12: Fire and Life Safety

Overview (1)

This chapter describes the SLAC program for fire safety and life safety. Fire safety addresses the design and management of SLAC's physical assets to minimize the risk of fire. Life safety addresses the design and management of building exit pathways to allow safe and effective evacuation of buildings under all emergency conditions, including fires.

It is the intent of SLAC to provide a level of fire protection and fire suppression capability sufficient to minimize losses from fire and related hazards, consistent with the best class of protected property in private industry.

Hazards/Impacts (1.1)

Uncontrolled fires have the potential to injure personnel, destroy property, and disrupt operations. In the event of an emergency, improper building exiting arrangements can threaten the safety of building occupants by obstructing their ability to leave the building promptly and safely.

Each DOE national laboratory has a distinctive mix of facilities that defines its predominant fire hazards. The facilities that most distinguish SLAC are its particle accelerators, associated photon sources, and related research programs. The facilities and equipment supporting these accelerators introduce distinctive fire hazards and challenges, including the following:

Flammable and combustible liquids. Flammable and combustible liquids are associated with certain experimental setups at SLAC, including lasers (in the dyes). Each klystron and its associated modulator have components containing a total of about 100 gallons of combustible mineral oil. Many oil-filled transformers are also present on-site.
Flammable gases. Flammable gases are used for some metalworking processes and experimental detection equipment. The most predominant flammable gas on-site is hydrogen. Hydrogen is used in hydrogen furnaces and for special beam targets. Unodorized isobutane, ethane, and other flammable gases are also sometimes present for specific experiments.
Radioactive contamination. Most ionizing radiation produced on-site exists only while particle or x-ray beams are operating; it ceases when they stop. However, certain beam-line components such as beam dumps and collimators can become activated over time through exposure, and the resulting radioactive contamination may be released in smoke if exposed directly to a fire. In addition, small quantities of radioactive material are often present on-site for experimental purposes and could be involved in a fire. Finally, shielding considerations and personnel protection systems (PPSs) associated with beam-line radiation create special considerations for exiting from beamline areas.
Data processing areas. SLAC's data processing needs result in high-value concentrations of data processing equipment that present special fire protection needs.
Experimental detectors. The characteristics of high-energy particle and photon detectors result in a small number of large, high-value, mission-critical machines that may incorporate unlisted electrical system components and sometimes contain flammable gases. Protecting these machines from fire can present unusual engineering challenges.
Special electrical equipment. Apart from particle and photon detectors, high-voltage and highly customized electrical equipment is present throughout SLAC experimental facilities. (For electrical hazards, the Electrical Safety Group takes a primary role in overseeing development of safety policies.)
Underground tunnels and confined spaces. High-energy particle or x-ray beam lines are typically contained in tunnels or tunnel-like structures. Many of these structures are located underground. Some of these structures are considered confined spaces because they are not designed for routine ingress and egress due to equipment obstructions. Confined spaces that are considered simple, unoccupied utility chases are exempted from most exiting requirements. However, some underground spaces at SLAC contain equipment that requires periodic maintenance and adjustment; some of these spaces present special challenges for life safety classification.
Combustible metals. Although not widespread at SLAC, water-reactive metals such as sodium are occasionally present. Some metal machining also occurs on-site. Many ordinarily non-reactive metals are combustible when finely divided. Metal fires present special challenges for extinguishment.
Routine office occupancies. Office occupancies present the potential for more routine (but equally important) fire hazards, such as the use of daisy chained extension cords or unapproved portable space heaters.
Facility/wildland fire interface. Besides facility fire threats, the presence of grassland, brush, and lightly forested areas in and around the SLAC site poses a wildland fire hazard to people, structures, and equipment. Special DOE guidance addresses this hazard.

Scope (2)

This chapter discusses actions to be taken to reduce the likelihood and potential consequences of fires and to ensure acceptable conditions for egress from structures should an emergency occur. It does not include the planning of specific manual responses to emergency conditions. For emergency response planning, including fire department response capabilities, see Chapter 37, "Emergency Management".

The scope of the fire and life safety program is broad. It covers many of the operations performed within buildings and outdoors on site grounds. The program applies to all personnel and facilities on-site during all stages of the facility life cycle, from preliminary site design through final demolition.

The fire and life safety program applies to all design features and activities related to one or more of the following items:

Design, construction, and remodeling of new and existing structures
Operability of active fire safety systems, such as sprinklers, hydrants, and smoke and heat detectors and alarms
Operability and integrity of passive building fire safety systems, such as fire barriers, fire doors, and fire dampers
Design and operability of the site water distribution system
Use of portable fire extinguishers
Emergency exiting pathways from buildings
Design of fire department vehicle access
Processes involving significant quantities of combustible or flammable materials
Storage and handling of strongly oxidizing chemicals
Use and mis-use of potential ignition sources
Management of landscape vegetation such as grasses, brush and trees
High-value concentrations of equipment

Exemptions (2.1)

There are no categorical exemptions from fire and life safety requirements. Project or facility-specific requests for exemptions and equivalencies to DOE fire protection orders are generated by SLAC but are granted only by the DOE authority having jurisdiction. Exemptions or equivalencies processed under the Worker Safety and Health Program regulation (10 CFR 851) are termed variances. The general process for granting variances to requirements will be covered in Chapter 1, "General Policy and Responsibilities".

Emergencies (2.2)

Under unusual conditions, non-fire emergency conditions may unexpectedly disrupt fire protection systems - including water distribution, sprinkler, special suppression and fire alarm. These situations are known as emergency impairments. In such cases, interim compensatory measures, such as fire watches, are determined and authorized on a case-by-case basis by the fire marshal.

Implementation (8)

The requirements of this chapter are effective upon publication unless otherwise noted here.

continue to Standards (3)

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