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Future safe Louise Plant describes how sprinkler systems are helping mitigate fire risks in the advanced technologies used in manufacturing
booms and downturns. Today’s technological advances are transforming the industry further and are bringing radical changes in associated industries. Automation within production plants and manufacturing spaces has also drastically increased in the last 15 years. In fact, many of today’s factories are automated,
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which makes it possible to work smarter and faster. The advancements that are happening in modern day automation are referred to as ‘the fourth industrial revolution’, or ‘Industry 4.0’. This represents the closer working relationship between man and machine, and the use of collaborative robots or ‘cobots’. These work together with humans to reduce safety hazards and improve the effi ciency of production processes. As these facilities become more complex, with high levels of automation and high density racking, the risk for property and life safety due to fi re is increased. The recent destruction of a state of the art building highlighted the issue of fi re safety within highly automated buildings. Whilst an award
HROUGH THE years, the manufacturing industry in the UK has gone through many advancements, and survived economic
winning, advanced fi re suppression system was in place, it took 200 fi refi ghters and several days of intense fi refi ghting efforts to extinguish the blaze. This building was a prototype with more than 1,100 robots swarming over a 3D frame called a ‘grid’ to locate stored goods. Travelling at up to four metres a second, the robots would fulfi l a typical pick order in around fi ve minutes. Whilst the cause is still under investigation,
early reports suggest that it may have been caused by a malfunctioning robot and the confi guration of the high density racking. This reportedly made accessing and fighting the fi re physically challenging. This particular fi re is a red fl ag indicator that critical life safety and fi re protection systems must keep pace with the development of these highly automated spaces.
Sprinkler effi ciency
When designing a building, it is imperative to adopt effi cient safety measures which eliminate risks, such as falls and fire, together with meeting the legislation and codes of practice required, helping prevent devastating impacts.
36 DECEMBER 2019/JANUARY 2020
www.frmjournal.com
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