×
INTELLIGENT WORK FORUMS
FOR ENGINEERING PROFESSIONALS

Log In

Come Join Us!

Are you an
Engineering professional?
Join Eng-Tips Forums!
  • Talk With Other Members
  • Be Notified Of Responses
    To Your Posts
  • Keyword Search
  • One-Click Access To Your
    Favorite Forums
  • Automated Signatures
    On Your Posts
  • Best Of All, It's Free!
  • Students Click Here

*Eng-Tips's functionality depends on members receiving e-mail. By joining you are opting in to receive e-mail.

Posting Guidelines

Promoting, selling, recruiting, coursework and thesis posting is forbidden.

Students Click Here

Jobs

SIRENS AND PATIENT AREAS

SIRENS AND PATIENT AREAS

SIRENS AND PATIENT AREAS

(OP)
Is it allowable to have strobes only and no sirens in a patient care area? EX: recovery room. Thanks for any info on code(s).

RE: SIRENS AND PATIENT AREAS

depends on what code the place is governed under

also depends on what you term a  patient care area

doctors office, day surg, hospital, mental hospital etc.

life safety, International, some other brand???

RE: SIRENS AND PATIENT AREAS

(OP)
We are a medical school with an invitro clinic in one suite. The recovery room for the proceedure which is around 45'X 15' has 5 siren/strobe units in it and is quite traumatic to the patients so we were wondering if the sirens could be disabled and make it strobe only for the patients but keep both for the staff area. I'm not sure about any local codes but will check on that. The Fire Marshall referred me to NFPA 72 but I can't seem to find a code referring to that situation. Thanks for the reply.

RE: SIRENS AND PATIENT AREAS

And what did the nice fire marshal say about removing the sirens?????

RE: SIRENS AND PATIENT AREAS

There is a minimum decibel level that must be maintained.  You may be able to remove it as long as, while in the room, the alarm signal is still at the minimum level.  I doubt the walls will transmit the sound without bursting eardrums in the adjacent room.

Another option is to install an alarm with a lower sound level - as long as you maintain the minimum level throughout the room.

If you have regular false alarms and a 24 hour supervised on site system, you can work out with the local fire department a system of delayed alarm annunciation.  Typically, this is done with on site security who immediate investigate the alarm and reports to the central location if it is a false alarm or not.  If no response with, say, 1 or 2 minutes, the building fire alarm would annunciate.  I have seen this work quite well in high-rise office buildings where you do not want to disrupt thousands of workers.
 

Don Phillips
http://worthingtonengineering.com

RE: SIRENS AND PATIENT AREAS

I forgot to add, most building codes allow you to adjudicate a requirement if you can make a convincing enough case.  But to be successful, you need the support of the building and fire officials.  That would be another legal option.

Then you have licensing and insurance requirements that may specify a different standard with no clear ability to seek releif.  It could take months to find the person to get the variance.
 

Don Phillips
http://worthingtonengineering.com

RE: SIRENS AND PATIENT AREAS

You need a licensed fire protection engineer. You are dealing with a health care occupancy and we are not your consultants.

In my experience a pre-signal system may be required but you haven't told me enough - I've seen pre-op areas near post-recovery areas and the treatments can be different.

Seek professional design assistance.

RE: SIRENS AND PATIENT AREAS

Following Don´s line. I´m not sure, it´s on the 101 or 72 where there is a pre alarm possibility for hospitals and similar facilities that alerts first the "nurse room" in each floor before a general alarm is activated. So the people in charge of each floor have a role in the alarm process to prevent panic, and where a general alarm can be dangerous or useless.   

RE: SIRENS AND PATIENT AREAS

(OP)
The Fire Marshal passed me on to an engineer who said common sense would dictate that I remove the sirens and keep the strobes but no regulations to back that up so I would absorb all the risk. I do appreciate the response that you all have provided and it appears that I should get a professional fire alarm installer to redesign the system in that area and resubmit it for approval to the Fire Marshal. Thanks for your help.

RE: SIRENS AND PATIENT AREAS

PANRIDER

Good answer. a little hard to give you a specfic answer without seeing the set up, and still the FM has to approve it in the end

Red Flag This Post

Please let us know here why this post is inappropriate. Reasons such as off-topic, duplicates, flames, illegal, vulgar, or students posting their homework.

Red Flag Submitted

Thank you for helping keep Eng-Tips Forums free from inappropriate posts.
The Eng-Tips staff will check this out and take appropriate action.

Reply To This Thread

Posting in the Eng-Tips forums is a member-only feature.

Click Here to join Eng-Tips and talk with other members!


Resources