Siemens Effective Planning for Fire Life Safety Upgrades

Effective Planning for Safety Upgrades executives have two choices for upgrading fire life safety systems One to wait until the entire system is so old that it has to be replaced The other is to modernize the system in smaller regular steps This phased enables facility executives to budget more effectively for while accelerating the adoption of new technology Phased also reduces the cost and difficulties of maintaining aging fire safety systems white paper addresses crucial fire life safety issues that facility should consider when planning upgrades including Advances in fire life safety system technology Problems with aging fire life safety systems Why most facility executives use phased modernization Budgeting for fire life safety system upgrades Minimizing disruptions with upgrades paper it alarms detectors control panels or monitoring and systems today fire life safety systems are far more ad than systems that are 10 years old or older New systems addressable and often offer Internet connectivity and emer announcement capabilities They have networking capabili and may use management station computer based annuncia and control to new technology can bring significant benefits Fire safety upgrades people out of the building to a safe place conditions in the building become untenable says Chris engineering program executive for the Society of Fire Engineers alarms and smoke detectors catch the development as soon as possible resulting in faster notifica of building management and the fire department The smoke removal system reroutes smoke and gases so condi do not become untenable too quickly And all of these help property as well loss due to fire amounts to more than 2 billion annual according to National Fire Protection Association statistics A fire impact can stretch across years Studies show that 50 70 percent of companies that experience a major fire go out of within three years Business interruption insurance will for some losses while repairs are made but during period valuable customers may move their business perma to the competition facts help explain why even in a weak economy invest in fire life safety systems is a priority for many organiza Among facility executives who responded to a fire safety by Siemens Industry Inc 58 percent have upgraded or in a new fire life safety system in the past five years and 46 anticipate upgrading or installing a new system in the five years See Figures 1 and 2 More than 1,100 respon whose firms own or manage commercial offices educa facilities government buildings and health care centers the email survey our clients fire life safety is not a luxury says Raymond Grill principal in charge of fire engineering practice for the at Arup and upgraded fire life safety systems aren limited to items by code Of respondents who installed new or upgrad systems 51 percent reported making an investment in mea not required by code Figure 3 shows additional functional most often specified in those projects Modernization is Industry Standard facility executives set out to upgrade their fire life safety sys they have two basic choices either use a form of phased or do a wholesale replacement of the aging system modernization is the upgrade method preferred by a large of survey respondents 78 percent called phased mod their most common approach to fire life safety up See Figure 4 good approach to phased modernization is to make the new Building Operating Management Siemens Industry Inc 1 Most companies have recently or installed new fire safety systems 2 Many companies are planning safety system upgrades 3 Companies are specifying fire life safety beyond code requirements 57 4 Phased modernization is most upgrade strategy panel the first priority One reason the modernization begin at the panel is that the phased modernization will be more alarm detector lines in subsequent years The panel connected to the existing periphery units which then can be line by line as necessary to starting with the control panel include integration security and building automation systems Facility personnel immediately from the control panel ease of use as com to older panels And the periphery fire life safety alarm de system can be replaced as the investment plan permits alternative to phased modernization is wholesale replace Wholesale replacement often begins by installing a new panel that is integrated with the existing one Then the lines are individually replaced and connected to new control panel Once all alarm detector lines are connect to the new control panel the old control panel is removed this approach a completely new state of the art system is in place with no interruption in fire life safety coverage Advantage of Newer Technology executives report a variety of advantages of phased mod See Figure 5 Number one on the list is the desire to the system up to date modernization allows facility executives to take immedi advantage of today advanced technologies Current systems identify precisely where a fire originates helping in the evac of building occupants by fire personnel They offer digital some diagnostics and programming capabilities They also provide insight into hazards or other special consider that might exist in the affected area A modern smoke de outside a restaurant area can be set to expect a larger of false phenomena resulting in a higher tolerance another smoke detector in say the telephone switching can detect smoke with much greater sensitivity technology brings real benefits according to facility execu For example Paul Mendel senior vice president of facilities RB Management Services explains that RB does long term life studies of its clients fire life safety systems tell them status of their fire alarms their sprinkler systems and when will need to be replaced along with a current budget figure Mendel some cases we might say this portion of the fire safety system can be nursed along but two years from now it to be replaced so you need to be budgeting for it Most build owners are receptive to this approach because they under the importance of fire life safety Mathews just finished a phased modernization in part of a building were putting in a new tenant would occupy most of the third floor so we upgraded the safety system in that space says Tom Sante vice presi of Kidder Mathews we get tenant turnover we will tie in balance of the building to the new upgrades appreciates that newer fire life safety systems are address far more dependable and can be expanded as needs arise also appreciate fire life safety improvements and regular Building Operating Management Siemens Industry Inc 5 Benefits of phased modernization 6 Funding is major upgrade challenge 5 Major Challenge