FAQs about building evacuation. Is high- rise building evacuation different from other buildings? The multiple floors of a high- rise building create the cumulative effect of requiring great numbers of persons to travel great vertical distances on stairs in order to evacuate the building. In the evacuation of the World Trade Center high- rise office towers following the terrorist bombing in 1. The physical demands made on occupants often exceed the capabilities of many. In addition, the process of evacuating some of the largest high- rise buildings in the world may take upwards of two hours. The fire and life safety systems installed in high- rise buildings today, including automatic fire sprinkler protection, are designed to control a fire and therefore lessen the need to evacuate all occupants. In a typical scenario, the occupants of the fire floor and the floors immediately above and below it should immediately use the exit stairs to descend to a floor level that is at least several floors below the fire floor, and await further instruction from safety officials. What are the key elements of emergency preparedness? Early warning (typically through an alarm or voice communication system), adequate means of egress (exit routes) and occupant familiarity with the plan through knowledge and practice. Are building owners or operators required to hold regular emergency drills for occupants? Although not mandated for all buildings, NFPA 1. Life Safety Code®, requires that workplaces, healthcare facilities, educational institutions and other occupancies provide evacuation/relocation plan information and routinely schedule and hold drills when practicable. How are emergency instructions tailored to the actual emergency event and communicated to the building occupants? High- rise building fire alarm systems are required to have emergency voice communication capability. Trained emergency personnel assess the emergency and can then broadcast a variety of specific messages to the occupants. The occupants believed to be in the greatest potential danger are instructed to use the exit stairs to begin their descent. Occupants of other floors might be instructed to stay where they are and await further instruction. In these cases, only occupants on the fire floor and the floors immediately above and below typically receive the message. Should the scale of the emergency increase, the announcements can be expanded to include additional floors, or if need be, the entire building. If stair travel is potentially dangerous, are there alternatives? The construction, fire protection and life safety systems installed in high- rise buildings, including automatic sprinkler protection, are designed to control a fire so as to lessen the need to evacuate all occupants to the street level. The occupants of the fire floor and floors immediately above and below it should immediately use the exit stairs to descend to a floor level that is at least a few floors below the fire floor. The occupants can then reenter the occupied space on those safe floors to await further instructions. If exiting down stairs takes so long, am I better off going up to the roof and waiting to be rescued there? No. Many of us have seen dramatic video of helicopters picking up occupants from the roof of a burning building. This is an extraordinarily dangerous procedure for the occupants, the pilots and firefighters who may be in the building. First, a helicopter may not come to rescue you, thus ascending to the roof instead of descending to grade may have wasted valuable time. This is not a standard procedure in the U. S., or in most foreign countries. In severe fires, the large thermal currents, generated by the heat from the fire, can cause the helicopter to be buffeted up or down, making it hard to control. The resulting down thrust from the helicopter rotor can force smoke and super heated air on top of fire suppression personnel. Most building designs incorporate numerous features that direct occupants to the street or grade level for evacuation purposes. Can I use the elevator? It is never appropriate to use the elevator during a fire or similar building emergency, even in a two- story building. When a fire occurs, elevators are designed to be recalled to a designated floor, normally the lobby. In unusual circumstances, an elevator malfunction may cause the elevator to travel to the fire floor itself, thus exposing occupants to the fire. Elevator shafts may also allow some smoke to enter the shaft and migrate toward the roof of the building. Any occupants of the elevator would be exposed to that smoke.
What procedures should be applied for people in a wheelchair or with other disabilities that affect mobility? Able- bodied as well as disabled occupants must be covered under any written procedures. If your floor has to be evacuated, you should plan to horizontally relocate to a refuge area. In buildings with automatic fire sprinkler protection, this may simply be to an adjacent compartment or office space. In other cases, your building may be provided with areas of refuge. These spaces may be located as stand- alone, barriered compartments on the floor, or they may consist of oversized landings in stairwells. Regardless of which feature you have, your plan includes waiting in one of the designated spaces until fire department personnel can remove you. Often times, these spaces are provided with a two- way communication device so you can give rescue personnel your location. Your work environment may also supplement this procedure with a "buddy" system. In this case, you need to anticipate situations where the "buddy" may not be available in an emergency. The Public Inspection page on FederalRegister.gov offers a preview of documents scheduled to appear in the next day's Federal Register issue. In every case, and regardless of one's abilities, if you have any questions about your building's plan or how you fit into it, you should ask your employer for detailed information and request a role for those with disabilities in crafting the plan. If I stay and then the situation becomes untenable and I am trapped, should I break a window? Should I jump? If you are trapped in a high- rise building, try to locate yourself in an area where you can close the door and seal the cracks to keep smoke out. Use a telephone to call the fire department and report your exact location in the building. Try to be patient. Emergency rescue of high- rise building occupants can take a long time. You can signal your position to rescue personnel from a window using a light- colored cloth, but it is not advisable to break a window. If you can open the window slightly, it is generally safe to do so to allow fresh air in, but be prepared to close it if smoke comes in. A broken window cannot be adjusted to block smoke from pouring in. Finally, falling glass from a broken window can sever fire hoses and severely injure rescue and suppression personnel below. It is very dangerous to use a window for escape from anything higher than the second floor. Should my building have any type of exterior escape device? Items such as escape chutes and controlled descent devices are permitted to provide escape routes in special structures such as some towers and special manufacturing environments. They are not permitted, nor recommended by U. S.- based codes for commercial and public buildings. Such devices do not come close to the level of protection provided by the other code- mandated features. If the neighboring high- rise building is on fire, should my building be evacuated? Not during a typical fire. You should remain vigilant and determine if there is some onset or change in conditions that could result in your building being threatened by the adjacent fire. In such cases, emergency personnel should have adequate time to order such evacuations. Will building egress systems work in a terrorist attack? Society has not demanded of its public officials that they enact laws that would require the expenditure of almost unlimited amounts of money to protect against all foreseeable and unforeseeable hazards. In reality, there may simply be no physical way to provide such protection, even with unlimited funds. Prior to the September 1. Boeing 7. 67 aircraft would not have appeared on anyone's list of credible or foreseeable design hazards. In 1. 94. 5, the pilot of a B- 2. Empire State Building on a Saturday morning when the building was sparsely populated. Flaming gasoline from the 1. When the World Trade Center towers were built in 1. Boeing 7. 07 aircraft — the largest aircraft being flown at that time. The Boeing 7. 67 aircrafts used in the September 1. LEED v. 4LT Overview The Location and Transportation (LT) category rewards. The LT. category is an outgrowth of the Sustainable Sites category, which. Whereas the SS category. LT. category considers the existing features of the surrounding. Well- located buildings take advantage of existing. By recognizing. existing patterns of development and land density, project teams. In addition, the compact. LT credits encourage robust and. These. incremental steps can have significant benefits: a 2. Urban. Land Institute study concluded that improvements in land- use. U. S. by 9% to 1. If integrated into the surrounding community, a building. For. owners, proximity to existing utility lines and street networks. For occupants, walkable and bikeable locations can enhance. Locating in a vibrant, livable community makes the building a. Reusing previously developed land, cleaning up brownfield sites. Design strategies that complement the building’s location. LT section. For example, by limiting. By providing bicycle storage. Consistent Documentation. Walking and Bicycling Distance. Walking and bicycling distances are measurements of how far. This distance, also. LEED 2. 00. 9 and better reflects. This. in turn better predicts the use of these amenities. Walking distances must be measured along infrastructure. Bicycling distances must be measured along infrastructure. Project teams may use bicycling distance. LT Credit Bicycle Facilities. When calculating the walking or bicycling distance, sum the. A. straight- line radius from the origin that does not follow. Refer to specific credits to select the appropriate origin. In all cases, the origin must be. Total Vehicle Parking Capacity. When determining total parking capacity, include all the. This. may include spaces both inside and outside the project boundary. If parking spaces are shared among two or more buildings. Include this number of spaces in the total. If no off- street parking is allocated to the project. LT Credit. Reduced Parking Footprint but is not eligible for LT Credit Green. Vehicles. The following parking spaces must be included in total. New and existing surface parking spaces. New and existing garage or multilevel parking spaces. Any off- street parking spaces outside the project. The following parking spaces should not be included in. On- street (parallel or pull- in) parking spaces on public. Parking spaces for fleet and inventory vehicles, unless. Motorbike or bicycle spaces. Preferred Parking. Preferred parking spaces have the shortest walking distance. If parking is provided on multiple levels of a facility. If the parking area is subdivided for different kinds of. This also applies to the provision of fueling. LT Credit Green Vehicles. Alternatively, a project that subdivides its parking area. In this. case, parking areas outside the preferred parking zone would. This also applies to the. LT Credit Green Vehicles. The reservation of preferred parking spaces is required. LT Credit Reduced. Parking Footprint and for green vehicles in LT Credit Green. Vehicles. Projects pursuing both credits will need to reserve a. Carpool and vanpool spaces and green vehicle spaces may be. Although not encouraged, preferred parking areas and. Reduced Parking Footprint and Green. Vehicles credits are achieved. SS Overview The Sustainable Sites (SS) category rewards decisions about. It focuses on restoring project site. Earth’s systems depend on biologically diverse forests, wetlands. A. United Nations study indicates that of the ecosystem services. The results are. deforestation, soil erosion, a drop in water table levels. Recent trends like exurban development and sprawl encroach on the. Between 1. 98. 2 and 2. U. S. alone, about 3. Illinois) was lost to development—approximately 4 acres per. The rainwater runoff. Rainwater runoff carries such. A. Washington State Department of Ecology study noted that rainwater. Puget Sound every. Exxon Valdez. accident in Alaska. Project teams that comply with the prerequisites and. SS category protect sensitive ecosystems by. They use low- impact development methods. They also remediate areas on the project. In LEED v. 4, the SS category combines traditional approaches. BUG) method (Light Pollution Reduction. Site. Development—Protect or Restore Habitat credit), replicating. Rainwater Management credit), and using. SRI values for roofs and SR values for nonroof. Heat Island Reduction credit). WE Overview The Water Efficiency (WE) section addresses water. The section is based on an “efficiency first”. As a result, each prerequisite. Then, the WE credits additionally recognize the use of. The conservation and creative reuse of water are important. Earth’s water is fresh water, and of that. Typically, most of a building’s water cycles through the building. In developed nations. This pass- through system reduces streamflow. In 6. 0% of European cities with more. In addition, the energy required to treat water for drinking. Research in California shows that. U. S. state is consumed by. In the U. S., buildings account for 1. Designers and builders can construct green buildings. The Green Building Market. Impact Report 2. 00. LEED projects were responsible for. LEED’s WE credits encourage project teams. Cross- Cutting Issues. The WE category comprises three major components: indoor. Several kinds of. Site plans. Plans are used to document the location and. Within the building, floorplans show the location of. The. same documentation can be used in credits in the Sustainable. Sites category. Fixture cutsheets. Projects must document their fixtures. This documentation is used in the. Indoor Water Use Reduction prerequisite and credit. Alternative water sources. A project that includes. WE Credit Outdoor Water Use Reduction. WE Credit Indoor Water Use Reduction, WE Credit Cooling Tower. Water Use, and WE Credit Water Metering. But the team cannot. Occupancy calculations. The Indoor Water Use Reduction. The Location and Transportation and Sustainable Sites. Review the. occupancy section in Getting Started to understand how occupants. Also see WE Prerequisite Indoor Water. Use Reduction for additional guidance specific to the WE section. EA Overview. The Energy and Atmosphere (EA) category approaches energy. The current worldwide mix of energy resources is weighted heavily. In addition to. emitting greenhouse gases, these resources are nonrenewable. Though estimates regarding the. Accounting for approximately 4. Energy efficiency in a green building starts with a focus. Strategies such as. HVAC systems partnered with smart controls. The generation of. The commissioning process is critical to ensuring. Early involvement of a commissioning. In an operationally. Staff must have. training and be receptive to learning new methods for optimizing. The EA category recognizes that the reduction of fossil. Projects. can contribute to increasing the electricity grid’s efficiency by. Demand response allows. Similarly, on- site renewable energy. The American Physical Society has found that if current and. The EA. section supports the goal of reduced energy demand through. MR Overview. The Materials and Resources (MR) credit category focuses on. The requirements are designed to support a. Each requirement identifies a specific. The Waste Hierarchy. Construction and demolition waste constitutes about 4. United States and. European Union. In its. U. S. Environmental. Protection Agency (EPA) ranks source reduction, reuse, recycling. The MR section directly addresses each of these. Source reduction appears at the top of the hierarchy. Source reduction encourages the use of innovative. Building and material reuse is the next most effective. Replacing. existing materials with new ones would entail production and. LEED has consistently rewarded the. LEED v. 4 now offers more flexibility and. Recycling is the most common way to divert waste from. In conventional practice, most waste is landfilled—an. In urban areas landfill. Innovations in recycling technology improve sorting and. Because secondary markets do not exist for every material. Many countries are lessening the burden on. In countries such. Sweden and Saudi Arabia, waste- to- energy facilities are far. When strict air quality control. In aggregate, LEED projects are responsible for diverting. From 2. 00. 0 to 2. LEED. projects in Seattle diverted an average of 9. If all newly constructed. Seattle’s 1. 02 LEED projects, the result would be staggering. Construction debris is no longer waste, it is a resource. Life- Cycle Assessment in LEEDThrough credits in the MR category, LEED has instigated.
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