Scott Bailey is the senior vice president of Koorsen Fire & Security, an installation and service company that has been privately held since 1946. The company focuses on inspection, testing and maintenance of fire alarm, fire sprinkler, fire suppression, fire extinguishers, access control and video surveillance systems, as well as monitoring of residential and commercial facilities. The company recently developed a training center and provides training in the above-mentioned product categories.
Q. Would someone who has completed your training courses be qualified to inspect his own facility to determine if it satisfies NFPA requirements?
A. Yes. We cover the NFPA requirements and how they relate to real-life situations, and we discuss how to interpret or understand what the NFPA says.
Q. What is new and what has changed over the past 5, 10 and 20 years?
A. Going back a little bit further, I would say 30 years ago, sprinkler protection was installed primarily to protect the property with no expectations or thoughts about life safety. In the ’80s with the adoption of ADA, the industry began to focus more on life safety in more applications. Ten years ago, sprinklers became important for protection of life and property. Smoke detection and fire alarms became more of a design criteria, specifically for evacuation.
Within the past five years, I think most of the building standards have been written with the assumption that fire sprinklers are in place. With fire sprinklers, you reduce the requirements for wider corridors and the number and size of exits. A fully sprinkled building is much different than one that is not, which is good and bad alike, in my opinion.
Tags: A/V Notification, Fire sprinklers, NFPA, Q&A, Smoke detection
Posted in Audible/Visible Notification, Commercial, Fall 2007, NFPA, Q & A : Ask the Expert, Sprinkler Systems Monitoring
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