Managing Fire Safety Through Construction Reece Walker Arup Fire Engineer
Contents When it goes wrong, what is at risk Legislation and Guidance Who s responsible Risk assessment process Project Case Study BNS Example of assessments undertaken Good/Bad practise Lessons learned 2
3 When it goes wrong
What is at risk? Life Property/assets Reputation Operational continuity Construction programme Delivery of the project 4
What exists to manage construction site fire safety? The legislation and guidance Legislation and Guidance
Who manages fire safety in construction? Client Principle Contractors Sub-Contractors Building tenants (if remaining operational) Local authorities Health and Safety executive Stakeholders 6
How do we manage fire safety in construction? Identify the hazards and understand the people at risk Evaluate, remove and reduce the risk Process Fire Precautions General Fire Precautions Record, plan, inform, instruct and train Review requirements 7
8 Process Fire Precautions
General Fire Precautions Commissioning and Certification for temporary measures is critical! 9
10 Project Case Study Birmingham New Street
BNS Overview 140,000+ passengers use Birmingham New Street Station every day A train departs or arrives at the Station every 37 seconds The building and work consists of: - Refurbishment of 12 sub-surface train platforms - Station office/staff areas - Station concourse including 25 new retail units - Upper Level shopping centre with 45+ new retail units - New 5 Storey John Lewis anchor store - New atrium space connecting all of the above areas 11
Project complexities The Station train operations were required to continue as normal and could not be reduced (operating between 0430 0130 most days) - little time for out of hours work The impact of a Station false evacuation or fire event (however small) would have a major cost implication and impact on the UK s rail industry Many of the shopping centre retail units remained operational throughout construction and required public access to be maintained Several Stakeholders are responsible for the building - communication Sub-Surface Regulations - Strict Regulations for platforms and Concourse Alterations Notice Served on Principle Contractor, Network Rail and Savills by the Fire Service 12
Who are the Duty Holders/Stakeholders? Responsible persons: - Network Rail own the station premises - Savills maintain the shopping centre and act as the facility manager - Mace employ people to work on the construction site Birmingham Building Control (Regulatory Authority) Birmingham City Council (Ultimate owner of Shopping Centre) West Midlands Fire Service (Regulatory Authority) 13
Regulatory enforcement The CDM regulations sets out very specific fire safety duties And in a premises containing persons not just carrying out construction work, triggers the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 (RRO). The RRO for this particular type of site was considered to: remove the enforcement of the general fire precautions (GFP) from the HSE and place it on the Fire and Rescue Authority (West Midlands Fire Service in this case) retain the enforcement of the process fire precautions (PFP) with the HSE 14
15 Alterations Notice
What was Arup s role? Arup were employed by Mace to be their competent fire safety advisor to provide the following: 1. Work closely with the planners, construction managers and sub contractors to understand/plan and co-ordinate all stages of the construction programme 2. Risk assess the impact of the construction work on the operational Station and Shopping centre general fire precautions (GFP) and operations 3. Agree mitigation measures and solutions with Network Rail, Savills, Building Control and the Fire Service 4. Educate and enforce the requirements of the risk assessments on site 5. Continually review all work to update the assessments when required Keeping the project on programme safely!!!! 16
How was the risk managed Contractor FRA (PFP): Sub-contractors and Mace Fire Safety Manager Fire Hazard and Risk Review (GFP): Arup Works package Plan: Area Managers Works can proceed in compliance with RRO Stakeholder agreement and implementation of additional measures if required 17
Stakeholder engagement process: implemented by Arup Network Rail fire safety team/cdm co-ordinator Arup Agree approach for Mace construction work to proceed West Midlands Fire Service Birmingham City Council BCC/Savills 18
Scale of the project 200m Station Concourse Construction site 200m 19
Project life cycle How did the project safely get from the existing condition in 2010 to the completely new design in 2015? 2010/11 Existing Station and Shopping Centre FRA in place Over the following 4-5 year period Arup have produced over 250 fire risk assessments for the ever changing temporary building condition. This included large Area risk assessments to cover the entire building including public and construction areas down to smaller specific assessments that addressed specific items of localised work. 20
21 Risk Assessment examples
Technical Assessments Smoke Control Existing smoke control system was required to be removed at Platform level while remaining operational for passengers We assessed the performance of a temporary smoke control impulse fan system using (CFD modelling) which later became a final design solution 22
Technical Assessments Means of escape Mass motion 3D modelling was undertaken to assess the impact of closed exits, reduced platform widths Due to the complex dynamic arrangement and large occupancy, standard guidance and hand calculations were considered insufficient 23
24 Impact on adjoining properties
Temporary occupation of areas FRA required for TOC occupation in the temporary condition Substantial risk from a construction site fire was required to be assessed and mitigated 25
26 Holistic Building risk assessments Final stages
27 Development of detailed risk assessment solutions
Emergency Response Solutions 28
Bad Practise Combustible management No control Incorrect/un-certified compartmentation Incorrect use of fire marshals Maintenance of equipment Cable reels Halogen lamps Acetylene Flammables incorrectly stored Blocked escape routes/poor signage 29
Good Practise All staff being conscious of basic fire safety Maintaining clear escape routes Control of combustible materials Fire extinguishers Hot work permits Flamm banks Understanding your competency and your responsibilities Site fire safety manager/enforcer Secure sites to prevent arson 30
Lessons Learned Be conscious of fire safety at the start of the project; save yourself time and money Consult HSG 168 to guide yourself and others Don t assume take advice in complex issues such as shared sites Communication and co-ordination Competency and implementation. Be simplistic and clear so that everyone can understand Fire safety is involved in everything Planning is critical Learn from near misses/incidents; hold event reviews 31
32 Any Burning Questions?