Reason Magazine 2014 Quartal 2 Seite 16

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In the U K Time for a Change An average of 600 fires occur annually in unsprinklered warehouses W hen it comes to sprinkler recommendations for commercial warehouses in Europe it s not a one size fits all approach Norway boasts the most stringent sprinkler recommendations with the gov ernment encouraging commercial warehouses above 8 600 square feet 800 square meters to utilize sprinklers In Belgium the rec ommendation for sprinklers in commercial warehouses is 54 000 square feet 5 000 square meters a more lenient recommendation than that of France Spain Germany and the Netherlands There is one country though whose recommendation dramatically deviates from the rest of Europe and has the Business Sprinkler Alliance BSA and other public organizations calling for a change That country is the United Kingdom U K The U K guidelines for sprinklers in commercial warehouses recommend that warehouses with a square footage above 215 000 square feet 20 000 square meters utilize sprinkler systems This guideline arguably the least rigorous in all of Europe persists in the face of a startling fact The British economy loses 1 billion Brit ish pounds in gross domestic product and 5 000 full time jobs every five years through preventable fires in commercial warehouses To put it in perspective this is the cost equivalent of the annual pro ductivity of the U K soft drink industry Over 600 fires occur in U K warehouses each year with the majority of them occurring in warehouses without sprinklers The fires pose a serious threat to human life are an enormous finan cial burden on the U K economy and take a substantial toll on the environment In 2010 the BSA commissioned a three year study to analyze just how severe the financial burden and environmental impact of these fires is The study conducted by independent third party certification organization BRE Global is being hailed as one of the most comprehensive and robust cost benefit studies of its kind The key findings of the study prove that on average it is cost effective to install sprinklers in commercial warehouses above 22 000 square feet 2 000 square meters with warehouses boasting a square footage above 108 000 square feet 10 000 square meters retaining the highest cost benefit Moreover the study proved that whole life costs for warehouses with sprinklers are typically 2 to 5 times less than warehouses without sprinklers Iain Cox BSA chairman and former chief fire officer of Royal Berkshire Fire and Rescue Service explains What is clear from the current research is that insurance alone is not enough to fully protect companies from the long term impacts of fire And the long term impacts are staggering Each year blazes cause a direct financial loss to businesses of US 385 million Additionally fires cause a loss of US 318 million per year in productivity and impacts to the supply chain On an environmental scale warehouse fires emit 135 000 tons 122 500 tonnes of carbon dioxide into the U K air annually So what s at the core of this heated debate According to Bruce Bromage FM Global operations vice president and senior codes and standards consultant the perceived cost to install sprin klers can be a huge deterrent for warehouse owners Still he says In the end if it s the cost what truly is the cost at the end of the day It s usually less than the electrical installation or less than the cost of carpets While some owners might consider the cost exorbi tant the study actually proves that over the lifetime of the building it s cost beneficial The danger lies in letting short term thinking prevail when it comes to sprinklers Cox and his colleagues at the BSA are working tirelessly to disseminate the study s findings to a wider audience aiming pri marily at engendering support from key political figures Cox says We urge the government to do more to encourage the installation of fire sprinklers in commercial premises and promote a better understanding of the positive impacts of physical resilience In addition to the stark economic and environmental impact the BSA believes that the current sprinkler regulations put the U K at a dan ger that competitor countries do not face In a two pronged approach the BSA is also targeting the building trade publishing the study s findings in a number of build ing trade commission magazines Bromage explains We re focus ing on architects because there tends to be a general anti sprinkler feeling among architects that sprinklers do not enhance a building s design In an attempt to eradicate this misconception we are in the process of developing courses for architects on how sprinklers can actually enhance the building s design The study s groundbreaking findings highlight the importance of examining the cost effectiveness fire sprinklers have across the board In addition to lobbying for political change of the U K sprinkler regulations the BSA plans to broaden its study to include other sectors manufacturing being next on the list 16 Reason ISSUE 2 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