NFPA and the Fire Protection Research Foundation will present the latest global research on high challenge warehouse storage. The one-day seminar, titled “Global Research Update: High Challenge Storage Protection,” will be held on June 27, 2012 at the Marriott Rive Gauche, in Paris, France, in cooperation with the European Fire Sprinkler Network conference. Read more…
The National Association of State Fire Marshalls has formed an initiative to bridge the safety gap between conventional fire prevention practices, building codes, and fire suppression techniques including the use of renewable energy sources, such as solar power. They have released a report titled Fire Fighter Safety and Emergency Response for Solar Power Systems and which is available from their website. Read more…
In-rack sprinklers are used when ceiling sprinkler only protection is no longer adequate to protect the rack stored commodities. Well known disadvantages of current in-rack sprinkler designs are (1) additional costs and (2) additional risks of damage of the sprinkler heads during loading and unloading [...]
NFPA’s Fire Protection Research Foundation published a report on large-scale fire tests performed at FM Global for rack storage of Group A Plastics under sloped ceilings with slopes steeper than 2 in 12. An excerpt of this report is presented summarizing the results from these [...]
The new layout of NFPA 13 may be beneficial for new users of the standard, but it can also create confusion and dismay for experienced users as they will have to search and relocate familiar regulations and determine how these new, sometimes reworded and reformatted [...]
ESFR protection of exposed expanded Group A plastics is currently outside the scope of NFPA 13. Attempting to fill this gap, NFPA’s Fire Protection Research Foundation set out to develop experience with these types of commodities and gather data by initiating large-scale fire tests. The [...]
The Globally Harmonized Hazard Communication System (GHS) is in the process of being adopted by the US. Compliance with the new provisions will impact content and format of MSDS’es. Do you understand the changes and how they may impact your business? (more…)
FM Global updated their Data Sheet 8-9 with new high-piled rack storage protection schemes. These new protection options can reduce installation costs by as much as 50%. Large-scale fire tests were used to validate these alternative designs. They demonstrated that large orifice sprinklers and higher [...]
High-volume, low-speed (HVLS) fans require little energy to ventilate large commercial and industrial buildings, and their use can result in considerable cost savings to business owners. But do they compromise fire safety? What are the codes requiring? (more…)