Fire safety provision of Building Regulations does not appear to be properly understood or applied

(17/11/2008)

Draka is raising the alarm over what it says is widespread non-compliance with an important fire safety provision of Approved Document B (Fire safety) to the Building Regulations. According to Draka, Clause 5.38 of Volume Two (buildings other than dwelling houses) Protected Power Circuits – does not appear to be universally understood, applied or enforced outside of the London area.

The company points out that, under Clause 5.38: “In large or complex buildings there may be fire protection systems that need to operate for an extended period during a fire. Further guidance on the selection of cable for such systems is given in BS 5839-1, BS 5266-1, and BS 7346-6.” The problem, Draka explains, appears to be that cables are still being specified and installed for these safety-critical installations that do not comply with the stringent requirements of BS 7346 -6, despite the fact that compliant cable is available.

“It is hard to see why so many building control officers around the country are not rigorously enforcing this requirement,” said Draka’s Marketing Services Manager, Mark Froggatt. “It is even more bewildering that compliance seems to be restricted to the London area.”

He continued: “There must be a suspicion, in addition to a lack of awareness of the availability of BS 7346-6 compliant cable, that perhaps there is a failure to understand the importance of Clause 5.38 or a misinterpretation of what is a ‘large or complex building’? The aim of Clause 5.38 is to ensure that there is a robust power supply in any building where life safety is dependant upon the reliable operation of active fire precautions or electrically-operated passive measures. This includes buildings with sophisticated fire detection and alarm systems; smoke venting systems; electrically-operated fire doors and smoke curtains; firefighting lifts; pressurisation and depressurisation fans; motor-driven smoke control dampers; and pumps for sprinkler systems and wet-risers.”

“Certainly,” he concludes, “the type of ‘large or complex building’ envisaged by the authors of the revised Approved Document B could reasonably be taken to include all multi-use or multi-function buildings, high-rise structures, buildings with complicated or lengthy evacuation protocols, and high-hazard structures.”

Other than costly mineral insulated cables, there are thought to be just two cables currently on the market that can claim to satisfy the demanding requirements of Clause 5.38. However it is believed that, currently, only one of these options is third-party approved. This, Draka points out, is particularly important as it is the only way that the specifier, installer or building control officer can be sure that the cable being supplied is built to exactly the same standard and specification as the cable that was originally tested and approved. As is frequently being pointed out by BASEC [British Approvals Service for Cables], if a cable is from a producer that does not have third-party accreditation there is, in reality, no guarantee whatsoever that it is manufactured to the standard being claimed for it.

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