Tyco Fire Protection Products, a Tyco business, is launching the new ZETTLER PROFILE fire detection control panel range to meet a variety of market demands in the Asia Pacific Region. Aesthetically blending into any environment, from luxury hotels to schools, universities and hospitals, commercial multi-story offices to large scale multi-site complexes, the PROFILE touch-screen user interface allows access to any part of the menu in only three easy steps.
Tyco ZETTLER PROFILE
Once installed, the system can help improve efficiencies, reduce lifetime costs and fundamentally ensure the highest enhanced levels of fire safety. In addition, system owners and users who require access to manage the programming software can now do so with the release of a user-friendly version of the configuration tool.
The ZETTLER PROFILE is a new way of interfacing and managing all aspects of the renowned MZX Technology® digital addressable system, which delivers a range of unique benefits as part of an overall fire safety strategy. The new panel is totally backwards compatible with the existing MZX range, all of which can fully interface with the older legacy Minerva range meaning upgrading existing systems is easy, saving time and reducing installation costs. The system can also be updated in line with future advances in fire detection technology and can be easily expanded, allowing a capacity of up to 2,000 addresses per panel and up to 99 panels per network.
The ZETTLER PROFILE range of control panels is available from one to eight loops. The system can also be managed via a remote user interface, an 8-inch colour touch screen with multi-lingual options. Up to 8 user interfaces can be used per panel. From an aesthetic standpoint, the contemporary and discreet touch screens have been designed with a fully customisable home screen, which can be branded in-line with the building’s corporate identity.
With an intuitive and intelligent design, the complexity of the system has been reduced to ensure on-going management of the system can be completed efficiently. Furthermore, users can now ensure site and zone maps feature on the user panel helping to locate a fire alarm as quickly as possible and also save time and cost in locating any fault which might occur.
Simple to install, configure and service, ZETTLER PROFILE allows users to log on using the latest Radio Frequency Identification Technology (RFID) for fast and secure identification, instead of a traditional key. Engineers can configure the system with the required cause and effect programming, leaving the building occupier with the software necessary for the day-to-day management of the system. In addition, with a standard USB, extensive information can be downloaded – a key advantage when it comes to diagnostics and analysis.
Besides VdS, EN54.13 and EN54.2 European approvals, PROFILE has also been approved by Singapore TUV – PSB: EN54 & Singapore Code of Practice: SS CP10:2005.
Text by Tony Wu, Senior Loss-Prevention Consultant, Asia, XL Catlin
Purely as a thermal insulator, polystyrene foam outranks every other building material. In addition to its inherent thermal properties, it can be sprayed into any space, filling tiny gaps without damaging beams or other important structural supports. It even keeps out most rodents and insects.
No wonder, it quickly became the global insulator, not only for buildings and transport, but also for refrigeration and food packaging. It was even used as a seal in nuclear power plants.
However, several deadly, high-profile fires—at the Düsseldorf Airport, the Channel Tunnel, and the Browns Ferry Nuclear Power Plant—brought the foam under global scrutiny. Clearly, although it was the most effective thermal insulator on the market, it was also quick to ignite, highly combustible, and therefore dangerous in numerous circumstances.
Some builders concluded that using the foam only in enclosed spaces—behind walls or concrete—would keep it away from heat sources, rendering it safe. Of course, this still left the foam exposed to welding and other hot works during construction and renovation.
Eventually, most builders began to treat the foam with HBCD flame-retardant. This became the industry standard—although not a legal requirement—in most regions, including the EU, the US, and Japan.
The Problem with HBCD
The self-extinguishing agent in HBCD certainly helps prevent foam fires. The treated foam shrinks away from a direct flame, and as long as the flame is small and brief enough, only the surface of the foam will burn. Once the flame is gone, the foam extinguishes itself. For HBCD-treated foam to begin to burn internally, it must reach temperatures of between 400-500°C.
However, even treated foam can start a fire indirectly. How? If a fire begins in a room nearby, or if an enclosed room with foam insulation heats up on a hot, summer day, the foam’s temperature can slowly rise to above 100°C. As it heats up, the foam softens, releasing highly combustible gases. A single spark can ignite the gases, causing a“flashover” fire that can fill a room in an instant, and quickly spreads to other areas.
HBCD in the gas is highly toxic and carcinogenic, and it accumulates in the environment, endangering human, animal, and plant life for many years.
The EU has responded to the combined dangers of HBCD and flammable foam by instituting a ban on HBCD, effective August 21, 2015. From that point forward builders and others will be expected to use a safer flame retardant, most likely the newly commercialized pFR.
In 2011, Dow Chemical Company announced the development of pFR in anticipation of the ban on HBCD. In its July 2014 report, the EU cited test results demonstrating pFR to be just as flame-resistant as HBCD, but non-toxic and non-cumulative in the environment. The EU also expects Japan to replace half of its HBCD with pFR in 2015, and expects the US to replace all of its HBCD with pFR by 2019.
Tests are one thing; reality is sometimes another. Time will tell how much safer pFR really is.
China’s National Outcry
China enjoyed its own foam insulation trend in the 1990s, also with tragic consequences.
In 2010, a fire in a high-rise apartment in downtown Shanghai killed 58 retired teachers. The shock reverberated across China, reports flooding the media for weeks. An investigation revealed the cause: in an uninhabited building section under renovation, hot works had ignited newly installed foam insulation. The ensuing fire shot through the building so fast, residents in occupied areas were unable to evacuate in time.
Only 2 years later, foam panels in the refrigerated area of a food plant caught fire. Nobody realised how quickly the fire would spread. Before they could evacuate, 119 workers died from toxic smoke and flames.
These tragic incidents threw a public spotlight on polystyrene foam and other flammable building materials, compelling legislators to intervene.
China Raises the Standard
Also in its 2014 report, the EU predicted that China would begin the transition from HBCD to pFR in 2019, and complete the change by 2020.
In the meantime, China has taken a more decisive step forward in fire safety. On May 1, 2015 China released its revised Code for the Fire Protection Design of Buildings. The new code moves beyond flame-retarding treatments, to prohibit the use of flammable polystyrene foam altogether in new construction.
Other “Class B3” highly combustible materials will also be outlawed or require safer handling, including aluminum dust – the cause of another national fire tragedy.
Foam or No Foam?
XL Catlin risk engineer’s guidelines recommended avoiding the use of polystyrene foam in new construction, so, we fully support China’s new law. As we continuously analyze loss statistics from around the world, it is clear that wherever polystyrene foam is used, the risk to lives and property is substantially greater.
China does not mandate the same level of insurance. However, companies in China are increasingly looking for more powerful risk-transfer solutions. These companies frequently ask us to help them assess and mitigate their fire risk, in order to help them meet the requirements for better insurance.
Companies selecting facility locations in China should be aware of the prevalence of polystyrene foam insulation in buildings of a certain age. In new buildings, if the foam is part of the design, it should be replaced. If possible, companies should avoid leasing or buying existing locations with foam insulation.
If operations are already underway in buildings with foam insulation, very stringent/strict fire prevention procedures and safety procedures must be instituted. Risk engineers can help, by conducting a COPE (construction, occupancy, protection, and exposure) risk evaluation. This will determine how additional sprinklers or other measures can help to protect lives and reduce property risk.
Above all, it is important to know that while fire is the leading threat to property, nearly every fire is preventable.
As China takes the lead on banning highly flammable building material, and the EU bans toxic HBCD, we look forward to a future of better worker safety, property safety, and ultimately business security.
Again and again, disasters strike and cause widespread panic -whether it’s fireworks lobbed into crowds during a sports event or a fire at an airport, nightclub or hotel. With a view to understanding crowd dynamics, researchers are examining whether people react to events in specific patterns and whether threats can be recognized and perhaps headed off. One such researcher is Dr. Wolfram Klein, a mathematician who works at Siemens Corporate Technology (CT) in Munich.
Together with his team, Klein has developed a model that simulates crowd behavior, thus helping researchers to predict where and when a critical situation may arise. Klein’s model can simulate the way in which crowds of tens of thousands of people behave. What’s interesting, according to Klein, is that “they move very similarly to liquids or gases.” Like molecules, people either attract or repel each other.
In addition, when people move through buildings they have to navigate around walls and other obstacles; and, of course, small, narrow spaces can lead to congestion. “Based on the principles of alternately attracting and repelling forces, we can chart human behavior and produce predictions in terms of mathematical equations,” says Klein.
The software could help architects plan safer buildings because it can identify which spots might give rise to dangerous situations. Klein is certain that comparatively simple procedures and planning steps could prevent many disasters.
In order to illustrate human behavioral patterns even more realistically, his team has continuously refined its simulation model. For instance, the software now not only uses statistical methods to depict the effects of a person’s age and health on their walking behavior, but also takes group interaction into consideration as a factor. In addition, the Munich-based researchers have improved their mathematical calculations significantly.
According to Klein, the system is now so fast that their crowd simulations can be used to make short-term predictions. “We can tell up to five minutes beforehand what is likely to happen assuming that no one intervenes. This way, the head of operations at a facility could act quickly.
This method of crowd control has already been tested in various research projects, including one carried out at Frankfurt’s central train station. Based on surveillance camera footage, the software was able to accurately predict the flow of pedestrian traffic — as well as congestion — several minutes before it occurred. The program has also been successfully used in and around the soccer stadium in Kaiserslautern.
Evacuating the city’s stadium would be a dramatic challenge for the police and fire department. Although the stadium accommodates up to 40,000 people when it is full, it offers only a few escape routes. And to make matters more difficult, all of them lead through the surrounding residential areas.
Safe, Quick Evacuations
In the future, the researchers also want to use this knowledge to support their colleagues in Siemens’ Building Technologies Division. To this end, in the Swiss town of Zug experts are developing dynamic fire protection solutions for buildings — so-called intelligent response systems. Christian Frey, who is responsible for innovations in Zug, explains: “These are highly professional systems that can react immediately and effectively to dangerous situations or incidents.”
Frey points out that in order to get people out of a burning building safely and quickly, the usual green signs along hallways indicating escape routes are not sufficient. In public buildings such as hospitals and hotels, he says, most people aren’t familiar with their surroundings. “If you’re in a panic, the next emergency exit isn’t that easy to find.”
Studies also show that many people fail to react appropriately to conventional warning signals such as honking or sirens. They often think it’s just a fire drill or a false alarm — or else they don’t know what to do. This is where information technology can help. For instance, office workers could receive automatic warnings and updates on their personal computer screens. At the same time, large electronic screens in the hallways and smartphones would display arrows showing people how to get out of a building. In addition, sensors in ceilings and floors would be able to measure the stream of people.
Based on this information, an intelligent building software system would be able to recognize early on when a particular escape route is in danger of becoming overcrowded. It would then respond by directing people to the fastest and best alternative route out of a building and into the open. Visual systems would also be complemented by voice alarms and mass text messages.
Fire Department App
What’s more, such systems will be able to improve building management and support rescue workers. “The system analyzes data from a building, recommends immediate measures to defuse the situation, generates dynamic, up-to-date instructions, and helps rescue workers manage the evacuation and direct people to escape routes,” says Frey, describing the idea behind the software concept. In the future, he adds, when a fire breaks out, the building management system will immediately link up with the fire department’s computer system. Rescue teams and fire fighters would then receive a blueprint of the building on their smartphones. Such a plan would not only display the source of the fire, but also monitor how it is spreading. In addition, intelligent movement sensors would indicate where people are located in the building.
Together with other companies and institutes, Siemens researchers are developing these technologies as a part of the EU DESSiRE (Designing Safe, Secure and Resilient Large Building Complexes) project. Siemens’ simulation experts from Munich are also assuming an additional role. Specifically, they have developed a method that allows them to predict the spread of fire in different kinds of buildings. Klein explains how it works: “We can light a virtual fire in order to see how it will affect each building.” The researchers can simulate fire in various surroundings and different interior fittings — for example, with or without furniture, or with flammable or flame-resistant materials. By trying out these different scenarios, the heads of operations can learn to predict the spread of a fire more accurately and to thus act promptly and effectively according to a given situation.
