Case studies matching "fan"

Every false fire alarm is costly, but in a post-COVID world, there is now even more pressure on the leisure, retail, and hospitality industries to prevent false alarms in their premises.The leisure, retail, and hospitality industries were hit hard by COVID-19; as we begin to emerge from the pandemic businesses will be keen to make up for lost time, avoiding the loss in revenue caused by false fire alarms.Home Office figuresDespite two years of restrictions and lockdowns, false fire alarms continue to cost the UK, Home Office figures reveal that there were a total of 2,497 false fire alarms caused by the “malicious activation of [a] fire call point/alarm” in England for the year ending September 2021 – surpassing challenged hoax calls as the largest reason for malicious fire alarms.Accidental activations too remained a significant cause of false alarms; 12,732 false fire alarms were recorded due to the accidental and careless activation of fire alarm and fire-fighting equipment, including manual call points.With the restrictions, closures, and reduced footfall faced by businesses, we might have expected to see the number of false fire alarms fall significantly during the pandemic. This serves as a timely reminder of the persistence of unwanted fire alarm signals, and the need for leisure, retail, and hospitality premises to seek a solution to avoid further disruptions post-COVID.Although necessary once a fire alarm sounds, a preventable evacuation ultimately means unhappy customers, disruption for businesses, and unnecessary strain for our stretched emergency services.At a time where it is prudent to avoid the crowded corridors and large gatherings at assembly points that follow a needless false alarm evacuation, it has become even more important to prevent false alarms.Continuing to be the largest incident type, false fire alarms accounted for 41 per cent of the incidents attended by Fire and Rescue Services in England for the period – fires accounted for just 27 per cent.Over £1 billionWith similar figures reflected across the UK, over £1 billion is lost every year due to false alarms. To recoup this cost the London Fire Brigade became the first fire service in the country to recover costs from buildings including leisure, retail, and hospitality premises, with a poor false alarm record.A false alarm is defined as a fire alarm signal caused by means other than a genuine fire, which has activated a fire detection and alarm system, these can include: equipment false alarm, environmental influences, accidental damage, and inappropriate human action, including the malicious activation of a manual call point.Under The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order Act 2005, it is the responsibility of the building owner or the ‘responsible person’ to ensure effective fire precautions are in place to protect staff, customers, or visitors.Several precautionary steps can be implemented to prevent false fire alarms before they occur; routine testing and maintenance to call points is a must to assure proper operation, but it is not the only proactive approach.BS 5839-1:2017As recommended in BS 5839-1:2017 manual call points should be fitted with a protective cover to prevent false fire alarms. The British Standard Institute recommends in section 20.2b, that: “All MCPs should be fitted with a protective cover, which is moved to gain access to the frangible element.“It is now recommended that a protective cover is fitted to a Type A manual call point to help prevent false alarms.”Following the introduction of the new recommendations in 2017 malicious false fire alarms have fallen by 18%, an indication of the effectiveness of protective covers, however, every false alarm is still costly.Firefighters respond to fire signals as if they are real, this exposes the public and fire crew to unnecessary risk in their swift response to false alarms, directing them away from real emergencies.LeisureLeisure premises are particularly susceptible to false fire alarms, whether it be wayward sports equipment in sports hall and gymnasiums, or high-traffic areas in music venues, cinemas, and theatres.Concerts, football matches, and even pantomimes have all been interrupted mid-performance in the UK, and in some cases even cut short by false fire alarms – resulting in disgruntled fans and calls for refunds.Government fire safety guidance for theatres, cinemas, and similar premises, highlights the need for protective covers to combat both accidental and malicious activations: “To reduce the risk of malicious or accidental operation which may promote panic you should consider as part of your management plan alternative arrangements such as the guarding of manual call points (e.g. with a simple, easily removed, cover).”A hinged cover around a call point is also likely to solve the problem of accidental activation or damage in storage areas where there is a continual movement of equipment.Whilst guidance for open air events and venues draws attention to the high risk of malicious activations in certain public areas, such as large beer tents – in this instance, alarmed call point covers might be more effective.RetailFor retail premises, trollies and shopping bags threaten the accidental activation of manual call points and the evacuations that follow threaten both a loss of customers and profit. However, robust polycarbonate covers can be fitted to protect sensitive break glass units and deflect heavy blows.This is reinforced by the Government’s fire safety risk assessment for shops: “False alarms from electrical fire warning systems are a major problem (e.g. malicious activation of manual call points) and result in many unwanted calls to the fire and rescue service every year.”Shopping centres and supermarkets are regularly forced to evacuate hundreds of shoppers due to unwanted fire alarm signals; abandoning their shopping on conveyor belts, baskets, and trollies. Owing to the disruption many choose not to return to complete their purchases.HospitalityThis phenomenon can be particularly detrimental for the hospitality industry, where evacuations following false fire alarms leave restaurants and bars vulnerable to incidents of “dine and dash.” Some hospitality premises have lost out on upwards of £1,000 when customers walked off without paying after a false alarm.Fire safety guidance for licensed premises reinforces the need to put a stop to false fire alarms within the industry: “Fire alarm systems should normally conform to the current edition of BS 5839, with consideration made for prevention of false alarms.”Alarm fatigueRepeated false alarms reduce the public’s confidence in fire alarms, contributing to alarm fatigue and a complacent attitude towards evacuations. Alarm fatigue occurs when a person becomes desensitised to an alarm due to repeated false alarms and as a result, fails to react appropriately in an emergency – having potentially fatal effects.The Manchester Woolworths fire in 1979 is a devastating example of alarm fatigue, as the fire alarm sounded customers were reluctant to leave the store. By the time they realised they were in danger, it was too late, ten people died in the blaze.Alarm fatigue also poses a serious threat to the hospitality industry, with Government fire safety guidance for sleeping accommodation, such as hotels, stating: “If there are excessive false alarms in your premises, people may become complacent and not respond correctly to a warning of a real fire. In such circumstances, you may be failing to comply with fire safety law. All false alarms should be investigated to identify the cause of the problem and remedial action taken.”In some areas of hospitality premises, such as function rooms in a hotel, call points can be vulnerable to malicious and accidental activations – to reduce this risk, protection for manual call points is advised.Some hotel guests react casually to fire alarms, often wrongfully believing them to be a “hoax” or “prank”, reducing response time and delaying evacuation. As recommended in BS 5839-1:2017 manual call points can be fitted with a protective cover preventing false alarms whether accidental or malicious, halting alarm fatigue.Call point protectorsSafety Technology International manufacture a range of protective covers, specifically designed to prevent false alarms whether accidental or malicious.The STI story began in 1980 with a challenge by a school headteacher who wanted to stop their false fire alarms. Founder, Jack Taylor, used his expertise in security systems to invent the first and original Stopper® polycarbonate protective cover. From integral covers to outdoor and sounder models; there are now variations to suit all applications.The tamper-proof polycarbonate covers ensure call points are protected without restricting legitimate use in a real emergency, a combination of optional warning alarm, flashing beacon, and break seal acts as a deterrent against malicious activation.As we enter transition to the “new normal” it is imperative the leisure, retail, and hospitality industries prevent false fire alarms in their premises. Conforming to BS 5839-1:2017 to protect manual call points from false activation, whether accidental or malicious. Not only to aid economic recovery post-pandemic but to keep fire safety at the forefront of customers’ minds. Failure to address false fire alarms allows alarm fatigue to manifest, and this can prove to be costly – in every sense of the word.

The fact that power stations produce high levels of noise won’t come as much of a surprise to anyone who has spent more than a few minutes inside one. Quite how dangerous these levels of noise can be, however, might.How Loud is ‘Too Loud’?To give you an idea of the sensitivity of the human ear, the average person can hear sounds down to about 0 decibels (dB), the equivalent of a whisper or rustling leaves, and people with exceptional hearing can detect sounds as low as -15dB.It is at the other end of the scale, however, that serious problems can occur. At around 85dB, you are likely to experience discomfort. As little as eight hours of continuous exposure to this level of noise can result in permanent damage to the inner ear, which is why 85dB is the maximum allowed under the Noise at Work Regulations. At 100dB, just fifteen minutes of exposure can cause permanent damage. And at 110dB the exposure time drops to around a minute before harm is inflicted. Pain is experienced at 125dB and hearing loss can be permanent. At 140dB or above not only is the damage permanent, it is also immediate.The Noise at Work Regulations stipulate that an ‘employer shall ensure that risk from the exposure to noise is either eliminated at source or, where this is not reasonably practicable, reduced to as low a level as is reasonably practicable.” And that “if any employee is likely to be exposed to noise at or above an upper exposure action value, the employer shall reduce exposure to as low a level as is reasonably practicable by establishing and implementing a programme of organisational and technical measures, excluding the provision of personal hearing protectors, which is appropriate to the activity.” In other words, an employer is expected to do everything they can, within reason, to protect their employees from the harmful effects of noise. And, no, it isn’t enough to simply supply a pair of ear-defenders.Noise-Induced Hearing LossThe damage caused by these dangerous levels of noise is referred to as Noise-Induced Hearing Loss or NIHL. NIHL can be caused by a single exposure to a very loud sound or by repeated exposure to even relatively low levels of noise over a long time span. In fact, according to research carried out by Xiaoming Zhou from the East China Normal University in Shanghai, even seemingly innocuous sounds, such as the whirr of a desk fan, can cause damage if exposure is consistent and long-term.To understand how NIHL occurs, it’s necessary to understand how hearing works.The generally accepted view is that sound waves strike the eardrum and these vibrations are translated into coherent information by the brain. It is slightly more complex than that. Sound waves do, indeed, strike the eardrum, causing the eardrum to vibrate. These vibrations are then transmitted through the ossicles (the small bones of the middle ear) to the cochlea, a spiral-shaped chamber filled with fluid and lined with tiny hair cells called stereocilia. The vibrations cause the fluid to move which, in turn, causes the stereocilia to move. The stereocilia’s movements generate neural signals with are picked up by the auditory nerve which ‘forwards’ these signals onto the brain where they are interpreted as intelligible sounds human speech, music, the beep of car horn etc.Exposure to the harmful levels of noise mentioned above can damage the stereocilia, breaking them or flattening them so they no longer vibrate as effectively or so they no longer vibrate at all. The result: impaired hearing or, in extreme cases, total hearing loss.The noise recorded coming from the dry cooling system at the Severn Power CCGT Power Station at Uskmouth B was between 130dB(A) and 135dB(A), a full 50dB above Noise at Work Regulations’ acceptable levels. Regarding dB(A), the human ear does not hear all frequencies with the same intensity. It is most sensitive to sounds in the 500Hz-8kHz range. Above and below this range the ear becomes progressively less sensitive. To compensate for this, sound level meters incorporate electronic filtering to correspond to the varying sensitivities of the ear. This filtering is called A-weighting and readings obtained with this weighting are referred to as A-weighted and signified as dB(A).The Wrong Kind of NoiseAlthough it was identified that the dry cooling system from SPX Cooling Technologies was generating these dangerous and unacceptable levels of noise, it wasn’t the cooling system that was creating the noise. In fact, it was the turbines that were the source of the noise. The steam roaring from the turbines at incredibly high speeds enters the main 5.5m steam ducts, passes up five risers and is channeled into the steam distribution manifolds. Not only does the steam enter the dry cooling system, the accompanying noise does, too. You might think that the 8mm thick steel from which the ducts are constructed would go some way to containing the din. Unfortunately, steel is extremely adept at transmitting noise and is, in many respects, the acoustician’s worst enemy.To make matters worse, when acoustics and soundproofing specialists, CMS Danskin Acoustics, were brought in by SPX and Uskmouth’s main contractors, Siemens, they discovered not only high levels of noise but also that the noise generated had a very low-frequency bias. Low-frequency noise is the most difficult to treat from a soundproofing perspective due to the excessive length of the wave cycle. This is one of the reasons people in apartments, terraced houses and semi-detached homes will often complain of the problems of bass noises intruding from neighbouring properties, as the walls and floors filter out the higher frequencies whilst the lower frequencies manage to penetrate. This can seem a little counterintuitive, as we imagine higher frequency noise to be more piercing. Their short wave-cycle, however, means they can be blocked out with relatively thin soundproofing materials.The low-frequency nature of the noise also meant that this wasn’t just a Noise at Work Regulations problem. Low-frequency noise can be particularly problematic to the population in the vicinity of the source of that noise. Low frequency noise is often not even ‘heard’ in the traditional sense. Complainants often won’t even realise that noise is the problem at all; instead they will describe ‘pressure sensations’ and ‘physical discomfort’, experiencing the incursion as vibrations. Areas of the human body can resonate when exposed to low frequencies. The chest, for example, can resonate at frequencies between 50Hz and 100Hz, and the head at frequencies between 20Hz and 30Hz. It isn’t unusual, therefore, for sufferers of low frequency noise to complain of anxiety, nausea and headaches. Often, they won’t even be aware of the root cause of their symptoms, instead attributing them to a virus or some mystery illness.A New Approach and a Sound SolutionSolutions for low-frequency noise issues typically involve wrapping the problem in significant quantities of acoustic insulation, with many standard solutions being as deep as 500mm to 700mm. The sheer volume of lagging required for an insulation-based approach to a project like Uskmouth, with a daunting 8,000m2 of ducting to be covered, would be expensive, time-consuming to install and prohibitively disruptive. What’s more, there were areas around the ducting at Uskmouth which simply wouldn’t have been able to accommodate such an excessive construction height of soundproofing material.Paul Absolon, CMS Danskin Acoustics’ Technical Director, responded to the challenge of creating a ‘thinner’ soundproofing system that would meet the necessary Noise at Work Regulations requirements but would be cost-effective and efficient to install. In order to minimise disruption to Uskmouth, an off-site simulation was created near Burton on Trent, using a large section of identical ducting with a ‘door’ sealing up either end. Within the duct were several very powerful speakers. For testing, highly sensitive microphones were placed in strategic positions along the outside of the duct to measure any ‘leakage’. Acoustic insulation solutions were conceived, implemented and assessed in this controlled environment with the assistance of Acoustic Consultants Muller-BBM and the installation company Western Thermal Insulations.Exploring a wide range of acoustic materials from CMS Danskin Acoustics’ industrial acoustics range, it was clear that a single product was not going to be able to solve the problem on its own, so Paul opted for a combination of products working in concert, layer upon layer.The first layer consisted of CMS HT1B elastomeric isolation pads, constructed from a polyurethane-bound rubber granulate specifically formulated to dampen and/or isolate noise and vibrations at source and independently tested by the Institute of Structural Dynamics at the Technical University of Dresden. The 50mm thick pads were bonded to the surface of the duct at a rate of nine per square meter, creating 300mm spacings; so, as well as the dampening effects of the material itself, the construction benefited from large, evenly distributed airspaces in its foundations. Sound waves move less effectively through dead air.The second layer consisted of 50mm-thick QuietSlab SVX3, a high-performance, mineral-fibre acoustic lagging. MIMA (the Mineral Wool Insulation Manufacturers Association) describe the acoustic insulation properties of mineral wool (and mineral fibres more generally): “Porous materials such as mineral wool work to control and reduce noise by allowing air movement into the fabric of the material. The fluctuations of air molecules – which form sound waves – move into the body of the mineral wool, where friction between the air particles and the material’s narrow airways cause sound energy to be dissipated as heat.”