BLOG LASHING-Fire Safety.(Part I)

Right,the last time I did a Blog lashing article,I hardly had any readers,But,now I have a loyal readers base and good ranking and everything.

But,it is no more “I”,but “We”,as the Blog has moved into its custom domain,many things have changed.

The time is ripe to publish,important stuff,which the management will have to look into,and now that people trust us,and our content,they will raise their eyebrows at our coming up Blog lashing articles,or Expose articles,these aren’t your regular sting operations,and there is more truth to these segments brought to you by the lifeatgitamhyd team,and we vow to do it honestly,thought letting a little personal pride to enter ,being rather harsh on the management at times.:P

Tuck,tuck,down with the philosophy ,and lets embrace our feature rich,articles titled  “Blog Lashing”,an introduction to the term Blog lashing can be found in our previous article,Blog Lashing-Deemed Universities.

Note:Do read the disclaimer(at the bottom of the post),before attempting to sue us..:P

FIRE SAFETY:

In the recent times,due to the sudden rise in the number of fire accidents ,their is a sudden rush of concern over the number of buildings which lack basic fire safety norms,and  don't comply with most of the fire safety regulations,forget the regulations,students in most of the educational institutes hardly have the slightest clue over “mock Fire drills” !!

The concern is greater still,in case of the main building of GITAM UNIVERSITY (HYDERABAD),as it is centrally air conditioned and we will deal with this separately in the post which follows,the GITAM UNIVERSITY  main building has to go thought the stringent fire safety norms due to the following reasons:

• An Educational building.(Generally defined as :A building housing more than 20 students)
• An High rise building(Generally defined as:More than four floors)
• A centrally air conditioned building(Irrespective of whether it is used or not.:P)

This ,with the fact(to be proven in this post),that the current Fire safety precautions on campus are pretty poor,puts the students in a high risk zone,in the case of a fire accident.

Note:This blog( lifeatgitamhyd ) is dedicated to GITAM UNIVERSITY (HYDERABAD ),and Hence we are specifically pointing out to the flaws on campus,But do make a note that most of the educational buildings out here(In Hyderabad),have the same problems.

 

And here we are, The team of lifeatgitamhyd has finally complied a report on the fire safety on campus,though we don’t have access to the building plan of GITAM University Hyderabad,nor do we have the means to measure the width of staircase etc,we would like to provide ,and point out basic flaws which are evident on campus,like :

• Inadequate number of fire extinguishers
• No mock fire drills in One Academic year!!
• Lack of fire safety equipment.

 

THE REFERENCES:

The NCB,the National Code of buildings,in its 2005 publication,lays down the required norms for Fire and Safety precautions,a copy has been used by this Blog,(though we hardly understood the jargon,in our humble capacity) ,and we have used the Delhi Fire services Buildings bye laws for fire safety,which deals specifically with the fire safety,We have also made use of the The Karnataka Fire Force Rules, 1971; and the Karnataka Fire Force Regulations, 1971,and we have had the AP Fire services Act  regulations for reference,most of the Acts mentioned above are heavily based on NCB,and hence they are to be strictly adhered too  all over the nation,thought some exceptions are made based on the geographical conditions.

The information derived from The Karnataka Fire Force Rules, 1971; and the Karnataka Fire Force Regulations, 1971is based on the understanding that the  information has been obtained from the office of the Karnataka State Fire and Emergency Services, Bangalore, and has been compiled from the National Building Code (NBC), 2005,By www.Citizenmatters.in .

The list of articles and sources follow at the end of this post.

THE PROCEDURE:

We will start  dealing with each and not necessarily every sub clause listed in the Delhi Fire services Act,and point out the flaws in the GITAM  University Hyderabad campus,main building,with pictures,when ever we can.

Note:The Delhi Fire safety act,is assumed by the team,to be a good benchmark for the Main building,even thought it exists in Andhra Pradesh. And we are under the impression that,most of the laws will be the same,after all safety is safety,come what may !

On the similar lines,the Karnataka Act,AP fire services Act follow.

The status of the main building,location of fire extinguishers(etc) is according to 04/05/2010,and the situation might have changed by now.

THE BUILDING:

The main building of GITAM University Hyderabad,consists of a total of  9 floors including the cellar,When fully built.

An outdated image follows,with only 4 floors visible,while the 5th and 6th have already been commenced,and close to completion,we don't have the pictures on hand(to be updated)

THE CELLAR: 

The cellar which plays host to the Library and the computer labs,does not contain any visible fire extinguishers,the cellar consists of about 300 odd computers(C lab,Auto-Cad lab,Digital Library,MBA Lab,English Lab),with none of the labs having a fire extinguisher,the cellar like the whole building is centrally air conditioned  and a simple short circuit,either in the computers or in the servers ,can’t be averted,the nearest known Fire extinguisher is located in the Workshop/Store room.Which takes a normal students about 8 mins to travel to and fro,in a hurry,We possibly don’t have a Usain bolt,on campus .:P

Short circuits,in Computer labs,in various educational institutions and companies have been reported,and it has been a practice to have fire extinguishers on hand,but none of the five labs mentioned above have a visible fire extinguisher.

Not to forget the library,which is also located here and is void of visible fire extinguishes.

According to the clause,14.12 Basement of the Delhi fire services act(Henceforth referred to as “ the Act” )

14.12.2 The basement shall have the following requirements:

“   (iv).Adequate arrangement shall be made such that surface drainage does not enter the basement.

    (v).The walls and floors of the basement shall be water-tight and be so designed that the effect of the surrounding soil and moisture, if any, are taken into account in design and adequate damp proofing treatment is given.

    (vi).The access to the basement shall be separate from the main and alternate stair-case providing access and exit from higher floors. Where the staircase is continuous the same shall be enclosed type serving as a fire separation from the basement floor and higher floors. Open ramps shall be permitted if they are constructed within the building line subject to the provision of (iv).

”(italics added)

The following pictures will prove that this particular clause has been violated,

This leakage was record on the 15th,April,2010.

For the full article,click here.

During the first semester,water leakage into the basement/cellar was very prominent,and there were cases of water leakage  in the Labs,causing  minor flooding of the labs,but most of these major leakage problems have been dealt with after the first semester.A brownie point to the management,but the above pictures prove that the work is still incomplete,and it clearly violates clause 14.12.2 (iv),(vi),of The Act.

FLAWS:

• Lack of fire extinguishers.
• Surface drain enters basement,probably violates,  14.12.2.,(iv),(v).
• Only one staircase,probably violates,14.12.2. (vi).

THE FLOORS:

This segment in general deals with the irregularities of all the floors of the building,excluding the cellar which has been covered above.

The floors clearly lack visible(Come on,fire extinguishers tucked away in the directors room,or safely packed off in some nook of the main building aren’t function !!),as in functional fire extinguishers.

Let me quote section,16. Exit Requirements of the Act.

16.1 General - The following general requirements shall apply to exits.

“

e.Exits shall be clearly visible and the routes to reach the exit shall be clearly marked and sign posted to guide the population of floor concerned;

f.All exit ways shall be properly illuminated;

g.Fire fighting equipment where provided along exits shall be suitably located clearly marked but must not obstruct the exit way and yet there should beck indication about its location from either side of the exit way;

h.Alarm devices shall be installed to ensure prompt evacuation of the population concerned through the exits;

“

According to 16.1 (e), “the exits should be clearly visible,and the exit shall  be clearly marked…….concerned “

Each floor has two exits,like the two visible in the following picture,and one is the central staircase,thought all the exits are clearly visible,according to the above clause,they need to be “clearly marked and sign posted”,which they aren’t.

Those who think,we don't need signs(as we aren’t that blind ),think again in case of a fire,you can hardly see anything,and instead of thinking about finding the exits through the smoke,you can follow the signs help!!

The floors ,don't have an alarm system,trust us, we have never come across anything  which looks like a warning bell,forget a fire alarm !

So,this  violates  sub clause (h),which screams for the installation of alarm devices,which are currently non-existent !

though,it is worth noting that the following clause is strictly enforced ,

16.3.4 For building identified in Bye-law No. 6.2.4.1(high rise buildings), there shall be a minimum of two staircase and one of them shall be an enclosed stairway and the other shall be on the external walls of buildings and shall open directly to the exterior, interior open space or to any open place of safety.(spell check,content in braces added).

EXTERNAL STAIRCASE/FIRE ESCAPES:

We are dealing with a building of 9 floors,which has 3 staircases for the general use,and  No LIFT/Elevator has been installed,just yet.

Usually,a commercial building of five floors(high rise buildings to be precise),is supposed to have separate fire escapes/staircases.

The building we are dealing with is definitely not a commercial building,but due to its high rise status(9 floors!),it ought to have fire escapes too,here the clause 16.4.2 of The Act follows:

16.4.2 Fire Escapes or External Stairs

“

Fire escapes shall not be taken into account in calculating the evacuation time of a building.

All fire escapes shall be directly connected to the ground.

Entrance to fire escape shall be separate and remote from the internal staircase.

The route to fire escape shall be free of obstructions at all times, except a doorway leading to the fire escape which shall have the required fire resistance.

Fire escape shall be constructed of non-combustible materials.

Fire escapes stairs shall have straight flight not less than 75cm wide with 25 cm treads and risers not more than 19 cm. The number of risers shall be limited to 16 per flight.

Handrails shall be of a height not less than 90cm.

”

No point in discussing the violation of these guidelines,as the fire escapes are non existent,like the alarm system .:P

LIFTS/ELEVATORS:

The following statements,will look like a piece out of the  popular AXN show,Ripley’s believe it or not!

But,believe us,there are close to 9 odd floors and yet the management shows no signs of putting up lifts/Elevators in place,thought they will have to once the top floors become operational,but for the case of factual representation of the main buildings violation of safety norms,lets pull up article ,16.4.9 Lifts

“

1. All the floors shall be accessible for 24 hours by the lifts. The lifts provided in the buildings shall not be considered as a means of escape in case of emergency.

2. Grounding switch at ground floor level to enable the fire service to ground the lift in case of an emergency shall also be provided.

3. The lift machine room shall be separate and no other machinery shall be installed there in.  

“

The sub clause (1),explicitly states that all floors shall be accessible for 24hrs by the lifts.

Accepted that,the 4th,5th,6th floor,are not in use just yet,but come on,even during the academic year of 2009-2010,Half way through the academic year,the building crossed the 15m mark,and the lifts have not yet been up.

Clause 17 Fire Protection Requirements:

This particular clause is a bit  above our league,to understand it without the official building blue print / construction plan,So we will have to work our way through assumptions(Which will be as realistic as possible).

Look at the picture below and if you still think that a Fire engine can work its way thought to save the ass (read Rear/Back),of the main building you either gotta be insane or obliviously assume the driver of the engine to be insane,As we see it,there is no way a Fire engine can squeeze in through it,even though it will gain partial access through the temporary construction zone-parking area,which is given below, 

Note:New visitors don’t worry,Google maps didn't update the Rudraram village database for a long time,hence these old snapshots are used,there are good roads leading to the campus :)

We see no feasible way the fire engine will make any further ingress to get closer to the main building's back.

 

AN ASSUMPTION:

To make our concern much more,clear  we will pull up a hypothetical situation,and assume fire at point 4.

The only feasible way to control the fire is rush in a fire engine through 3(The temporary construction zone),via the given points 1 and 2(in red).

 

But once the Fire engine comes to point 3,there is no way it can directly access the place in question.

point 3 gives a deadlock to the Fire engine,and the efficiently with which a fire can be controlled is greatly reduced.      

 

POSSIBILITY:

Come on,We are not expecting a fire accident or something like that,we mean no ill,but then why are fire safety norms in place for ?

To be prepared for the worst,and that is what we are trying to project here .

And hence,we conclude that the current space between the the compound wall and the main building kills the efficiency of the fire fighting personnel,in case of a fire.

But,a point to be noted is that,if and when the campus does expand to 45 acres(as they keep telling us!),this will be sorted,out but we can never rule out the possibility of a fire accident in the meantime,can we ?

AN END:

We are coming closer to the close of The Act,and its implications,and apparent violations in the main building of GITAM UNIVERSITY HYDERBAD CAMPUS.

And we will wind up this session with this last segment here and cover the Karnataka  act,in the consequent post,and deal with the other elements,and possibly look at the above once again and deduce more flaws in the building and its consequences.

While a  third possible post with all the general flaws,irregularities , will conclude this three post blog lashing article.

The Clause 17 Fire Protection Requirements,has an appendix K,and we will be dealing with tit in this section of the post.

APPENDIX K (Bye-Law No. 17.1)

Additional Fire Protection Requirements for Buildings more than 15m. in Height & Buildings as Covered by Bye-law No. 6.2.4.1,which refers to high rise buildings including and not entirely restricted to Institutional  buildings,as our review is restricted to the institutional building lets cut this para short for the sake of convince,but the actual clause is added too for reference,thought you might not understand it,you don’t necessarily have to read,

“6.2.4.1 Building Plans for Multi-storeyed / Special Buildings-For multi-storeyed buildings which are more than 15 m height and for special buildings like assembly, institutional, industrial, storage and hazardous occupancies,….”

The human readable summary of the above clause follows “GITAM UNIVERSITY’s main building  falls into the above clause and hence is subject to appendix K” ..:P

AND ONCE AGAIN…

We make a move into the appendix K:

“K-9 Provision of First Aid Fire Fighting Appliances

K-9.1 The first aid fire fighting equipments shall be provided on all floor including basements, occupied terrace, lift rooms in accordance with IS : 2217-1982 Recommendations for providing First Aid Fire Fighting Arrangements in Public Buildings in consultation with the Chief Fire Officer.

K-9.2 The fire fighting appliances shall be distributed over the building in accordance with IS 2190 Code of Practice for selection, installation and maintenance of portable first aid fire appliances “

IMPLICATION/VIOLATION(S) ON PART OF GITAM UNIVERSITY HYDERABAD(main building) :

(IN ACCORDANCE WITH “The Act”)

None of the above mentioned provisions are made available on any of the floors of the main building,If,the management of GITAM UNIVERSITY HYDERABAD,claims the above mentioned equipment to be available as on 04/05/2010,Then we  would call them a bunch of liars and put their pants on fire(no offence intended :P),lets get serious,If the management claims(Wrongly!!!) the above first aid on all the floors,then they are not placed in  functional,accessible  places,to be conveniently  used in case of an emergency.

And we can prove their claims(if any w.r.t,the above statement) to be wrong too,cause,none of the students will claim to have seen a first aid box or any of the above mentioned equipment in the main building on any of the floors,and if the students don’t spot it,then obviously the management can’t claim the first aid kits to be existent.

But the truth is :

They don't exist on any of the floors,They might be in the ground floor(We are in a dilemma over this particular floor,as it houses the administration rooms,and First batch classrooms what not!,Hence we are not taking a risk by claiming it to have none or any  of the above mentioned equipment )

Now we are winding up this session by quoting one last source,according to www.MumbaiMirror.com, a random layman checklist includes,

“Checklist for school buildings
• Sufficient open space around the school building
• Well-maintained, wide staircases
• Easily covered distance from the classroom to the staircase
• Wide common passage
• Sufficient and easily accessible fire extinguishers
• In case of AC schools, sufficient and well-placed smoke detectors and sprinklers “

Assuming School, to imply Educational institutions,we conclude that the last two points(Which form the basic core of Fire safety ),are heavily violated by the main building .

Smoke Detectors/Sprinkles are like the fire extinguishers non existent in a centrally air conditioned building of about 9 floors.

CONCLUSION:

The curtains fall on this post,and the conclusion is here,according to the above post we can conveniently assume in a jovial sense,that in case of a major fire accident ,we will have a new graveyard in Rudraram :)

On a serious note now,the main building according to our understanding and the preliminary review(with our extra crude methods) carried out by this group of students from GITAM UNIVERSITY HYDERBAD,We conclude the following,the main building hardly complies with the norms required.

Accepted,that most of the buildings,educational institutions out there(in Hyderabad),don't comply,wit the above norms,this building may be better off than some of the buildings,But they are norms to be followed and adhered too.

Others choose to make a fuss out of it,once a disaster happens,we choose to make a fuss out of it before the disaster happens,whether it occurs or not,hardly matters ,Studying and virtually living in a building which complies with fire safety norms is our right.

END OF  PART ONE-SERIES OF THREE POSTS ON FIRE SAFETY.

REFERENCES:

1.Delhi fire services Act

2.Karnataka Fire Force Act, 1964;

The Karnataka Fire Force Rules, 1971;

and the Karnataka Fire Force Regulations, 1971.

Explained by,citizenmatters.in,Click here.

3.Review of Fire code and Bye laws,by G.B.menon,J.N.Vakil,Click here.(for the 106 pages .pdf document)

4.National building Code Act, of 2005.

5.Extracts of Relevant Provision of MSBR Regulations Act
MULTI STOREYED BUILDING REGULATIONS, 1981,Click Here.

6.Standards of fire safety equipments quoted from,Click Here.

Disclaimer,Before you Sue us!:

The authors of this post,have no authority to carry out this review(not necessarily bogus),and a legitimate review by a  competent authority(Fire services) must be considered  to be legal and abiding, this review is exclusively out of legal bounds,and errors if any,or all might have crept in, www.Lifeatgitamhyd.com or the lifeatgitamhyd ’ team,is NOT  to be held responsible for either or all the errors or misquotes.

We,the lifeatgitamhyd team,at no point in time,during this post,claim to have either the required authority or the required sources to conduct this review,and all our claims in this regard(If any) in the above post are nullified by this statement.

This disclaimer is a special add on to the existing disclaimer,of this Blog,Click here for the full disclaimer.