Fire Protection and Life Safety at the Library of Congress

Transcription

1 Fire Protection and Life Safety at the Library of Congress Insert Photo Here October 2013

2 Background AOC, Library Buildings and Grounds LBG Jurisdiction at a Glance- Culture of Safety Focus with 160 employees. Facility Operations and Tennant Services Divisions providing Year Round Care. Preventative Maintenance Programs Annual Space Renovation Program of approximately 100,000 square feet Capital Improvement program budget of $40M Annual. Annual Operating budget $27M. 2

3 AOC, Library Buildings and Grounds- Responsibilities The AOC led by its Superintendents, is responsible for the day-to- day structural, mechanical, and electrical care for the Library facilities and surrounding grounds. Services include maintaining air conditioning, electrical, fire protection, and elevator systems; grounds care; machine work, masonry, painting and refinishing, plumbing, sheet metal, and wood crafting. Thomas Jefferson Building (1897) John Adams Building (1938) James Madison Memorial Building (1980) Little Scholars Child Development Center The LBG also cares for off-site facilities: Congressional Campus, Fort Meade, Maryland (1993) Packard Campus of Audio-Visual Conservation, Culpeper, Virginia (2007) National Audio Visual Conservatory- Culpepper VA. Book Storage Modules at Ft. Meade Maryland 3

4 Legal Framework The 2012 AOC Design Guidelines establishes codes and regulatory requirements for design and construction- Adopts the 2009 International Building Code Currently adopting the 2009 International Fire Code Referenced NFPA Standards Congressional Accountability Act of 1995 Act requires Legislative Branch to follow many of the employment and work place safety laws applied to private businesses and the rest of the Federal Government. Established the Office of Compliance (OOC) to administer and enforce the Act. 4

5 Fire Protection at AOC Protecting People, Historic Assets and Mission of Congress and the Supreme Court is a group effort! LBG Jurisdiction Design Services Programs and Project Management Fire Marshal Division 5

6 Library Buildings and Grounds Fire Protection Overview Fire Protection Systems Wet, Deluge and Dry Sprinkler Systems FM-200 Systems Low Expansion Foam Systems Smoke Detection Systems 6

7 Library Buildings and Grounds Fire Protection Overview Protected Items within the Main Campus Book Stacks Rare Collections Data Centers 7

8 Library Buildings and Grounds Fire Protection Overview Protected Items within the Packard Campus (Culpeper, VA) Hazards Nitrate Vaults Contain Cellulous Nitrate Film 4-hour construction Each vault is protected by a deluge valve Sprinkler operation on a single smoke detector activation 8

9 Library Buildings and Grounds Fire Protection Overview Cellulous Nitrate Vaults 9

10 Library Buildings and Grounds Fire Protection Overview Ft. Meade Hazards Storage Modules 30-feet high rack shelving Almost 7 Million Collections Diesel Fuel Storage 10

11 Life Safety Improvement Program Main Campus Buildings Major issues include: Unprotected penetrations in fire barriers. (IT, Utilities, Book Conveyor system) Non-rated doors/ Fire doors being improperly held open. Unprotected vertical openings in book stacks Inadequate egress for Thomas Jefferson Building Conducted studies and initiated projects involving improvements to automatic sprinkler systems, fire alarm systems, passive fire protection, smoke control systems and means of egress features. 11

12 Outline of Completed, On-going, and Planned Life Safety Improvement Projects AOC has initiated/executed the a number of projects including: Completed Projects Smoke Detector Upgrades TJB, JAB JMMB provided with automatic smoke detection throughout each building Sprinkler Upgrades JAB and JMMB protected by automatic sprinklers throughout. 98% of TJB protected by automatic sprinklers. Egress Improvements Correcting excessive common paths of travel, provided two new exits out the north side of the JAB, re-swung doors to swing in the direction of egress travel, widened doors in stairwells to account for convergence. Sealed vertical penetrations in book stacks Projects in Construction/Planned Projects Sprinkler Upgrades continued Finish sprinkler upgrades in the TJB to provide automatic sprinkler protection thoughout. Smoke Control Systems New Exit Stairs 12

13 Egress Improvements Exit Stair Installation Fours new exit stairs are being constructed as part of the abatement of this citation. The construction order has been agreed to by the Library Buildings and Grounds Superintendent and the Fire Marshal Division: Construction Order: 1. North Exit Stair 2. West Main Pavilion Exit Stair 3. Southwest Exit Stair 4. South Exit Stair 13

14 Smoke Control Great Hall and Main Reading Room Thomas Jefferson Building Main Reading Room Smoke Control Project Great Hall Smoke Control Project 14

15 Fire Door Improvements UL has inspected and applied a Fire door assemblies that are found deficient by UL will be replaced with a fire rated products. The AOC has grouped these deficiencies into three phases: Repair/Replacement by In-House Forces (Phase I) This group is comprised of non-historical doors located in areas not typically viewed by the general public. (Total of 85 Openings) Design and Construction Utilizing an A/E Firm (Phases II + III) These groups are comprised of historically significant, ornate door assemblies which require a greater level of planning prior to executing the remedial work. Phase II consists of ornate wood doors located on all spiral stairs. Phase III consists of brass clad metal doors on Stairs 5 and 6 in the TJB and stair doors located on stairs 2, 3, 6, and 7 on the 5 th floor of the JAB. (Phase II = 77 Openings, Phase III = 8 Openings) 15