| "It cannot be over-emphasised that the main aim is to ensure everyone reaches safety if there is a fire" (HSG168, Paragraph 181. 2010) |
Fire
Health and Safety Guidance 168 (HSG168) "Fire Safety in Construction" is a hugely important document. It instructs construction managers how best to protect site operatives from the risk of fire. The implications of an unsafe construction site are enormous. Safe Route provides fire safety quickly, efficiently, and to an excellent standard.
Safe Route systems have been developed from the ground up with fire safety in mind. Each product can be smoke and proximity proofed and fire-rated for 60, 120, or 240 minutes (BS476 Part 22 & BS EN 1364-1). Their modular design allows them to be installed and reinstalled in any configuration, helping improve the construction programme’s approach to fire planning.
| 'If there is a fire, people need to be able to evacuate the structure and possibly the construction site itself to reach a place of safety. It cannot be over-emphasised that the main aim is to ensure everyone reaches safety if there is a fire. The means of escape may need to be considered daily on fast-tracked projects.' (HSG168, Paragraph 181) |
Safe Route tunnels create a fire protected path out of the structure and the construction site. They are installed quickly, go up and down stairs, and lead individuals to safety. |
| 'Smoke produced by a fire contains toxic gases which are harmful to people. A fire in a building with modern fittings and materials generates smoke that is thick and black, obscures vision, causes great difficulty in breathing and can block the escape routes. It is essential that the means of escape and other fire precautions are adequate to ensure that everyone can make their escape to a place of total safety before the fire and its effects can trap them in the building or on the site itself.' (HSG168, Paragraph 55) |
Safe Route products can be sealed to prevent smoke and toxicity ingress. |
| 'Some common electrical faults posing fire risks include […] mechanical damage to cables, often as a result of inappropriate routeing.' (HSG168 Paragraph 108) |
Safe Route tunnels can provide containment strategies, which keep services safe and limit the potential for mechanical damage. |
| 'To stop a fire spreading (in some types of high-risk structure this can be very rapid), a building can be sub-divided by fire-resisting walls, floors and sometimes ceilings.' (HSG168, Paragraph 243) |
Fire-rated Safe Route hoardings can be quickly arranged to create compartmented areas of the site. |
| 'A stairway (in a building under construction) serving two floors should normally be a minimum of 1 m wide to adequately cater for about 200 people.' (HSG168, Paragraph 208) |
Safe Route tunnels can climb stairs. |
| 'During the course of construction, escape routes are likely to change and possibly become unavailable. It is important that replacement routes are identified and provided early. [And] there should normally be at least two escape routes offering escape in different directions.' (HSG168, Paragraph 186) |
The inbuilt flexibility of Safe Route products allow them to adapt rapidly as the site changes. They can be reconfigured to serve multiple routes of exit. |
| 'This guidance recommends that workplaces, wherever possible, have […] a maximum distance of 25m to safety, or to a protected route out of the premises.' (HSG168, Paragraph 194) |
Safe Route tunnels are tailored to serve the requirements, and can easily be installed to serve the 25m recommendation. Generally, a 25m tunnel will be installed in a single shift. |