Essay: Fire Safety Compliance In Single-Storey Shopping Centre Report.

Objective

Objective:

The sufficient compliance according to the Building code of Australia (BCA2016) has been presented in this report and the proposed building here is said to be the single storey shopping centre, which is located at Lot 1 Ruler Highway, Western Australia. Moreover, any inadequate compliance with the building is also observed and certain amendments are reported according to the BCA that serves to be consistent with the Fire safety engineering guidelines.

Building Code of Australia (BCA):

Building Code of Australia (BCA) was developed by Australian Building Code Board (ABCD) by the National Construction Code (NCC). This report has been written regarding the fire safety rules and regulation that was developed by the Building Code of Australia (BCC). In order to satisfy the Fire Safety regulatory reform order of 2005 for the basic buildings, type A risk assessment has been carried out. For the sustainable building it is necessary to utilize maximum amount of natural resources in order to avoid fire (Babrauskas, 2008).

BCA requirements should be followed based on the type of the building. The types of buildings are as follows (BSI 2011):

Type A: Group I buildings and mid-rise office along with the Group R building is considered as Type A where the walls of the building should be non-combustible and resist fire.

Type B: The apartments and the commercial buildings come under this category (Chow, Zou, 2009). The masonry and the concrete should have the load bearing property.

Type C: In this case, the fire protection is not necessary. Timber could be used for this purpose.

Performance Solution 1:

The building is said to have the retail floor area of about 28,011.7 square meters with five anchor tenancies. This area is said to be greater than 18,000 square meters and hence the rules according to C2.3 part (b) applies on the building that is extremely massive in size (Brink, Van den V., 2015). According to this clause, the fire compartment sizing can exceed the specification as per the table C2.2 where the structure is class 5,6,7,8 or 9 and the area of its entire floor exceeds the particular area if

• It attains to the specification E1.5 which indicates that there is adequate provisions for the sprinkler system confirming to E1.5 and
• There is a provision around the perimeter, which could accommodate access of vehicular units as stated in C2.4

It is not possible to provide the automatic fire detection and alarm system for the larger buildings that exceeds above 18,000 square meters (Chiti, 2009). According to BCA tale E2.2, smoke hazard management could be made possible.

Performance solution 2:

It is necessary to have an exit door at a distance of 90 m apart from any tenancy according to BCA (2016). Vol.1 section D1.5 clearly states that exists necessary as unconventional means of egress need to be part (c) not beyond:

• 45 meter apart for class 2 or class 3 buildings
• For a clinic or hospital that belongs to class 9a, the distance could be 45 meter apart that serves as a best exit for the patients
• 60 meter apart except the above mentioned cases.

For the part (d), it is permitted to be 6m that serves as an alternative which should not converge with the existing one (Hu, 2017). With the consideration of DP4 and EP2.2, the performance solution with the particular exit is sufficient.

Performance solution 3:

According to DP4, in order to allow a safe evacuation of residents (Nilsson & van Hees, 2012), the provisions are to be made for suitable exists with the specific consideration on the size of the occupants as well as their respective locations and number to be accommodated that should be appropriate to the following:

• SS-B: the total flexibility and other features of the inhabitants
• SS-D: Building height
• SS-E: the distance of the exit from the basement level.

Building Code of Australia (BCA)

According to the statement of DP6, the residents could be evacuated safely from the buildings or apartments from the exit path that have the following:

1. The path should be designed in such a way according to the number of occupants, movements etc.
2. It is necessary to design the way based of the functionality of the structure.

The specifications in EP2.2 should be considered without any exceptions and any relevant positions ensured (Oxford English Dictionary, 2013). The proposed width of 25.5 meter is inadequate pursuant to D1.14 for the projected number of persons at 4990. In compliance with NSW D1.6 dimension of exits should be at least 32 meter that could be adopted. Section D1.2 (j) in a class 9B building - (I) the width should be above 2m and additional 500mm is necessary for 50 persons and exceeding 200 requires a part of it

Performance solution 4:

The performance of latch is stated in D2.21. According to this, a door should be opened and it could be opened in the side of the person facing towards the door by-

1. The location of the single device from a single hand downwards action at a distance of 900 mm and 1.1 m from the ground. This serves as an area that could be accessible by Part D3-

• That could be in a way, when a person could not have a grip, could avoid slippage from the handle during the working of latch, and
• Having a clearance among the black plate and the handle's center (the grip position), which should be within 35-45 mm; or

2. The location of the single device from a single hand upwards action at a distance of 900 mm and 1.2 m from the ground.

This requirement is partially compiled with the report (Proulx, 2008). The 21 exits provided are of sufficient widths. Only certain latches operate to roller shutters rendering other incompetent according to the specified regulations (Rubin, Brewin, Greenberg, Hughes,  Simpson & Wessely, 2007). There is a need to conform all to the standards hence full compliance to D2.21 for performance solution 4.

In compliance with DP2: In order to have a safe movement within the buildings, the following provision should be done:

• Proper gradients should be provided in the walking surface
• The door should be promoted in such a way for an easy egress and no one should be trapped within the compartment.
• Slippery resistant staircases and ramps should be offered
• Sufficient handrails should be provided for the people who use stairways
• Sufficient loading should be made in order to provide ventilation
• Door does not make any obstruction to the ramp or stairways and safe landing should be possible.

In compliance with DP3:

This is a case where the people could fall-

1. a) 1m or more

• From the roof or the fall from which a person have a chance to fall out from the building external wall other than the window
• Change in the level suddenly that is linked with the building.

In compliance with DP4:

To allow safe evacuation of the residents / users, provisions (Winter, Moore, Davis & Strauss, 2013) are to be made for suitable exists with the specific considerations on the size of the occupants, as well as their respective locations and the number to be accommodated with respect to the distance to be covered, total flexibility and other features of the residents, the intended use of the building, building height and the occurrence of the exit as either below or above the ground level.

In compliance with DP5:

To ensure the safety of the building residents during evacuation protocols and instances especially as a result of fire, the exits of the building should be isolated. The degree of isolation must conform the following:

• Total storey serviceable by exists
• System put in place for fire safety consideration of the buildings
• Purpose of the building
• Number of storey associated with the exit, and
• Intervention of fire brigade

Performance solution 5:

The fire hydrants have been clearly stated in E1.3 The fire hydrants should be placed in the building by the following manner:

• With an estimated floor area at a distance less than 500 meters
• In instances where a team of fire brigade are accessible in case of fire occurrence in the buildings
• Installation should be done in compliance with AS 2419.1 that does not include class 8 electricity substation not necessary to confirm the CL4.2 of As 2419 if,
• The connection to the main supply is not offered
• Waste storage for an hour is given to fight against the fire.

Fire hydrants that are located outside should be fixed with two measurements of hose and located adjacent to each exit is thus suitable (Xin & Khan, 2007). Provisions to guarantee ten spray provided by the hydrant should reach all points on the floor is adequate. A provision of wall drenchers at the esoteric of the external walls promotes a shield to the hydrant systems. The protective area should be at least two meters from each side of the hydrant and at least three meters from the ground.

Performance solution 6:

In compliance to EP2.2 and DP4 the performance requirements are fulfilled. The model exhaust system is to rum twice the evacuation time with the assumed fire flash over when the inclusion temperature hits 750 degree Celsius (Zimmerman & Restrepo, 2009). The use of smoke sensors and temperature sensors such as thermocouple that is to be placed at a distance of 2 meter beyond the applicable ground level, in order to permit the smoke and measure the temperature.

Performance Solution 1

Fire-rated systems are categorized into fire barriers, fire walls fire partitions, smoke barriers and smoke partitions (Utne, Hokstad  & Vatn, 2011). Smoke dampers and the fire dampers along with the combination of HVAC when the fire occurs. They could work as a separate system as well as combined system. The installation and the functioning of the smoke dampers could vary with the fire dampers (Dobashi, 2017).

Performance Solution 7:

According to D1.4 part (c) of class 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9 dwellings (Winter, Moore, Davis & Strauss, 2013) with the excessive travelling time to the exit subjected to (d), (e), (f)-

• The exit distance from any point of the floor should not exceed a range beyond 20 meters. The point from which various direction from the exit should not exceed 40 meters.
• For certain buildings that belong to class 5 or 6, the distance among the exit and the open space could be at the maximum distance 30 meters.

Travel distance to some exists of 60 m are in contravention to the required limit of 40 m. This is not suitable hence in such cases where the travel distance to the exceed the minimum should be redesigned.

Conclusion:

Thus the single storey shopping centre that is located at Lot 1 Ruler Highway, Western Australia is completely studied and the necessary amendment has also been explained with the fire safety rules and BCA. By referring the International Fire Engineering Guidelines with the principles of BCA the above performance solution has been obtained. The depth knowledge regarding these guidelines could protect the construction from fire and it also educates the occupants while dealing with the occurrence of fire. All the building and the materials chosen for their construction should satisfy the standards of BCA that could the asset from any environmental situation.

References:

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