BIM4H Fire Safety signsBy Richard Freer

Below are recommendations that we, as BIM4Housing, are putting forward as the findings of Fire Safety experts. We do not claim these findings to be definitive, but we would hope that they would provide ‘accountable’ and ‘responsible’ persons with some of the detail they would require to ensure that risks are mitigated.

Format

The structure of this set of information is designed to be consumed in various ways by different stakeholder groups doing different things. Therefore, information mentioned in one section may be repeated in another, so they can be applied to a particular activity.

Also, we have sought to organize the information to make it more machine-readable so, although the lists could be reduced by combining similar items, this would make them less easily used in applications.

Despite the need to edit and contextualise, we have tried to retain the authentic voice of our experts throughout. This is especially so in the Appendices, where no colloquialism is left unturned.

Terms of use

This document is not intended as an end-result, but as a snapshot of a dynamic, on-going piece of work being developed by Subject Matter Experts who represent the different interest groups.

We hope it is helpful but is not definitive because, as we have learned from our collaboration, no one knows everything. It should therefore be used to supplement other sources of information, all of which should be validated by a responsible person applying it to a project.

Comments and additional contributions are welcome and a panel of volunteer experts will review suggestions to assess/validate them and augment the guidance as required.

It will be available for free at www.bim4housing.com but should not be printed and used offline, because the information may be updated and be no longer valid.

INTRODUCTION

Structure

We have six Working Groups of experts who understand the individual Stakeholder needs of Development, Design, Construction, Manufacturing, Operations and the specialist Advisors who support the whole process. Each Working Group determines the problems they are experiencing that could be alleviated by better information, often from a different Stakeholder group and they collectively establish Workstreams to collaborate and share knowledge to come up with practical solutions.

They have established Workstreams for MMC, Data Standardisation, Sustainability and Fire Safety and the latter has, in turn, established Round Table workshops that bring together SMEs who really understand specific asset types.

Fire Safety Methodology

It was determined to take individual fire-critical assets and examine impacts and influences through their lifecycle. A series of online discussions were held, along with one-on-one calls and an email gathering of views and inputs. This culminated in a series of Roundtable discussions, each with a clear focus and targeted output. BIM4Housing’s expert team was enhanced by guests from the GTI, along with other fire safety specialists throughout.

Phase 1 defined the over-arching questions that need to be answered, for each asset type, to deliver the BIM-plus solution necessary to the effective functioning of the Golden Thread in terms of Fire Safety.

The questions defined are:

What risks does the asset mitigate?
To what risks is the asset, itself, susceptible?
What information is needed about an asset, to ensure it performs as required?
What tasks/method statements/procedures are required to ensure the asset is installed, commissioned, inspected, and maintained properly?
What level of competency/training needs to be in place?
How should product changes be recorded?

Phase 2 sought to answer those questions, offering a definitive guide to the delivery of The Golden Thread through the effective management of required information.

Phase 3 seeks to build on our ongoing learning and experience and include further assets in our process.

Fire Safety Signs Methodology

The output from a Roundtable (17^th September 2021) was collated and contextualized and combined with further subject matter expert input. Significant participant engagement was achieved prior to the event. The resulting report was then peer-reviewed.

What is a Fire Safety Sign?

A fire safety sign is defined as a sign which provides:

Warning in case of fire.
Information on escape routes and emergency exits (coloured green).
Information on the identification or location of firefighting equipment (coloured red).

Fire exit signs should be displayed immediately above or near to the exit opening, where it is least likely to be obscured or obstructed by smoke.

Buildings that have multiple occupants should adopt a common approach to the provision of fire safety signs, to avoid confusion about exit routes.

FINDINGS

It was determined to look to ‘codify’ risks to enable teams to coalesce around tackling a problem, run scenarios to simulate what might happen and how collaboration can reduce the risk of them happening.

Two other GTI Working Groups, H&S and Standards, have been working with NBS to extend Uniclass to carry a more detailed set of risks and, those identified here, can form part of that.

Clearly, it is not desirable for the ‘Accountable Person’ to be absolved of responsibility for not anticipating a risk, simply because it was not on the list of suggested risks- which should be considered a ‘steer’ not an absolute. However, without that list, it becomes impossible to define and deliver the information needed.

What are the component elements of a Fire Safety Sign?

Mandatory Instruction
Hazard Location and identification
Prohibition instruction
Escape Route identification and Location
Fire Fighting equipment and alarm location
Lifesaving appliance, emergency egress and panic security device identification
Fire and rescue deployment information and flat location
Low proximity flat and floor number identification.
Directional arrow/graphical symbols/supplementary text
Photo luminescent material

Are there any dependencies on other systems?

Illumination
Tenant engagement

Q1a. What risks does Fire Safety Signage mitigate?

Unfamiliarity of built environment
Orientation
Loss of time
Hazard
prohibition of activities that would increase risk
Failure to locate safety refuges
Failure to locate disability assistance call points
Loss of compartmentation

Q1b. To what risks are Fire Safety Signs susceptible?

Smoke logging
Incorrect application
Incorrect design
Vandalism
Poor maintenance
Bad installation
Power failure
Misunderstanding of icon definition

Q2. What information is needed about Fire safety Signs to ensure they perform as required?

Fire Strategy and Risk Assessment
Location (inc x,y,z)
Manufacturer
Model number
Installer
Size/Dimensions
Purpose and Wording (Changes in the building require a new design)
Graphical Symbol

Q3. What tasks are required to ensure Fire Safety Signage is installed, commissioned, inspected, and maintained properly?

(It should be a given that any work on fire safety critical assets should always be undertaken by competent people, probably 3^rd party accredited. However, that person must be supported with any information that they might need to reduce the risk of an important step being missed and to provide an auditable record of what tasks were completed. This is common practice in M&E maintenance, where the industry has developed a significant library of standard procedures and tasks lists, along with roles/competency required.

An air-conditioning unit is maintained by a qualified air conditioning engineer, but the engineer is also issued with a check list for them to record what was done.

A similar industry-wide check list for installation, commissioning, handover, maintenance and recycling could be agreed.)

Industry-standard maintenance instructions – extract from BESA’s SFG20.

Q4. What level of competency/training needs to be in place?

(Industry training courses are critical, but they must be complemented by additional knowledge-transfer from people with many years real experience.

Individual manufacturers have product-specific training which complements the more general training. Such training resources need to be provided in all cases where a product is used – both for new build but also as part of the long-term H&S/O&M information, ideally held as machine-readable data in the Asset information model to ensure maintenance teams have easy access to critical information.)

Installation

Those involved in the design and installation should be able to demonstrate training /qualifications relevant to the systems they design/install and be members of a recognised organisation with accreditation through the likes of
Competency of individual installers demonstrated through certification with a suitable 3rd party accreditation provider. This should include the provision of the manufacturer’s fitting instructions
Specification of which third party accreditations are acceptable (e.g. Trada, Firas, BM Trada, IFC etc.) should be required
Ongoing demonstrable CPD of installer (not simply the company they work for).
Supervisors should have achieved L3 NVQ Diploma in Wood Occupations (Construction) -Site Carpentry (CSCS gold card), or IFE Level 3 Certificate in Passive Fire Protection or be named as a competent supervisor in the company UKAS accreditation (see https://essentialsiteskills.co.uk/course-index)
Installer should have manufacturer-led product-specific installation training, in addition to any formal UKAS accreditation.
Manufacturers should offer installation training, either in their own right, or sub-contracted out to a specialist to provide that service
code of practice should include training materials

Maintenance

Manufacturer-specific installation, commissioning, inspection, maintenance/repair, replacement and recycling requirements should be retained to inform future maintainers of the manufacturers’ recommendations.
Mandatory awareness training should be in place for all people working on site and carrying out maintenance in buildings
Training for the operational team should be required on Standards (BS, CEN etc) plus to give a basic understanding of how to read drawings, commissioning certs and O&M’s
BSI Flex 8670 focuses on the competence of individuals and expects that organisations use this core criteria as part of their management of competency (planning, monitoring, reviewing etc.). This also enables the capture of the skills, knowledge, experience, and behaviours necessary to the undertaking of a defined role, function, activity, or task.

Q5. How are the changes from one product to another recorded?

(If information is not updated, it isn’t information anymore. It is misleading and, possibly, down-right dangerous. If the systems and processes to keep information current are not trusted, then the value of even correct information is compromised.

Robust Change Management requires an information baseline against which the different states – current, proposed, final and ongoing change – can be measured and reported.

The baseline information should contain the required performance in a machine-readable/actionable form and the Change Management process should enable that to be compared with:

the actual performance of the designed solution (probably generic)
the performance of the chosen product against the generic
the performance of an alternative (value engineered?) product
the record of what was used/installed.)

Requirements and Suggestions

A schedule of safety critical elements for the building, to include products specified
Baseline against which to compare proposed alternative products (Some designers have expressed reluctance to propose (not specify) a specific manufactured product that will satisfy their design due to liability, procurement rules and fees)
This schedule would be “Locked” at a specific design stage, after which changes to products specified should not occur except for exceptional reasons
A formal change management system is required to ensure that any unavoidable changes are validated by a ‘responsible’ person e.g. original designer and/or fire engineer
There is a well-established change management process in construction called Technical Submissions in which requested changes from the specifications/recommendations, that were created by the designers (and selected manufacturers), need to be formally reviewed and approved. Design-and-Build procurement has affected that process and it should be re-established in a way that the performance of a proposed product, and its constituent components, is easily compared with the proposed alternative and, if agreed, it is recorded as a Technical Deviation
Validation of changes would include verifying that the new product met all the requirements for the application with no detriment to the overall design, the details of which should be recorded (Changes in the product may be made between design and procurement, procurement and installation, handover and ongoing maintenance)
More onus needs to be on the client during the collation of Information Requirements and the updating of design models into ‘as installed’ content suitable for Asset/Facilities Management
Full Disclosure of the product is needed at handover so that after Work Stage 7, if a manufacturer goes out of business or products change the record is there in perpetuity
Asset database must be kept up to date with core data for new installs. Installation documents should be held in a centralised digital location. Once BIM/COBie level data is manageable within the asset management system then this will be used as the main source of data.
BIM, CAFM, Asset and Housing management systems must inform the change management process
H&S files for each building (cradle to grave) must be supplied, recorded and be updated with notification of changes and the implications.
Warranty information of the existing and the proposed products should be provided to allow proper consideration to be made on the selection of an alternative or replacement. If a product has a shorter life than another, this information should be available to inform selection. Given some of the products will be in locations that are difficult to locate, the longevity of a product could have safety implications.
Compliance systems should be informed with the information from the AIM
Asset tagging (barcode) systems and processes should be considered as forming part of the change management process.
Procurement should be included in the process, recording what was purchased and feeding that into the BIM process to locate where they were installed, or which products they are replacing.
Specification or design brief for the business (performance and or product) should be recorded in a machine-readable format to enable validation against the Golden Thread.
Record the compatibility and compliance of any ancillaries and confirm they comply with the test data? (Ironmongery, door access control systems, vision panels, vents)
Any adjustment, repair, addition to / removal of product, ironmongery or fittings must be recorded and should only be undertaken by a licensed / accredited contractor (this includes and modification to an existing asset)
The asset information needs to enable comparison, but the original performance spec of the Fire Safety signs and the related information such as Fire Strategy and Cause and Effect should form part of that Technical Deviation process. The FMs must be able to update the Asset Information Model with machine-readable data of the newly installed product
Recording who has worked on/replaced the component and their entitlement/competence to do so
Evidence that the component’s performance in relation to the part it plays in the system has been considered and is warranted
Manufacturers must provide a component list (e.g. ironmongery on a door) so if anything breaks, a direct replacement can be used.
Removal of certain products/materials must be undertaken by people who are on an approved list, certified by an accreditation body and should require advance notice to all certification holders, with signoff to ensure traceability

APPENDIX 1

BIM4Housing Structure

APPENDIX 2

Participants

Chris Watts Wavelength Fire Safety

George Stevenson ActivePlan

Gordon Rolfe Platinum Property Management

Jack White Clarion

Jim Creak Jalite Plc

Joanna Harris Sodexo

Thorns Peter Zumtobel Group