By Civilthings.com

PART B - Safety Aspects

Fire hazards

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• 1. Exposure hazards -the risk involved in fire spread in other buildings or other division of same building is known as exposure hazards.
• 2.Internal hazards -This type of hazard concerns damage or destruction of the building itself.
• 3.Personal hazards - The possibility of loss or damage to life is referred as personal hazards.

Fire Protection in buildings

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• All the buildings contains something which easily catch fire.
• It is practically not possible to eliminate the chances of fire in buildings.
• The main purpose of making a building fire resistant is the protection of life and goods within the building.
• It is estimated that 15000 people are killed every year in our country.

Causes of fire

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• Smoking in unauthorized places.
• Faulty workmanship with respect to the electrical wiring.
• Heating and cooking equipment's
• Flammable liquids.
• Lighting.
• Open flames and sparks.
• Spontaneous combustion

Effects of fire

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• Carbon monoxide-reduces oxygen carrying capacity of blood. This can lead to a significant reduction in the supply of oxygen to the heart, particularly in people suffering from heart disease
• Nitrogen Dioxide-These gases irritate the airways of the lungs.
• Sulphur dioxide-It can oxidize and form sulphuric acid. SO2 in the air leads to diseases of the lung and other lung disorders such as shortness of breath.
• Carbon dioxide-it causes respiratory diseases, increases rate of breathing.
• Nitrogen dioxide-irritated eyes and nose, fluid forming in lungs and shortness of breath, respiratory problems in high levels.

General rules for fire resisting buildings

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1. Alarm system: they are automatic or manual. It gives time and warning to the occupant to reach to safe place. The manual alarm should be provided near all main exist and in natural path of escape from fire and at readily accessible points.
2. Protection of openings: Timber doors of more than 40 mm may be used, escape doors should be given treatment and should not be affected by heat.

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3. Partition wall: it should be carried up to same height of roof.
4. Staircase: emergency ladder of 900mm wide must be constructed from fire resisting material.
5. Fire extinguishing arrangement: Manual fire extinguishing equipment's, Internal hydrant, Automatic sprinkler installation must be provided.

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6. Theatres and cinemas-suitable fire appliances should be provided at proper places.

Lightning must be efficient and safety lightning should be provided.

The means of escape should be properly marked and board such as exist should be kept illuminated.

Strong room construction

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1. Such type of construction is adopted to protect important documents, wealth, currency, notes from fire, thieves. Following are the features of this type of construction-

Walls, floors and ceilings- they are constructed of cement concrete with minimum thickness of cement concrete.

Grills- to prevent the thieves from making holes so as to enter the room, the grills are provided.

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• Doors and Windows :The frames should be anchored properly in concrete walls by provision of long hold fast. The doors and windows should be covered with special grills.

Earthquake resistance planning of buildings

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• Symmetry- The building as a whole or its various blocks should be kept symmetrical about both axis. Asymmetry leads to torsion during earthquake and is dangerous.
• Regularity-Simple rectangular blocks behave better in an earthquake than shapes with many projections. Longer length should be avoided. Length should be restricted to three times its width.

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• Separation of blocks- Separation of large buildings into several blocks may be required so as to obtain symmetry and regularity of each block.
• Simplicity- Simple structure is best. Avoid horizontal or vertical cantilever projections, large cornices.
• Enclosed Area- Structure should have separately enclosed rooms rather than one long room.

Advanced earthquake resistant design techniques

• Base Isolation techniques:
• It is one of the most popular means of protecting a structure against earthquake forces
• A base isolated structure is supported by series of bearing pads which are placed between the building and buildings foundation.

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• E.g. lead rubber bearing-bearing is very strong in vertical direction but is flexible in horizontal direction

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By Civilthings.com