S 2.15 Fire safety inspection

Initiation responsibility: Head of Site/Bldg Technical Service

Implementation responsibility: Site fire protection officer

The construction and use of buildings must comply with fire protection regulations. These are laid down in DIN and VDE specifications and are complemented by the requirements imposed by local fire departments (cf. also S 1.6 Compliance with fire-protection regulations and requirements imposed by the local fire department).

Experience shows that, after initial use, such regulations are, in the course of daily business, handled with increasing negligence or, in extreme cases, with utter disregard. To give some examples:

escape routes are blocked, e.g. by furniture or paper stocks;

fire doors are kept open by wedging;

admissible fire loads are exceeded by increasing quantities of cables or as a result of newly-defined uses;

fire walls and/or fire seals are damaged during operations or are not properly restored.

Fire safety inspections should be carried out once or twice per year, with and without prior notice.

Since the action of staff members is usually not determined by malevolent intent, but by in-house requirements, or by insolence, or aspects of convenience, fire safety inspections cannot be designed to detect and to punish offenders. Rather, the identified shortcomings and their causes should be remedied immediately.

Additional controls:

Are fire safety inspections carried out on a regular basis and all deficiencies eliminated?

Last Update on 6 April 2000