National Building Code of India 2016 Part 4

Fire & Life Safety Presented by

Santosh S. Warick CFO & FA, MIDC.

Revision of NBC, Part 4

• Part 4 of the National Building Code deals with safety from fire and explosion. It specifies classification of buildings and the necessary requirements to minimize danger to life from fire, smoke and fumes or panic before the building or area is evacuated.

Classification of Buildings Group A Residential

Group B Educational

Group C Institutional

Group D Assembly

Group E Business

Group F Mercantile

Group G Industrial

Group H Storage

Group J Hazardous

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The objective of this part is to specify measures that will provide that degree of safety from fire which can be reasonably achieved.

The Code endeavors to avoid requirements that might involve unreasonable hardships or unnecessary inconvenience or interference with normal use and occupancy of buildings, insist upon compliance with minimum standards for fire safety necessary in public interest.

It is desirable to use such equipment/installation duly certified under the BIS Certifications Marks Scheme.

ABSOLUTE SAFETY FROM FIRE IS NOT ATTAINABLE IN PRACTICE

General Exit requirements

Occupants Load

Capacities of Exit

Arrangement of Exits

Number of Exits

Doorways

Corridors/Passage ways

Horizontal Exits

Compartmentation

LIFE SAFETY

Internal Staircases

External Staircases

Pressurization of escape routes

Ramps

Refuge Area

Fire Lifts/Fire Tower

Emergency escape lighting/ Illumination

Fire detection and Warning

Evacuation Procedures

Fire Protection ( Table 7) Extinguishers

Small Bore Hose Reels

Dry Riser

Wet Riser

Down comer

Yard Hydrant system

Automatic Sprinkler Installation

Manual Fire Alarm System

Automatic Fire Alarm System

Underground Storage Tank

Terrace Tank

Ground level Pumps

Terrace level Pumps

Fire Resistance Rating ( Table 1)

Compartmentation

Openings in Separating walls and Floors

(for all types of construction)

Fire Stops/Enclosure of Openings

Air-conditioning/Ventilation (Dampers)

Surface Flame Spread

Glazing/Skylights (Wired Glass)

PASSIVE SYSTEMS

Reaction to Fire & Fire Resistance • Reaction to fire is a material characteristic.

• To reduce the probability of an outbreak and consequent growth of fire, where it is not possible to segregate all possible known ignition sources from combustible material, the contents and room lining should be such that they are not easily ignitable and, even if ignition occurs, the ensuing fire will not develop rapidly.

Fire Resistance Rating of Structural Elements

The Concept of Fire Compartmentation

Proposed Roadmap • Specific norms pertaining to each application

area in the revised National Building Codes.

• Enforcement of the norms, by regulatory authorities such as Planning Authorities, Fire & Emergency Service.

• Acceptance of worldwide test standards, besides British Standard (BS) and American Standard of Testing of Materials (ASTM), by regulatory bodies, like Bureau of Indian Standards and Fire Service.

• Continuing awareness campaign to increase knowledge on the applications, the problems associated and the solutions.

• Educating the future Architects, Civil Engineers by incorporating the concept in syllabus of Architectural and Civil Engineering colleges.

• More testing institutes in collaboration with international testing institutes.

Conclusion • The Fire Prevention & Protection focus is shifting from

Active to Passive Fire Protection.

• The emphasis is to minimized the possibility of outbreak of fire and to limit the spread of fire and the products of combustion.

• The implementation will cause some initial investment for the owners but in long term this will be very useful tool for fire protection of building and life safety of occupants which will help to save precious lives and to safeguard national property.

• Fire Prevention is Better Then Cure

Thank You