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Fire/Life Safety
An older building presents a tangle of architectural and regulatory obstacles to a fire/life safety upgrade
UPGRADING A FIRE/LIFE safety system in any older building presents a host of architectural and code-related challenges. So it is not surprising that many building owners have delayed for years the implementation of a building upgrade that offers the single biggest payback of any: enhanced safety for building occupants.
The fact is, upgrading to an analog addressable fire alarm system and installing sprinklers throughout the building - the best protection for property -- do not have to break the bank. Even in a building under landmark or other historic preservation status, proper planning and creative thinking can cost effectively and successfully meet these challenges.
Owners have three main reasons to upgrade the fire/life safety system in an older building. The first and best reason is that many facilities are still operating with their original systems. It is not uncommon to find 20- to 40-year-old conventional high-voltage and low-voltage multiplex systems still in use today, even though these have serious liabilities. These outdated systems do not come close to providing the level of life safety offered with today's technology.
Second, replacement components and devices are no longer manufactured, so proper maintenance is just about impossible to achieve. Even if a building owner or manager can find an electrical or fire alarm contractor to repair such a system, the components and parts rarely carry the UL seal.
The third major driver for fire/life safety upgrades is the need for compliance with national and local building codes, standards and laws, including the requirement for fire alarm visual notification devices (i.e., strobe lights) under Title III (28 CFR Part 36), the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Most older systems simply cannot be retrofitted with visual alarms.
Today, most building owners are selecting analog addressable fire alarm systems for virtually all upgrades because of their superior features and benefits. Analog addressable systems are the state of the art for reliability and flexibility in a wide range of customized applications - particularly important in landmark buildings. These systems also allow sensitivity adjustments of individual detection devices from the control panel, reducing the incidence of nuisance alarms from...