Efectis How Safe and secure are on-site applications to ensure fire safety?

As you read this article, you should ask yourself the following questions;
• Considering the products in the structure that I live in or am responsible for, how were they applied?
• Does the mounting method of the products (not only the products) comply with the relevant standard?
• How were the guidelines used by the people applying the products were written?
• Is the functionality of the applications checked periodically by the building owner?

As well as the designs and calculations carried out by architects and engineers in the office environment, the mounting, and applications to be carried out by the on-site teams also affect greatly the fire safety required to be provided in the buildings. Faulty applications on-site play a role both in not providing the fire performance expected from the material or equipment, and in the inadequacy of properly designed projects.

On-site inspections are carried out at certain intervals, considering the progress of on-site production. Architectural and electromechanical materials and systems are examined during the inspections, in order to confirm whether the production processes are progressing in accordance with the regulations and standards. Thus, nonconformities identified before the work is completed can be easily intervened and solutions can be offered suitable for the site.

Efectis Era Avrasya supplies the building materials used on-site, the fire systems (fire pump, control valves, water tank, fire zones, etc.), fire extinguishing systems (sprinkler system, foam system, gas extinguishing system, etc.), smoke evacuation systems, emergency lighting systems, fire detection and warning systems (fire detection panel, detectors, buttons, etc.) and many other requirements within the framework of fire safety rules in terms of size, compliance with standards, hydraulic calculation, equipment placement, system operability, compliance with the test report, and reports deficiencies and inconsistencies and makes necessary recommendations. Periodic surveillance, testing and maintenance are legally required in many articles of our current fire regulations. It is recommended that all persons living in or responsible for a building, work with fire engineers with expertise and experience in fire safety, in order to reduce the burden on themselves and to perform the applications more accurately.

Importance of Mounting Inspections

For products and systems including fire dampers, fire doors, facade systems, smoke evacuation fans, passive fire insulation common in buildings and whose fire performance must be sought, whether the application in the fire resistance tests and the application on-site exactly match and (if any) the product/system fire performance differences should be evaluated by expert fire engineers.

According to the defined product and testing standards of the materials and systems for which fire performance is sought in the regulation, the testing and certification processes must be completed by the manufacturer before the products are placed on the market. The fire resistance testing report published specifically for the product, proves the fire resistance performance of the product according to its mounting method. In order to exhibit similar performance on-site applications, the mounting method used in the test must be applied exactly on-site. Otherwise, it cannot be known to what extent the onsite application will meet the regulation requirements.

In many cases, it is seen that passive fire insulation applications are not modified in accordance with the test report of the manufacturer in the construction site environment, but with the application preference of the dealer/distributor company personnel or with the general application procedures they have applied in different construction sites. In this case, wrong applications can be prevented with the intervention of a competent fire engineer.

Likewise, considering the mounting inspections in terms of active extinguishing systems, with a reverse-connected flow switch on any floor, a control valve or alarm valve that is incorrectly positioned or installed incorrectly in the pump room, or a test line that is incorrectly dimensioned by the installation company, expected results cannot be obtained and the system will not be monitored accordingly.

Efectis Era Avrasya carries out fire safety on-site inspections for numerous applications, including the following:

• On-site inspections for architectural fire safety issues
• Verification of the location of the fire escape cores, size controls of the fire escape stairs and security halls, evaluation of escape routes,
• On-site control of the manufacture of wall systems created for fire compartmentation
• On-site control of fire door, shaft covers, fire or smoke damper manufacturing
• Compliance control of application methods of passive fire insulation products (mortar, mastic, panel, pillow, etc.)
• Control of the mounting methods of the selected building material and building elements (coating, paint, facade systems, etc.)
• Comparison of the designed electrical and mechanical fire installations with the applications on-site
• Observing the application of the products used in fire detection and extinguishing systems (detector, alarm button, siren, flasher, sprinkler head, fire cabinet, hydrant, etc.) on-site.
• Fire detection panel, repeater panel, generator etc. layout control of equipment
• Layout control of extinguishing system equipment
• Conformity of the equipment to be placed in the pump room (pump group, valve, piping, seismic suspension, etc.) to the project.
• Layouts of emergency direction signs
• Layouts and conformity of pressurization and smoke evacuation system equipment