Maxwell Building is of block and concrete construction and is situated on the main campus adjacent to The Crescent. The interior is primarily solid wall or plaster board partition construction, separated by wood and/or fire resisting doors.
The occupation is spread over 9 floors and the building is primarily used for teaching rooms and departmental offices. The building also houses ‘Café Neo’ cafeteria and shop, the Reprographics unit, laboratories, a library and the ‘Think Lab’. The building is connected to Maxwell Hall via a walkway on the 3rd floor.
The main department using the building is The Faculty of Business, Law and the Built Environment although other schools use large areas of the building. Campus Security have their main office in the reception area of the building.
Methodology.
The fire risk assessment was undertaken using the framework outlined in the British Standard PAS 79:2007. The process involved a visual inspection of all accessible areas on a floor by floor basis to determine:
1. Potential sources of ignition.
2. Combustible materials.
3. Means of detection.
4. Means of escape.
5. Emergency lighting.
6. Means of fighting fire.
7. Fire safety signage.
8. Procedures and training.
9. Structural features.
10. Hazardous areas.
11. Significant hazards requiring further control.
12. Risk level.
Findings.
1. Potential sources of ignition.
The potential sources of ignition identified in the building are:
· Electrical appliances, including computer equipment.
· Electrical equipment brought into the building by event organisers or staff.
· Equipment in laboratories on floors 0 and 1.
· Cooking appliances in commercial kitchens.
· Tools used by contractors.
· Microwaves and toasters in staff kitchens.
· Arson, as the building is open access for students/visitors.
· Photocopiers are present in most departments.
· Printing machinery in the reprographics department.
As specialist equipment and materials are used in the laboratories on levels 0 and 1 and in the Reprographics Unit, separate risk assessments are required from the department responsible for those areas. These must be suitable and sufficient and carried out by a competent person. Machinery in these areas should also be well maintained and serviced regularly.
2. Combustible materials.
These are primarily:
· Paper files in offices.
· Chemicals used/stored in laboratories on levels 0 and 1.
· Paper / small quantities of solvents in reprographics unit.
· Recycling bins adjacent to photocopiers.
· Materials stored in loading bay.
· Contractor’s materials introduced to the building during alterations.
· Cooking oil in kitchens.
· Gas bottles in the bottle store in the well.
· Open notice boards.
3. Means of detection.
The building has automatic detection in the form of smoke and heat detectors. There are also numerous manual call points which are mostly located near to exit doors and escape routes. The detection system meets the requirements of BS 5839 part 1 - L4/M.
4. Means of escape.
The building has 4 main stairwells spaced evenly along the length of the building. For ease of identification in this document these have been numbered 1 to 4, with stairwell 1 being at the Crescent end of the building and stairwell 4 to the Peel Park end of the building. The capacities of the stairwells are as follows;
The following numbers are based on the figures in ‘Building Regulations 2000 – Fire Safety: Approved Document B.’.
Table 1.
Stairwell / Width / Number of floors served / Capacity#1 / 1800mm / 7 / 735
#2 / 2300mm / 8 / 810
#3 / 1800mm / 8 / 810
#4 / 1400mm / 5 / 445
Total capacity for all stairwells / 2800
Minus loss of highest capacity stairwell / 1990
Maximum number of occupants on upper floors / 1990
Now the alterations stated on the improvement notice (see appendix) have been completed and passed off by the Fire Service the building has adequate vertical escape capacity for the occupancy numbers.
Floor specific items.
Level 2.
The shutter on the reception of the Salford Resources School must remain open whilst rooms 224 and 225a/b are in use.
Disabled visitors to the building can access all floors via the lifts on stairwells 1, 2 and 3. A separate exit is provided on level three via the walkway to Maxwell Hall. This provides a safe refuge for disabled visitors for level 3 but would require the use of lifts to access it from other floors. Specific refuge points are provided elsewhere in the building on the stairwell 1 and stairwell 2.
An evacuation lift is present in stairwell 2 which can be operated by the Building Controller and some of the evacuation team.
The banister on stairwell 2 has had upholstery nails added to the handrail on each floor to correspond with the floor number. This is to aid a partially sighted member of staff when leaving the building.
5. Emergency Lighting.
The building is fitted with escape lighting which is designed to enable safe exit in the event of a power failure. This appears to be adequate from a visual inspection.
6. Means of fighting fire.
The building is equipped with portable fire extinguishers which are located in pairs of one water and one carbon dioxide extinguisher adjacent to call points on escape routes and in higher risk areas such as plant rooms and kitchens suitable extinguishers are provided dependant on risk. These are serviced annually by the Estates appointed subcontractors.
7. Signage.
The building is adequately fitted with a variety of fire safety signs. These include fire exit, extinguisher, fire-action and call point signs and are compliant with the Safety (Signs and Signals) Regulations 1996.
8. Fire Procedures.
An evacuation plan is in place and fire drills are carried out annually. The plan needs to be reviewed to ensure it contains an up to date list of appointed fire wardens and building controllers. Fire action notices are present in the building by each manual call point and in areas where they were deemed necessary. These give guidance to members of the public as to assembly points and emergency contacts in the event of a fire.
Fire wardens, building controllers and their deputies have been given specific training though HS&W. Registers for this training are held by HS&W.
9. Structural Features.
The improvement notice in the appendix required the reinstatement of stairwell 2 as a protected route and detailed the areas that required alterations. These requirements have been met and the building passed off by the fire service after a subsequent inspection.
10. Areas of specific risk.
The laboratories on levels 0 and 1 use specific equipment and materials. A separate risk assessment is required for these areas.
The kitchen for the canteen on level 2 is of higher risk than the rest of the building.
A gas bottle store is located in the well area on level 1 (outside the building). Stocks of bottles are kept to a minimum to reduce the fire risk.
11. Significant hazards requiring further control:
General Items Identified / Action required / Department responsible.See review record for minor actions.
12. Risk level.
The following assessment of risk is based on the building after completion of the additional controls identified above.
Likelihood X Severity = Risk Level
of Fire
ê ê ê
2 X 3 = 6
Control measures to manage the fire risk in Maxwell Building are quantified as: Adequate
Risk Rating:
4 / 8 / 12 / 16 / 20
3 / 6 / 9 / 12 / 15
2 / 4 / 6 / 8 / 10
1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5
Increasing Likelihood
/ 17-25 Unacceptable – Stop activity and make immediate improvements/seek further advice
10-16 Tolerable – look to improve within specified timescale
5-9 Adequate – Look to improve at next review
1-4 Acceptable - No further action, but ensure controls are maintained
Guide to using the risk rating table:
Consequences1 Insignificant – no impact
2 Minor – minor interruption to activity/process
3 Moderate – some damage to property/business interruption
4 Major – significant internal damage to property
5 Catastrophic –major disaster e.g. loss of life/loss of a building/impact on surrounding areas
Likelihood
1 Very unlikely – 1 in a million chance of it happening
2 Unlikely – 1 in 100,000 chance of it happening
3 Fairly likely – 1 in 10,000 chance of it happening
4 Likely – 1 in 1,000 chance of it happening
5 Very likely – 1 in 100 chance of it happening
Bibliography.
Office of the Deputy Prime Minister. The Building Regulations 2000. Fire safety Approved Document B. (2006 ed.) TSO, London.
Maxwell lift ID20 (centre stairwell)
Statement of compatibility with BS 9999:2008 Code of practice for fire safety in the design, management and use of buildings
Synopsis of works carried out
Refurbishment work was carried out during summer 2010 to bring the lift up to current DDA standards, and to allow the lift to be used as an evacuation lift under the control of trained staff, for the evacuation of disabled building occupants.
Standards
The current (2010) British Standard for fire fighting lifts (which also covers their use as an evacuation lift) is BS9999. This lift refurbishment does not conform to that standard, i.e. it is not a fire fighting lift, however it does comply with the now superseded standard for evacuation lifts BS5588 part 8. This approach was agreed with Building Control at a meeting held on 20th November 2009
This lift does not meet BS9999 in the following principal respects:
· Protected lobbies are not provided at each landing level
· The shaft is not protected
· No provision has been made to prevent water from fire fighting activities entering the shaft
· The landing doors are not smoke and fire resistant
Power supplies
A stipulated requirement of BS5588 part 8 is that the lift should be capable of being powered from either of two independent power supplies, so as to maintain serviceability during a fire. Maxwell Building is supplied via two independent mains cables and a second supply to the lift to the following specification was provided as part of the refurbishment works, taken from a distribution board fed by the supply which did not previously serve the lift.
· New 3phase & neutral 63amp electrical supply taken from the canteen kitchen store room distribution board in Maxwell Building. New 4 core and neutral 35mm2 PVC/PVC/SWA complete with a separate 16mm2 earth cable installed to the lift motor room by way of the ceiling space above Maxwell Building reception area rising up the lift shaft of the evacuation lift to the lift motor room.
· New SWA Cable surface clipped inside of the lift shaft in accordance with the cable clipping distances detailed in BS 6700, earth cable securely cable tied to the new SWA Cable. New cable securely cable tied to the existing cable tray within the Maxwell Building reception area ceiling space.
· New 3 phase and neutral 63A Intelligent Load Transfer Panel installed into the lift motor room as close as possible to lift motor control equipment.
· Existing lift supply and new stand by supply connected to the new Load Transfer Panel which then supplies the lift motor control equipment.
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