Fire & Safety
Recommendations for disabled refuge areas
Matt Tighe, technical service manager with ESP, part of the Scolmore Group of companies, looks at the specific recommendation for refuge areas to be provided with an emergency voice communication (EVC) system conforming to BS 5839-9 and the provision of such an EVC system.
I
t is essential that persons can escape from a building should fire occur. The building regulations in all parts of the United Kingdom have similar requirements. For example, in England Regulation B1 states: “The building shall be designed and constructed so that there are appropriate provisions for the early warning of fire, and appropriate means of escape in case of fire from the building to a place of safety outside the building capable of being safely and effectively used at all material times.”
It is always necessary for all persons to escape; this will include those with disabilities which precludes rapid and safe evacuation. There will, therefore, be times when it will be necessary for persons escaping to have access to areas where it is safe to wait for a short period; such areas are called refuges.
Approved Document B Volume 2 Fire Safety 2019 (incorporating 2020 and 2022 amendments) (ADB2) gives guidance on the recommendations for refuges to ensure compliance with legislation. Further guidance is also given in BS 9999: 2017
Fire safety in the design, management and use of buildings – Code of practice.
This article briefly considers the specific recommendation for refuges to be provided with an emergency voice communication (EVC) system conforming to BS 5839-9 and the provision of such an EVC system, such as those produced by ESP under the Beacon Range.
Refuge
The presence and nature of a refuge will need to be considered on a case-by-case basis. Fig 1 (below) is based on Diagram 3.1 and Fig 2 (right) on Diagram 3.2 of ADB2. These detail examples of refuges formed in a protected stairway. There may be instances where a refuge extends into rooms which are near those exemplar areas detailed in DB2. Annex G of BS 9999 details other examples of refuge areas.
Approved Document B
In the refuge, ADB2 recommends that the EVC system consists of Type B outstations communicating with a master station in the
building control room (should one exist) or next to the fire detection and alarm panel. It is permitted for the EVC system to be wireless. BS 9999
Clause 45.8 of BS 9999 recognises that refuges are places of relative safety and references the normative annex G in the Standard. Once the number and locations of refuges have been decided by the key stakeholders (see Clause 5 BS 5839-9), Annex G recommends that procedures are established for independent communication between the occupants and evacuation management personnel. The recommendations detailed in clause 45.8 and Annex G of BS 9999 will require an emergency voice communication system to be installed.
The emergency voice communication system should conform to the recommendations of BS 5839-9: 2021 Fire detection and fire alarm systems for buildings. Part 9: Code of practice for the design, installation, commissioning and maintenance of emergency voice communication systems.
Fig 1. Diagram 3.1 Refuge formed by compartmentation ADB2
30 | electrical wholesalerSeptember 2023
ewnews.co.uk
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44
