Fire safety should be a concern for anyone who owns or manages an office building, as even a small fire can mean devastating property loss and risk of serious injury, or even death, to any occupant of the building. Fires can also spread more quickly and start more easily than you may realize. To ensure your office building is as fire safe as possible, note a few tips that you might discuss with a contractor or a fire safety inspector.
Office walls
If your building has lots of interior walls to create private offices, conference rooms, and other areas, consider replacing those standard walls made of studs and drywall with glass. Glass can be very soundproof for privacy, but is also fire safe, as glass walls and doors won't feed a fire, as does drywall and insulation. If you need visual privacy inside an office or other room, you can have blinds, shades, or curtains installed on one side of the glass, or obscure the view with hanging artwork, large plants, and the like.
Carpeting and fabric
Carpeting and fabric are both typically very flammable, and can easily feed a fire. Consider having the office floors replaced with poured concrete, which can be buffed to look very shiny and attractive. Remove curtains in the office and replace these with blinds or shades. If you're worried about the office looking too industrial and cold, add rubber runners along hallways and choose blinds or shades with a nice colour or pattern on the front, so they're not dull and drab. Lots of plants in the office can also warm up the space without creating a fire hazard.
Doors and screens
If you must have standard doors in any area of your office building, be sure they're fire rated. Fire rated doors are usually made of a foam insert with metal skins, so they won't conduct heat or flames. Fire doors will also come with their own frame, so the door sits very snugly in the frame, not allowing smoke to pass through the doorway.
Fire attenuator screens can be added to all the building's windows. These special screens are also made to stay cool and not conduct heat. These screens also cut down the flow of air from outside, so that oxygen won't get drawn into a building and then feed a fire. This allows you to keep the building's windows open without worrying about a fire drawing in more air and growing, if such a fire should start in your office building.
Share2 January 2018
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