, or 15 minutes depending on the system type.

Do you have any instances in which you needed to replace the fire alarm batteries because they failed testing? Was there a time in which you relied on the secondary power during an outage? Let me know in the comments below.

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Nittan Europe, UK manufacturer of conventional and addressable fire detection products and systems, has had its Evolution analogue addressable fire detection system installed into a new student accommodation development in Beeston, Nottingham.  The system was installed by Nottinghamshire based integrated safety and security solutions provider, TIS.

Dagfa House is a unique development of townhouses, clusters and studios adjacent to The University of Nottingham campus.  It provides accommodation to 229 students and a range of leisure and study amenities. 

At the heart of the development is a Grade two listed building that dates back to the 18th-century and was converted into a school in 1948.  This latest development has been undertaken by the Cassidy Group, which has over 30 years of experience in construction and property.

One of the key fire safety challenges posed by the Dagfa House development was the mix of accommodation blocks, with some being relatively small.  A cost-effective fire detection system was required that could potentially evacuate each site in the event of a fire and that would also be future proof, with spares readily available. 

A Nittan Evolution analogue addressable fire alarm system, comprising two individually networked systems, each utilising eight Evolution1 panels and Nittan devices was chosen as the solution. 

Chris Mills, Head of Fire Division at TIS explains: “TIS carried out market research of a number of fire alarm manufacturers before finally settling on the Nittan Evolution panel with Nittan devices which provided a single source approach while providing a cost effective and reliable solution.”

Evolution is Nittan’s advanced, premium fire system.  Evolution uses ASIC technology in the sensors and sophisticated detection algorithms, combining extremely reliable fire detection together with a very high degree of protection against unwanted false alarms. 

Nittan Evolution1 Panel

Its advanced, highly flexible protocol allows for substantial amounts of information to be transmitted at high speed and is not affected by the number of devices on the loop.

At Dagfa House, the Nittan Evolution1 Panel was selected because of its built-in network connectivity, making it extremely cost effective, plus its ease of installation and cause & effect configuration.

For the primary detection in the majority of locations, Nittan’s EV-PYS Optical Detector with built-in sounder was selected for convenience, due to the reduced cost and time required compared to installing separate detectors and sounders, as well as the combined detector/sounder providing a more aesthetically pleasing solution.

In the open areas, such as the cinema room, games room, common room and the communal garden terrace, Nittan EV-HIOP-SB High Output Sounder Beacon VADs were installed.  These devices provide high volume sound, EN 54-23 compliant visual alarm and are waterproofed to IP65, making them suitable for the outdoor areas.

One of the most important devices in any fire alarm system is Manual Call Points, which are strategically located in the Dagfa House development at points of evacuation. Nittan EV-MCP2-SCI Call Point with built in short circuit isolators were chosen to ensure the loops were adequately protected, so the system remains compliant even under short circuit fault conditions.

Each Call Point was also fitted with a hinged front cover for compliance with BS-5839-1: 2017, the code of practice for designing, installing, commissioning, and maintaining fire detection and alarm systems.

Nittan fire detection systems are a popular choice for student accommodation, with many applications around the UK.  For more information, please contact Nittan on 01483 769 555 or by email at sales@nittan.co.uk or go to www.nittan.co.uk.

A FREEDOM of information request revealed that Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service (GMFRS) attended 224 fires in the last five years, ‘an average of almost one a week’.

Mancunian Matters reported on the findings from the request, which revealed that GMFRS attended 224 school fires between 2015 and 2020, ‘an average of almost one a week’, with three of these destroying entire school buildings and ten resulting in injuries.

The leading causes of fire in the metropolitan region included malfunctioning appliances or equipment, faulty electrics and kitchen fires, with 43 logged as having been ‘started deliberately’.

Asked to respond, the government said it was ‘committed’ to revising Building Bulletin 100: Design for fire safety in schools (BB100)– and was planning to launch a public consultation soon. A spokesman stated: ‘All schools are required to have an uptodate Fire Risk Assessment and to conduct regular fire drills.

All new school buildings must be signed off by an inspector to certify that they meet the requirements of building regulations. Where sprinklers are considered necessary to protect pupils and staff, they must be installed.’

Last month, a study by Zurich found that English schools were ‘twice as likely’ to suffer fires than other buildings, with the study including personal inspections of over 1,000 primary and secondary schools.

It said that there was a ‘perfect storm’ of risky buildings and ‘poor fire detection and prevention measures’, with 26,866 schools analysed and the average fire risk ‘almost double that of non-residential buildings’.

Despite there being a ‘greater risk of a fire starting’, inspections by the insurer found that 66% of schools lack ‘adequate fixed fire protection measures’ such as sprinklers, while 24% were rated ‘poor’ for fire detection’.

Additionally, firefighters have been called to ‘nearly 2,000’ school fires in the last three years, with the insurer and other organisations calling for sprinklers to be mandatory in English schools as part of the government’s £1bn school rebuilding programme.

The average school posed a fire risk 1.7 times greater than non residential buildings, with Zurich’s model giving schools a fire risk score of 0.58 compared to non residential buildings’ score of 0.33.

In comparison to 2.9m non household properties, schools were ‘three times more likely’ to be in the high fire risk category, with 33,000 fires from the last six years analysed ‘to identify factors that increase the likelihood of a blaze’, and a fire risk score produced.

Factors for calculating this consisted of listed status, the presence of cooking equipment and the building’s size, with Zurich adding that ‘despite being far riskier than average’ in terms of fire, many schools ‘also lack the equipment needed to prevent small fires becoming major disasters’.

Out of the inspections, only 14% of the schools were rated good or excellent by Zurich, with the leading causes of fires including ‘malfunctioning appliances or equipment, faulty electrics, arson and kitchen’ fires.

Larger school fires cost an average of £2.8m to repair, ‘and in some cases over’ £20m, while bigger and older schools – such as those with canteens, or secondary schools that have ‘more complex and dangerous equipment – were ‘identified as particularly at risk’, with a correlation between poor Ofsted ratings and a ‘greater risk of fire’ also seen in the analysis.

Zurich’s findings have led it to launch a parliamentary petition urging MPs to ‘change the law on sprinklers in schools’, as while they are compulsory in ‘all new major or refurbished’ school buildings in Scotland and Wales, ‘this is not the case in England’ where ‘in fact, they are fitted in fewer than one in six new schools’. Its analysis has found that over 7m pupils at primary and secondary schools are taught in the 58% of buildings that are a ‘high fire risk’.

The insurer noted that Prime Minister Boris Johnson has recently pledged £1.56bn to fund a school rebuilding and repair programme over the next ten years, and it estimates that the repair costs for school fires could reach £320m in that time, a ‘significant portion’ of the investment pledged. As a result, it said it wants the government to ‘ring-fence’ some of this to ‘improve the resilience of schools at high risk of fire’.

With insurers working closely with schools to help them manage fire risks, ‘the installation of sprinklers minimise the dangers from the outset’. Earlier this month, the National Fire Chiefs Council (NFCC) called for all schools to have sprinklers fitted in the aftermath of two schools being lost to fire in Derbyshire.

It ‘once again called for all schools to have sprinklers fitted’, after the ‘devastating loss’ of the two schools, where it was reported neither had sprinklers installed, which ‘could have reduced the damage suffered substantially’.

It has been calling for sprinklers to be installed in schools ‘for a number of years’, and said that with around 1,500 fires in UK schools every year, this ‘disrupts the education of approximately 90,000 students’, and the NFCC pointed out that school closures also have a ‘large social and economic impact on local communities’, something that ‘could be reduced by the fitting of sprinklers’.

Figures from the Association of British Insurers revealed that the most expensive school fires can cost up to £2.8m to ‘address’, and over the course of a four year period, an average of 24 large loss fires occurred annually, costing £67.2m.

The NFCC said that its chair Roy Wilsher has now urged the government to ‘ensure legislation in England is the same as in Scotland and Wales’, where it is ‘mandatory for sprinkler systems to be fitted in all new and refurbished’ schools.

In the NFCC’s response to the technical review of BB100, it highlighted that the rate of schools being fitted with sprinklers ‘may have fallen’ from 70% to 15% of new builds, and stated that schools ‘are important community assets which need to be protected’, emphasising the ‘importance of ensuring fire safety remains a key priority’ during the COVID-19 pandemic and making it part of planning, along with revisiting escape routes and fire drills.

Most recently this month, Derbyshire County Council (DCC) ‘refused to name’ schools in the county that have no sprinklers fitted, ‘despite’ three having been destroyed in fires in the last four months’, and ‘displacing hundreds of pupils and resulting in millions of pounds of rebuild costs’. There have been ‘more than 30 fires’ at Derbyshire schools in the past five years alone, with Harrington Junior School in Long Eaton was destroyed in May.

That fire saw the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) submit a freedom of information request to DCC asking it to name schools without sprinklers, and it had a ‘legal duty to respond within 20 working days’, but ‘chose to take nearly triple that time’, or 58 days, to respond – and only after the two schools destroyed by fires most recently, Ravensdale Infant and Nursery School and St Mary’s Catholic Voluntary Academy.

The fire at Ravensdale was ‘ruled as arson’, while the fire at Harrington was ‘accidental and caused by county council staff carrying out refurbishments’, with the cause of the fire at St Mary’s having ‘not yet been disclosed’.

A temporary replacement for Harrington, built by DCC without planning permission in July, was constructed without sprinklers ‘despite the demise of its predecessor’, with DCC stating that this was ‘standard for temporary buildings of this nature’.

In the past five years, Derbyshire Fire and Rescue Service (DFRS) had been called out to 32 fires at schools across the county and city, and noted that eight of those had occurred since April 2019. The council said ‘it would not be providing the names’, and cited the ‘perceived risk of potential arsonists targeting schools without sprinklers’, claiming that the ‘public interest in naming the schools is outweighed by the public interest in refusing to do so’.

The Insights from the Field series features insight from FLIR experts who recommend, deploy, and use thermal imaging technology every day. Join us as we discuss the diverse applications of thermal technology in security, safety, and equipment protection for critical infrastructure. This issue focuses on thermal automation cameras.

Thermal automation cameras are not only used to safeguard property and people but also to protect mission-critical equipment. At manufacturing plants, maintenance teams want to aggregate data to continually evaluate an
asset’s health and know if it is about to fail.

Production managers are keen to catch process anomalies that
result in faulty products or packaging before these products leave the production line.

Safety managers need to detect excessive heat buildup on fuel, hazardous material, and electrical components before combustion occurs and a fire breaks out.

By deploying thermal cameras for condition monitoring, process control, and fire prevention applications, plant managers ensure maximum uptime and avoid catastrophic events.

Why Thermal automation cameras?

Because temperature changes can be an early indicator of equipment deterioration, non-uniform temperature profiles on products, or a hotspot area, thermal automation cameras are a premier choice for plant managers.

Radiometric thermal cameras yield a temperature value for every pixel in an image and clearly visualize the temperature differences of a surveyed area. Upon exceeding a specific temperature threshold, a thermal automation camera sends an alarm, or, if integrated with other control processes, triggers an action to deescalate the situation.

FLIR automation cameras in action

FLIR offers an array of radiometric thermal automation cameras that are highly effective automation solutions. Here are three examples of how FLIR automation cameras made a difference for critical facilities in the industrial
sector.

Steel Mill and Condition Monitoring

Few equipment failures are as dangerous and damaging as a steel breakout at a steel mill, where a ladle or torpedo enclosure ruptures and pours out hundreds of tons of 1400°C (2552°F) molten iron onto the plant floor.

Because hotspots can occur on this machinery in less than a minute, engineer service company ANT Automation provides its steel mill customers with a Continuous Infrared Analysis (CIRA) platform.

The cornerstone of the CIRA solution is reliable thermal imaging from a
FLIR automation camera, which monitors the entire surface of ladles and torpedoes; provides historical temperature data to distinguish between typical splashes and hotspots, and sends an alarm to personnel to act upon true hotspot detection.

As a result, ANT Automation customers experience heightened equipment protection, cheaper insurance premiums, and greater peace of mind.

Paper Mill and Process Control

At paper mills, calendaring—or the process of putting paper webs through
hard pressure rollers to smooth the paper—is important. However, excess moisture can occur on the paper web between the rollers, damaging roll covers and causing downtime.

One North America paper manufacturer experienced an average of 30 moisture events annually where each event equated to $100,000 in losses. To remedy the situation, the manufacturer turned to Eigen, an AI-enabled vision solution provider.

Eigen provided a platform that featured FLIR automation cameras, an edge computing device, and analytics software. The FLIR cameras continuously monitor the paper web prior to it entering the calendar machine and upon detection of cold streaks, trigger an unload alarm so that calendar stacks are opened and roll covers are cleaned.

Eigen estimates its automation solution will result in 300 unloads for a total savings of $1.2 million. Thermal monitoring solutions help avoid build-up on calender rolls and damage to the paper processing systems.

Waste Facility and Fire Prevention

Based in the town of Legnago in Northern Italy, Ecologica Tredi operates an 11,000 square meter facility that specializes in the recovery and treatment of special, hazardous, and non-hazardous waste.

Should material combust and cause a fire at the plant, the consequences include unwanted pollutants released into the environment, damaged equipment, and lengthy business interruptions.

To enhance workplace safety and meet regulation compliance, Ecologica Tredi partnered with Thermostick Elettrotecnica, who specializes in unconventional fire detection systems.

Thermostick Elettrotecnica provided a comprehensive monitoring control and alarm system based on FLIR automation cameras. These FLIR cameras monitor work and storage areas and upon specified alarm events, can activate sprinklers or cannons.

Thermostick Elettrotecnica also deployed a FLIR AX8 camera to survey material on the conveyor belt coming out of a shredder. Upon identifying abnormally high temperatures, the belt stops.

After completing its audit of the facility, the Ministry of Interior said Ecologica Tredi was one of the most equipped for fire prevention.
These are just a few deployments that demonstrate how automation solutions, like the FLIR A400/A700 smart Thermal Sensor camera, can be used to avoid unplanned outages, production line shutdowns, fires,
and other “surprise” events that cause substantial disruptions and financial loss.

Deployment recommendation
When evaluating how to implement thermal cameras for your automation application, there are several
factors to consider. Here are a few recommendations to get you started.

1. Select an Accurate Camera: For automation, accurate radiometric thermal images is key. Select a high-resolution radiometric thermal camera that yields sharp images and rich image detail. FLIR offers
   two optimal thermal detector arrays, 320 × 240 or 640 × 480, which provide up to ±2°C accuracy within temperature ranges of -40°C to 2000°C.
2. Choose an Analytics Software: Easily integrate FLIR automation cameras with your preferred analytics software. Some of the software that FLIR cameras currently integrate with include Cognex Designer Pro, NI Software, Pleora Ebus, Teledyne, and Spinaker SDK.
3. Determine Regions of Interest and Alarm Settings: Define what critical areas need to be surveyed for hotspots or temperature variances. When deploying FLIR cameras, you can select up to 10 regions of interest. Simply use the web-based configuration window on your mobile device or computer to select spots, draw boxes, or create custom areas. Create your alarm parameters as well as the desired response by defining the data acquisition output type.
4. Integrate with Control Processes: For improved intervention, integrate thermal automation cameras with other control processes. To do this, ensure your automation camera is compliant with communication protocols such as GigE Vision, RTSP, MQTT, RESTful API, MODBUS TCP & Master, Ethernet IP, and FTP.

Global safety science provider, UL reports on fires in high rise buildings and the role of firestopping for improved fire safety.

After the Grenfell Tower disaster in June 2017 which claimed the lives of 72 people, Dame Judith Hackitt’s review of UK fire safety and construction identified systemic construction failures that contributed to a system that was, in her words, not fit for purpose.

Her recommendations addressed issues in all areas of the construction system, from design through planning, building and occupation. The problems she identified appear to be ones repeated all over the globe.  

Although her adopted recommendations are primarily aimed at high rise residential buildings, the UK Government intends to encourage good practice in all new build construction. Regardless, fire safety in residential buildings will definitely change as a result of the essential primary focus, resident safety.

With regulatory changes proposed by government to address the Hackitt Review findings, more control over the process of construction is on the horizon. With more control, improvements can be made throughout the build process to deliver safe buildings.  

In particular, the UK Government will increase focus on improving the standard of installed fire protection measures. This new regime will force cultural change for those who are involved in making our buildings fire safe for occupation. 

One crucial part of a building’s fire prevention measures is that of firestopping: sealing holes made in fire compartment walls and floors by services’ penetrations passing through those fire resisting walls and floors. Ventilation systems, electrical, communication and plumbing services all cause breaches in compartment lines through which fire can spread.  

Competence is the key to compliance and underpins every element of fire safety in our built environment. Lack of competence has led to failures in fire containment, with the total loss of buildings and tragic loss of life. 

After the publication of Dame Judith Hackitt’s report, a steering group was established to specifically look at required competences and examine how each profession within the construction chain can demonstrate proficiency. In the summer of 2019, the steering group issued their interim report, ‘Raising the Bar’.

The main working group, WG0, identified what competence is: skills, attitude, knowledge and education, or SAKE. Each of the supporting working groups adopted the SAKE principle when examining the required competences for each profession and how best that defined competence can be demonstrated. Competence is essential if any new regulations are to deliver the required outcomes.  

Getting fire stopping right depends on making it a priority in any new build project. Early engagement in fire safety is paramount; it sets up fire safety as an essential part of construction and not an afterthought. If fire safety is on the agenda from the design and concept of a new build project, it has a better chance of staying on the agenda for the entirety of the new build project.

The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) plan of works provides a framework of best practice, which when applied to a new build should identify the specific safety requirements and the safety roles at every stage of the project. 

Construction, design and management (CDM) regulations define the roles of principal designer and principal contractor, who will be the accountable persons within the new gateway system proposed by the U.K. Government.

The gateways will effectively prevent projects from moving forward if the correct information is not submitted to the building safety regulator by the correct accountable person. 

The building safety regulator will be responsible for all major regulatory decisions made at key points during the design, construction, occupation and refurbishment of a building in scope.

They will have powers to prevent new buildings from being occupied, if the evidence of fire safety compliance is insufficient to confirm that fire safety is appropriate for that specific building and the intended occupant type. Therefore, diligence in the early stages of a build will help prevent issues later in the process. 

Building Information Modelling (BIM) provides a template for capturing digital information about fire safety systems within a building. The 3D virtual construction of a building allows the project team to produce a collaborative fire safe design.

By understanding what services are required and which floors and walls they pass through, it is possible for the main contractor to adequately plan for and resource firestopping.  

Information in a BIM format is addressable and, in theory, could be passed on to the building owner to enable management throughout a building’s life cycle and through any refurbishments.

Digital information will be required for all buildings in scope of the new regulations; having quality information that is accessible and addressable will mean all key stakeholders can have access, giving them a transparent view of building safety. 

Manufacturers of fire safety products and systems will need to embrace the new digital era and ensure that the quality of their product information is detailed and in an appropriate format. Clarity over the type and amount of testing done to support their performance claims will be imperative if they wish to be included in specifications.

Evidence of products and systems fitness will need to be included in the building’s digital dataset, making the use of products with the best assurances of performance a more popular option.

Quality of performance evidence may ultimately have more value than price, thus pushing out the lowest price but less evidenced options. 

To summarise, many of the UK issues which have been identified in the Hackitt Review are issues repeated world-wide. It therefore stands to reason that many of the solutions being implemented to enforce a change in the construction sector in the UK could be adapted for different regions.  

Fire protection, including firestopping, needs to be on the radar much earlier in the build process. Getting it right needs to be a collaborative cause and not an afterthought.

Those who are designated as the accountable person can be assured that the buck will stop with them. Quality digital information about fire protection (firestopping) is going to be essential.