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Upgrading safety standards in central Jo'burg

A South African company with mining interests worldwide had, over a period of many years, installed a number of disparate fire detection and gaseous suppression systems throughout its many buildings in central Johannesburg.

"The health and safety of our employees is paramount to our company culture," explains a spokesman from the company. "Furthermore, we have many buildings that were erected prior to the implementation of meaningful fire safety standards in South Africa, even though as a company our facilities were always equipped with the necessary fire systems in line with the building regulations current at the time of erection. While these were deemed to be adequate at the time, research had proven they were far from adequate, therefore several of the buildings we occupy had minimal or limited fire prevention systems in place."

From a fire detection perspective, the systems in general consisted of standalone conventional fire detection systems utilising equipment from various equipment manufacturers. These systems were unreliable and were difficult to support and maintain because the control panel manufacturers upgraded or discontinued the production of the conventional type panels on a continual basis and simply failed to maintain sufficient spares to guarantee operation for any length of time.

There was no consistency in the selection of fire suppression systems for the various high risk areas throughout our facilities. A variety of fire suppression systems had been deployed including CO₂ and Halon 1301, these were sourced from different installation companies who in turn used whatever equipment was available at the time. These systems were used to protect both occupied and unoccupied areas and the use of CO₂ as an extinguishing medium for occupied areas is now quite correctly deemed a safety risk to personnel whilst the production of Halon 1301 ceased several years ago as a result of its well documented global warming effects. This left the company in the position where we could not guarantee the reliable repair or replacement of our suppression systems in the event of a discharge in the event of a fire.

Time for change

Several factors were taken into consideration prior to the final decision to implement a structured and predefined strategy to the company's long-term fire safety requirements. The continually escalating costs of maintaining the current fire detection systems were a serious concern and the cease of production of Halon 1301 provided a clear directive that a pro-active approach to the future planning of our fire systems was essential.

The first priority was the replacement of the various conventional fire detection systems. The requirement was the implementation of a system that provided a high degree of self-diagnostics and reduced the ever-increasing maintenance costs. An essential requirement for any future system was the need to provide centralised monitoring of all systems to be installed in the many buildings located in downtown Johannesburg. Equipment from both local and international companies was evaluated together with the level of ongoing support available from the many fire detection systems installation companies. A primary requirement for any system was international system approval. Being aware of the intent by the South African authorities to adopt the British Standards for fire detection systems it was felt that any system chosen must not only comply with international standards but required formal approval and certification from the recognised testing bodies. Having set this criterion; it was pleasing to find a South African company that not only complied but in many instances exceeded our expectations for reliability and functionality, having achieved international recognition and several international approvals for their system. As a result of this research we selected the ZP range of fire detection and control equipment from Ziton.

Implementing the solution

Initial implementation took place for a single facility in central Johannesburg, which included the Maestro graphical user interface. The system was installed in a central control facility and was linked to the Ziton ZP3 analog addressable control panels located throughout the facility, this configuration enabled localised control of the various fire detection devices installed such as smoke and heat detectors and manual alarm devices whilst providing a simple and responsive graphical display of the devices at the central control facility. The same concept has been deployed for all future additions to the system, which now currently supports over 12 ZP3 panels but also monitors other critical alarms.

The second and equally important component of the system was the selection of a reliable fire suppression system. The many buildings in Johannesburg house critical operational facilities for the business such as Server and Network Rooms. The continuous operation of these facilities is critical to the business and fire is a serious risk potential to these operations. Another consideration is the number of areas which house information of both historical and operational importance such as documentation archives.

A fire suppression system, which was safe, cost-effective and had proven fire extinguishing capabilities in the environments described above, was needed. An overriding criteria was the need to select an extinguishing medium which was environmentally safe and could be recharged in South Africa thus eliminating the costs and time delays associated with the use of an imported extinguishing product. Once again, emphasis was placed on the need to select a system which had achieved international approval at both component and system level as this would guarantee continuous and reliable operation for many years to come and would gain acceptance by our insurance authorities and result in a reduction of the continuously escalating insurance premiums.

The implementation of common fire safety standards throughout the organisation was the objective in the selection process, and after many months of research, the clean agent, Argonite, was selected as the preferred fire suppression system.

The benefits

The benefits of the upgrade have been extensive. Peace of mind knowing the systems installed have undergone extensive development and testing to achieve the necessary international approvals remove any concerns regarding their ability to react when required. The reduction in ongoing maintenance and support costs has been considerable and the management and monitoring of the systems provide rapid reaction to any possible fire hazard that may occur.

Sifting through the mountains of information and sales hype relating to the various fire suppression products available in order to establish the most cost effective and efficient product suitable for our short and long term requirements, was a lengthy process.

Having researched and selected the technical solution the next challenge was the selection of an installation company that possessed the ability to design and install both the fire detection and suppression system to a high standard. "We were looking for a company that employed personnel with a proven track record in the implementation of such systems. It was also essential that the company chosen had the 'in house' ability to design and support the fire detection systems without total dependence on the equipment supplier for this support which was a situation we constantly faced.

"Our experience had proven that only a limited number of companies met the selection criteria and we therefore elected to release the initial tenders to a limited number of companies who we knew had the correct level of experience." The company was looking for a 'turnkey' approach and wanted a single company to provide the entire solution to its problems.

"The selection process adopted ensured we would deploy the services of a company who possessed the necessary skills and proven experience to implement the systems through the entire process and it was felt that we had sufficient expertise in house to select and manage the selected company."

The company has been extremely pleased with the entire process and have most definitely achieved the objectives set at the commencement of the project. If anything were to have been done differently, with hindsight, the company feels it may have increased the pace of the implementation rather than the phased approach adopted. This is as a result of the support given by the installation contractor, Masc Fire Systems.

Words of advice

"There can be no doubt that the decision to select products that had achieved international recognition and approval has been the cornerstone to the success of the overall project. The support the two major suppliers, Chemetron and Ziton, have provided to Masc Fire Systems has been invaluable and Masc's ability to evaluate and recommend improved solutions has reduced any possibility of our making serious errors along the way.

"If there is one recommendation I would make it would be the use of a proven and approved product and the essential need to research the capabilities and experience of the systems contractor."

Fact files

Project scope

The upgrade of existing obsolete and disparate fire detection and suppressions systems to several buildings in downtown Johannesburg.

The project has been implemented in phases and the overall cost to date is approximately R4,5 million.

Key service providers, products and solutions

Argonite Fire Suppression Systems provided by Chemetron Fire Systems, Barry Cornell, 091 708 748 1503, [email protected]

Analogue Addressable Fire Detection Systems provided by Ziton, Terence Ewers, 021 506 6000, [email protected]

System design, project management and installation undertaken by Masc Fire Systems, Karl Halliday, 011 609 1775, [email protected]

Leon Beedtge, 011 638 3098.

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