Fire Protection
What SANS 10400: Part T – Fire Protection Says
What the Act Says
Essentially the legislation is concerned quite simply with the need for all buildings to be designed, constructed and equipped so that in the event of fire:
- the occupants or people using the building will be protected – including persons with disabilities;
- the spread and intensity of any fire within buildings, and the spread of fire to any other buildings, will be minimized;
- sufficient stability will be retained to ensure that such building will not endanger any other building: provided that in the case of any multi-storey building, no major failure of the structural system shall occur;
- the generation and spread of smoke will be minimized or controlled to the greatest extent reasonably practicable; and
- adequate means of access, and equipment for detecting, fighting, controlling and extinguishing such fire, is provided.
The requirements of the Act will be deemed to have been satisfied if the design, construction and equipment of buildings complies with SANS 10400 Part T and satisfies the local authority.
The Act also specifies several offences that owners of buildings need to avoid, including the need for fire extinguishers that comply with SANS 10105. Also, if people do anything to obstruct escape routes in buildings, they will be guilty of an offense.
What the Standard Says
The regulations for Fire Protection are contained in a 91 page document published by the SABS, SANS 10400: Part T Fire Protection. Much of the information is the same as that published in the 1990 version of the Standard that you can download from this site.
SANS 10400 Part T is broken down into several parts:
Requirements
The bulk of the Standard is made up of a vast number of different “requirements” that relate not only to dwelling houses, but to every other possible type of building, from hospitals to parking garages.
The requirements for effective fire protection include:
- general requirements,
- regulations relating to safety distances,
- fire performance,
- fire resistance of occupancy-separating and division-separating elements,
- fire stability of structural elements or components,
- tenancy-separating elements,
- partition walls and partitions,
- protection of openings (Note that the drawings in SANS 10400 – 1990 that illustrate this have not changed),
- raised access and suspended floors of combustible material,
- roof assemblies and coverings (the drawings remain unchanged in the new version of the Standard) including thatch,
- ceilings,
- floor coverings,
- internal finishes,
- provision of escape routes,
- exit doors,
- feeder routes,
- emergency routes,
- dimensions of components of escape routes,
- width of escape routes,
- basements,
- stairways and other changes of level along escape routes (the drawing that shows the position of doors in relation to a change in level has not changed),
- ventilation of stairways in an emergency route,
- pressurization of emergency routes and components,
- openings in floors,
- external stairways and passages,
- lobbies, foyers and vestibules,
- marking and signposting,
- provision of emergency lighting,
- fire detection and alarm systems,
- provision and maintenance of fire-fighting equipment, installations and fire protection systems,
- water reticulation for fire-fighting purposes,
- hose reels,
- hydrants,
- automatic sprinkler and other fixed extinguishing systems,
- portable fire extinguishers,
- mobile fire extinguishers,
- fire-stopping of inaccessible concealed spaces,
- protection in service shafts,
- services in structural or separating elements,
- smoke control,
- air-conditioning systems and artificial ventilation systems,
- lift shafts,
- lifts,
- firemen’s lift,
- stretcher lift,
- stage and backstage areas,
- eating arrangements in auditoriums or halls and on grandstands,
- parking garages,
- operating theatres and intensive, high or critical care units,
- installation of liquid fuel dispensing pumps and tanks,
- installation of other tanks,
- warehousing of dangerous goods,
- dangerous goods signage,
- access for fire-fighting and rescue purposes,
- resumed fire resistance of building materials and components,
- building materials,
- guest houses and bed and breakfast accommodation (this is completely new),
- health care facilities (this is also completely new).
Safety Distances
Although there are other provisions, including the classification of the type of external wall, the table below may be used to establish safety distances where walls do not contain windows or other openings. For ordinary “dwelling houses” where the area of elevation facing any boundary is not more than 7,5 m2, such safety distance may be reduced to 0,5 m.
Fire Resistance
There are several tables (five in all) that indicate requirements for compliance with “Presumed fire resistance of building materials and components”.
This table shows what is required for “structural walls”.
This table shows what is required for “non-structural walls and partitions”.
Rational Designs
The design requirements include the need for a competent person to ensure that the level of fire safety is adequate. This is particularly important in large and public buildings.
This drawing shows the basic fire safety engineering process.
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Refuse Disposal
Hi there
Can a staff member be trained to evacuate someone stuck in a lift?
And if so where can I get more information regarding the training.
Please advise. My daughter is a student renting an old house in Grahamstown. I very much doubt that this house meets the standards for fire safety. What recourse do we have to ensure that this house is made safe?
I am not aware of anything in the NBR that relates to water storage tanks. Contact the SABS and see if they can locate any relevant SANS. Best if you go into one of their libraries to do this if you are able to.
Part T: Fire Protection of the National Building Regulations. You can get it from the SABS
Hallo,
Could you please confirm if there are any law, regulation or statutory requirement for the testing of performance specification compliance of an installed fire system at industrial or commercial sites e. g. malls or plants.
An example would be: A site has an installed fire fighting capacity (fire water pumps and reticulation circuit) of X liters per minute / hour or whatever performance metric refers to the deliverable flow in the rteticulation circuit. My question is therefore, are sites required, by law, to verify the performance of these installations and prove the deluge system will operate, as designed, through annual performance checks.
The checks I am referring to would, for instance, verify the motor / engine (pump driver) condition is suitable for reliable on-demand operation and that the flow through the reticulation circuit is as per the design specification.
I would be highly appreciative if you could refer me to the correct standard / regulation / law.
Thank you in advance.
RR
I am trying to find out is their is a law stating water storage tanks have to be kept on the roof of buildings in relation to their height. Basically what are the requirements
Aaron I honestly don’t know. I’m sorry I can’t be more helpful.
Thank you Penny for letting me know.
What kind of lawyer handles this kind of case? Is there a specific kind that I need to consult? A claims lawyer? I would be so grateful for your response.
The complex MUST comply with the regulations and if they haven’t then yes they can be taken to court.
This is covered in the Building Regs but there may be additional SANS as well. I suggest you contact the SABS for advice and info – better still go to one of their offices.
Good morning,
I would like to know what the regulations are in terms of specifications of Fire Doors and insulation.
If I could be given an email address for someone I could obtain this information from please?
Thanking you
Hi there,
Is it against the law as regulations if a residential complex of over 150 flats does not have any fire hoses or hydrants to put a fire out in one of the flats?
Is it against the law to have no official fire fighting equipment within the public area of the residential complex?
Can the building management or agents be taken to court?
Hi Llewellyn, ALL BUILDINGS in South Africa have to adhere to the National Building Regulations. You have to put your objection into your local authority planning department.
good day ,i hope someone can assist me regarding the following :do the National Building Regulations apply to the organs of the state (Government) of S.A I iI do have a situation whereby a post office building do not comply with part T
we are considering installing a door between the kitchen and the garage
is fire door required by law
Temporary buildings are discussed in Part A of SANS 10400. However, I think details like distance between units will be found in the bylaws of the local authority – and might differ from area to area.
If you mean what do you do if a window has burglar bars and there’s a fire, then you need to follow an accepted escape route. But these apply to commercial and business rather than residential buildings. In a house burglar bars are not mandatory. You need to consider your options in terms of security and risk of fire.
Apologies for the delay in responding. The only thing I can point you towards is the fact that Part T of SANS 10400 that states you cannot use the water that forms part of a fire installation for anything other than fighting fires. Alert the local authority as it is they that must prosecute.
This is not covered in the National Building Regulations. Further, SANS is not an Act. The various South African National Standards (SANS) either give guidelines in terms of how the law (e.g. The National Building Regulations and Building Standards Act) is deemed to be satisfied, or to explain what the requirements of a particular SANS is.
Why not contact your local fire department and ask them for advice. Alternatively ask the local authority – it may well be a bylaw.
Rob the National Building Regulations are the same for all parts of the country. If there is anything specific to Cape Town this would be contained in the City’s bylaws – and you would contact them for details. SANS 1253, Fire-doors and fire-shutters looks as if it might deal with type – and/or materials and quality. All fire doors must conform to this standard. Click the link and go to preview. Just for the record, the definitions of fire door and fire shutter are:
“automatic or self-closing door or shutter assembly especially constructed to prevent the passage of fire for a specific length of time”
Have you looked at the SANS 10400 documentation, viz. Part T: Fire Protection?
I realize your building is not residential but if it was, “any door between such garage and any such room shall have a fire resistance of not less than 30 min and such doorway shall require a threshold of not less than 10 mm; and.” I mention this because it seems to me that the most important factor is fire resistance rather than type of door as such. It also states that “Any solid timber door constructed with double rebated joints, that have a thickness of not less than 40 mm, shall be deemed to comply with the requirement of 4.9.2 for a rating of 30 min.”
Also this part of SANS 10400 gives guidelines in terms of escape routes, exit doors etc.
Where the population of any room is not more than 25 persons, the clear width of any exit door shall be not less than 750 mm. Where two or more exit doors are required, they shall be positioned as far apart as is practicable, but not closer than 5 m from each other. I don’t think it is thickness as such that is important, but rather the need for fire resistant materials to be used. If you want to know more, I suggest you go to an SABS library and have a look at Part T of SANS 10400 – or buy a copy of it.
Muhammad there is nothing in Part T of SANS 10400 (viz Fire Protection) that specifies the colour of fire hose reels, however there is reference to other SANS that may make this specification. For your information:
“4.34 Hose reels
4.34.2 Any hose reel installed in such building shall comply with the requirements in SANS 543, shall be installed in accordance with SANS 10105-1 and SANS 10400-W, and shall be maintained in accordance with the requirements in SANS 1475-2.”
I suggest you visit your nearest SABS library and check these additional standards.
Frank, these references are all to parts of Part T of SANS 10400. You can get a copy of it from the SABS – either from one of their offices (from the library) or online. It costs R517,56.
Where Can I get to understand what the following requirements are; Is there a manual that tells me what this is?
Hose Reels T 4.34
Provision of escape routes T4.16
Stairways and other changes of level- escape routes T4.23
change in level to comply to T4.23.8
Do visible fire hose reels have to be painted red? Where does it stipulate so?