Hi and welcome back to my blog, I hope you all enjoyed your Easter break and are back feeling refreshed and revitalised.
Here at Fire Safe Sprinkler Systems we are involved with many hotel projects at both the design and the construction level and we are very much aware that Hotel Fire Safety is not just about fire detection.
The safety of guests is a primary function for hotel operators. If you remove the obvious threat to the lives of guests and employees, the harm to the hotel’s reputation is considerable and may never recover.
Hotel operators must ensure that the company providing the design of the fire safety systems are part of the team at the beginning of the projects initial design phase to ensure that the hotel has a reliable, integrated fire protection system that offers early and dependable fire detection, as well as timely evacuation concepts and clearly defined escape routes.
Statistics show that fire safety should be given a higher priority by some hotel owners. An average of one in every 12 hotels in the US reported a fire every year and an estimated average of 3,700 structure fires in hotels and motels is reported annually, resulting in yearly loss of 12 lives and injury to 143 people. 12 % of fires are said to have begun within guests’ rooms, accounting for 72% of the deaths of guests and staff. Smoking materials have been found to be the cause of fire in 79% of these deaths.
In the USA alone, the cost of damage to hotel property averages around US$127 million every year.
Fire prevention in any hotel involves ensuring the installation of adequate fire detection systems in guests’ rooms, public and ‘back-of-house’ areas, as well as implementing safe working practices in high-risk areas such as the kitchen.
Any detection system needs to be accurate, reliable and ‘intelligent’ i.e. capable of detecting the earliest stages of a smouldering fire. It must also be capable of differentiating steam from smoke.
Last but not least the car park must also provide a level of security from fire, this means that hotel car parks should also be covered by any fire protection system, not least systems that have the ability to detect and deal with the build up of carbon monoxide gas. A car park fire is capable of generating extreme temperatures intense enough to cause damage to reinforced concrete structures.
So if you’re involved with hotel construction remember… design early and design safe
Til next time…Greg