Nfpa 13 handbook 2016 online free download

Industrial In Europe, sprinklers have traditionally been used at the insistence of insurers to mitigate industrial property fire losses. With the break-up of industry-wide insurance tariff and discount agreements for sprinklers under anti-trust legislation, the influence of insurers on the sprinkler market has weakened. Furthermore, insurers today employ far fewer loss prevention engineers than in the past.

Fortunately, regulators have mandated the fitting of sprinklers in many of the risks where they were already commonly fitted at the insistence of insurers, such as in new, large factories and warehouses.

Such regulatory requirements have also been justified as a means to prevent environmental damage, to protect fire fighters, and to preserve employment. Often they were introduced as buildings, and thus industrial building fires, became larger. Table S3. Several countries have introduced these requirements since , setting a threshold for the sprinkler requirement in the form of an area limit, height limit, or maximum specific fire load.

Looking ahead, while there are some national gaps in this overview, it is unlikely that the European sprinkler market as a whole will see major market growth in industrial risks.

New, large warehouses in most countries are routinely fitted with sprinklers. There is scope for greater regulatory pressure to fit sprinklers in new factories. Initially their concern was to prevent large loss of life in a fire, so sprinklers have been mandated in large buildings occupied by many people, such as shopping centers and high-rise buildings.

Most European countries now require sprinklers in these new buildings and almost all the mandates were introduced this century. Reflecting the risk, regulators have set thresholds at which the sprinkler requirement is invoked, usually depending on the area, height, or maximum occupancy level, as indicated in Table S3. There are some notable gaps in this table. For example, France only requires sprinklers in commercial buildings higher than ft m , which impacts very few buildings, while Belgium and Italy do not require sprinklers in any high-rise buildings.

Residential Buildings More recently, regulators in some European countries have begun to make use of sprinklers to reduce the risk where most fire deaths occur: at home. Within that category, homes for the elderly, sick, and vulnerable grouped as care homes pose the greatest risk.

It is clear that those who are unable to respond rapidly or adequately to a fire alarm are at the greatest risk from fire. In fact, figures from the United Kingdom show that the fire death rate in care homes for the elderly and for children is about 30 times greater than for the general population in houses.

Finland has gone even further and now requires all existing care homes to conduct a governmentguided risk analysis, which often identifies a need for sprinklers. The Finnish government is conducting a survey of care homes, which is expected to show that at least half now have sprinklers installed. The last survey, in , found sprinklers installed in more than 30 percent of care homes.

Scotland has only mandated sprinklers in new care homes since , yet by a third of all existing care homes in Scotland had sprinklers. In many countries, the requirement to install sprinklers in high-rise buildings extends to apartment buildings. However, Norway specifically requires sprinklers in all new apartment buildings, and Scotland requires them in new apartment buildings higher than 60 ft 18 m or about six stories. Beyond that, beginning in Wales will require sprinklers in all new houses.

If construction levels were at the same level as in , the sprinkler market in Europe in would be booming. Unfortunately, in many countries the construction market remains depressed. According to Eurostat, for the European Union in November , it was down 23 percent from its peak in However, the sprinkler market has declined about half as much and is set to benefit when construction picks up, as it already has in Belgium, Germany, Scandinavia, The Netherlands, and the United Kingdom.

Only Norway and Sweden publish accurate data about the numbers of sprinklers installed each year. In both countries the sprinkler manufacturers and distributors submit the total numbers of sprinklers they sell to a neutral party that publishes the totals. In fact, Norway installs as many or perhaps more sprinklers per thousand inhabitants than the United States.

See Exhibit S3. Despite that, more are needed to establish the reliability and performance of sprinkler systems in different jurisdictions.

This information is needed by fire engineers when they make use of sprinklers in their designs. It is also needed to support campaigns for the greater use of sprinklers, not just as a tool to protect property but also as a measure to protect people.

Most German states require sprinklers in assembly buildings which includes airports and museums , several countries require sprinklers in underground car parks and more are likely to join them in the near future , and in the United Kingdom, sprinklers are installed in a large number of new schools they are mandatory in Scotland.

In The Netherlands, many existing buildings are being converted for new uses; often they do not comply with the minimum passive fire safety measures for their new use. Therefore, sprinklers are installed to compensate. The report also found that 91 percent of systems operated when they should have, and of those, 96 percent controlled or extinguished the fire.

The NFPA summary excludes fires extinguished by sprinklers and not reported to the fire department. However, it is also possible that Australia and New Zealand had tougher inspection and maintenance requirements so that systems there were more reliable. FM Global analyzed the performance of sprinkler systems in the risks it insures in the United States and concluded that in 98 percent of cases, the sprinklers control or extinguish the fire.

While a success rate of 87 percent might not seem much less than 98 percent, it also equates to a failure rate 6. The higher the failure rate, the more likely it is that additional measures will be needed to deal with fires not controlled or extinguished by the sprinkler system, so undermining the economic attraction of sprinklers. To ensure a high level of system reliability, many European countries operate detailed competency plans for installer companies. Usually run by insurance-related bodies, these plans also monitor the readiness and suitability of installed systems.

There is an associated cost, but the national references strongly suggest they are delivering a higher level of system reliability. One technical difference between Europe and the United States is in valve monitoring. NFPA is the only organization to publish statistics on the causes of sprinkler system failure. Most of the failures are caused by closure of the system shut-off valve before 64 percent or during 17 percent the fire.

For decades in many European countries, the position of this valve has been monitored and alarmed, so fewer failures of this type would be expected. However, without data this is unproven. It is therefore not possible to say, for most countries, how many fires have occurred in sprinklered buildings, nor how many deaths and injuries or how much property damage came from those fires.

Even where there are such statistics, such as in the United States, the raw data is collected by the fire brigade or fire departments and does not include some fires that were so rapidly extinguished by the sprinkler system that they were not called. Anecdotal evidence from conversations between insurers and those whom they insure suggests there are many such fires. Australia and the United States In Australia and New Zealand, about years of data have been collected because every fire is required to be reported to the authorities.

There, they have found a success rate for sprinklers of They checked whether the sprinkler system was correctly designed for the risk and whether it was ready to perform. They found that, respectively, 98 percent and 97 percent of systems would perform correctly.

Given that systems that meet the standard always work otherwise the standard would be changed , these are the figures used by Danish fire engineers. Effect of Sprinklers When sprinkler systems operate successfully, which as explained above is the usual experience, they reduce temperatures, stop the fire from spreading, and limit the production of carbon monoxide and other toxic gases.

Again, NFPA is the only organization to publish statistics. It found that when wet-pipe sprinklers were present in the fire area in homes that were not under construction, the fire death rate per 1, reported structure fires was lower by 82 percent, and the rate of property damage per reported home structure fire was lower by 68 percent.

Insurers claim that when sprinklers are installed, property losses are reduced by a factor of about six. Most fire safety regulators in Europe accept this but question whether sprinklers are a good investment.

They do not believe the cost of installing sprinklers in an additional category of building occupancy could be justified by the lives saved, injuries prevented, and property damage avoided. Fire safety legislation is often disaster-led, with new regulations introduced after a high profile fire.

To introduce a more rational approach and to consider situations where only one or two people die i. In , an analysis in the United Kingdom showed that through reductions in insurance costs alone, sprinkler systems would pay for themselves in schools in 13 years. When it comes to housing, fire insurance premiums in Europe are already low so there is little incentive for insurance reductions to pay for sprinklers.

Here the main economic benefit is the reduction in fire deaths and injuries. A cost and benefit analysis in these cases is only possible if one assigns a value to a life, more politely expressed as what society is prepared to pay to save a life.

Many governments have a figure, even if it is not made public, and use it to decide when and where to invest in road safety measures.

It can also be used for fire protection. The higher this figure, the greater the investment in safety that can be justified. It was pioneered by Professor W. It is easier to assign costs for fire injuries the cost of treatment , and costs related to property losses, system installation, and maintenance are available from insurers and installers. Analysis by the Building Research Establishment BRE in the United Kingdom found an economic case for installing sprinklers in new apartments and care homes, but not in houses.

Sprinklers will be used in more new buildings than in the past, as new technologies improve their performance, economics, and aesthetics. Residential Sprinklers About , residential sprinklers were installed in Europe in This market has tripled in size in the past decade, yet it is almost all in just three countries: Norway, Sweden, and the United Kingdom.

With space at a premium in cities, there are likely to be more high-rise apartment buildings with sprinklers. Car Parks An increasing number of countries require sprinklers in enclosed car parks.

This trend is likely to continue as senior fire officers in several more European countries have called for sprinklers in enclosed car parks. Fire Engineering In Europe, fire codes require sprinklers in far fewer types of new buildings than in the United States.

Instead, they rely more on compartmentation. European fire engineers are, therefore, making increasing use of sprinklers to come up with fire safety designs that open up buildings with larger, sprinkler-protected compartments.

Sprinklers are also often used to compensate for limited fire brigade access, such as where a building is behind others or the access road to it is narrow. In a number of countries fire engineers apply sprinklers to permit longer escape corridors in buildings, which can save the cost and space for a staircase.

Here again, many projects involve a new use for a building. Draft European guidance from CEN on the incorporation of sprinklers in fire-engineered building designs will support their increasing use. In parallel, fire engineering is becoming increasingly accepted in Northern Europe and is likely to be accepted in the future in Southern Europe, where regulators are under pressure to find ways to build more cheaply and fire engineering is a way to achieve it.

Specifically, looking at the design practices and inspection, testing, and maintenance procedures that have been successful around the world will assist countries that are developing regulations and legislation for the inclusion of sprinklers in new construction projects.

The collection of data on these topics is vital to ensure code-making bodies and code enforcement entities make the proper course corrections as new technology and new fire threats emerge. References 1. VdS Vertrauen durch Sicherheit, www. EN Fixed firefighting systems. Automatic sprinkler systems.

Design, installation and maintenance. Components for sprinkler and water spray systems. Wet alarm valve assemblies. Dry alarm valve assemblies. Water motor alarms. Water flow detectors. The Geneva Association, www. All these innovations make sprinkler systems financially more attractive. This will encourage their use in their traditional markets, such as factories and warehouses.

SUMMARY While there are many differences in how various countries around the world approach the design and installation of automatic sprinkler systems, one of the common threads is the success of these systems and the need for further development of standards and enforcement. Bygningsreglement , Erhvervs- og Byggestyrelsen, Communication from Greek Chamber of Commerce, Brandveiligheid in hoge gebouwen — Praktijkrichtlijn, SBR, Rozporzadzenie Ministra spraw Wewnetrznych I Administracji, Decreto-Lei no.

Brandschutznorm, Vereinigung Kantonaler Versicherung, International Fire Sprinkler Association: www. Bill, Jr. Doerr, L. Krasner, J. Kahan, December A cost analysis of sprinklers in schools for the Department for Education and Skills, For a complete record of all changes, along with the full committee statements for both editorial and technical changes, consult the NFPA 13 document page at www.

Table 6. Figure 7. Figure 8. Text has been added on upright and pendent residential sprinklers and the deflector orientation under the ceiling or roof. Figure Used to protect various light, ordinary, and extra hazard occupancies. Response is determined by the fusible glass element thickness — 3mm or less for a QR sprinkler. Typically used for protection in office occupancies. Sprinkler is hidden for aesthetics.

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