Is your building fire safe?

DO you occupy a building that used to be a house and is now an office or a shop?

If yes, the following fire equipment needs to be installed, as per SANS 10400 and the constitution of SA, in order to be covered by your insurance.

Llewellyn Schwab, a member of our local firefighting team who has his finger on the pulse of fire safety regulations and has been active in putting out recent fires in and around Vryheid, despite several obstacles, shared some important facts for business owners to look out for.

“The new occupancy classification will be: Office – G1, Small shop (not more than 250m²) – F2. A fire hose reels needs to be installed in any building two or more storeys in height or in any single-storey building of more than 250m² in floor area, at a rate of one fire hose reel for every 500m² or part thereof and any fire hose reel installed shall be positioned to ensure that the end of the hose will reach any point in the area to be protected.”

“Hose reels shall be installed and maintained as per SANS10400,” he continues.

“Portable fire extinguishers must be installed as prescribed: wall mounted, in an unobstructed position with symbolic safety signs and for every 200m² a 4,5kg dry chemical powder or 5kg carbon dioxide or 9l water or 9l foam must be installed, maintained and serviced by a competent person. Be careful of ‘fly by nights’ that are doing services from a bakkie on the pavement.” he warns. “Tenancy-separating elements, such as a complete firewall/elements of not less than 30 minutes fireproof must be installed between tenancies, for instance between a clothing shop and a hairdresser, to prevent a fire from spreading. If you change a house to shops, you do not have fire walls.”

Please note: a fire hose reel is an emergency piece of equipment available for the occupants of buildings to contain the fire until the fire brigade arrives to take over.