Lee Coates

Online Exclusive: Wrightstyle, Railway Stations and Fire Safety

Wrightstyle is a leading steel glazing company that has supplied systems for transportation projects internationally. In the USA and Canada, the company works in partnership with Hope’s Windows, Inc. (Jamestown NY). Wrightstyle’s technical director Lee Coates reports.

Wrightstyle Kings Cross at Day

Photo Credits: Network Rail

It’s a railway station announcement of seemingly no importance.  In the UK, it asks “Inspector Sands to please report to the control room.”

Innocuous it may be, but it’s a coded signal that alerts staff to the possibility of a fire in the station.  In different variations, it gives staff time to check the alarm that’s been activated and quickly determine if it represents a potential emergency.

It’s a sensible precautionary measure to avoid an immediate – and perhaps unnecessary –evacuation, alarm the general public, perhaps cause panic and, inevitably, lead to significant disruption.

Similar codes are used in the USA, although we won’t give away any American secrets – anywhere that large numbers of people congregate – from stadia to theatres, and even to some restaurants.  It alerts staff to the potential need to evacuate people, and therefore to their evacuation duties, and allows for a swift assessment of the situation.

The importance of a pre-evacuation assessment is that fire alarms often turn out to be false alarms.  Modern alarm systems are sensitive and can be easily triggered, and false alarms are disruptive and costly – as well as, like the boy who cried wolf, undermining our faith in future alarms.

The statistics are themselves alarming.  According to the US National Fire Protection Association, there are more than six thousand false alarms every day in the USA.  That’s a huge waste of money and resources.

However, perhaps more than anything, it’s how false alarms diminish our faith in the alarm itself that’s so important.  We hear the alarm but can’t see a fire.  We don’t know how to react or if we should react.  We don’t have the facts on which to base a flight strategy, so we assume it’s a false alarm, or at least sit tight until we have more information.

This golden period following an alarm is often taken up with “start-up” time – people wondering what to do, or whether to do anything at all.

There are many well-documented tragic fires where a delayed flight response has led to multiple casualties.  Most tragic of all was 9/11, when less than 9% of the occupants of the World Trade Center towers immediately evacuated after the alarms were sounded.

The average “start-up” time before people started to move to the WTC exits was between five and eight minutes.  Others didn’t start to evacuate for up to 40 minutes.

It means that we need to have fire alarms in which we have faith, and therefore assuring us that when an alarm sounds we need to take it seriously.

In high-traffic places such as railway stations, that means having intelligent detection systems designed to cope with both large open areas and the more confined spaces of, for example, offices and retail outlets.

Those systems should integrate into a station or building management system, covering everything from escalators and lifts to heating systems.  The key is to have a system that can localise the fire, perhaps also using optical or thermal sensors.  If it does turn out to be a fire, the emergency services need to know precisely where it is.

It’s something that we understand at Wrightstyle, a company that has invested significantly in designing and manufacturing glazing systems to mitigate against bomb and ballistic attack, as well as against fire and high wind loading.

We’ve recently supplied systems to transportation projects in Hong Kong, for the Dubai Metro and, in the UK, to King’s Cross stations in London – among others.  (For Harry Potter fans, King’s Cross station is where you catch the train to Hogwarts).

We understand that in a fire situation people will often delay evacuating that building, particularly from buildings where there is no PA system.  Studies conclusively demonstrate that when there is a leadership figure giving verbal information over a PA system flight time is greatly reduced.

It means designing in additional safety, over and above a minimum fire safety specification.  With modern glazing systems certified up to 120 minutes for both insulation and integrity, that gives everyone – able-bodied or the elderly or infirm – more than enough time to move to safety.

Our systems are designed to contain fire, allowing buildings to be sub-divided into compartments so that, in an emergency, the fire, smoke and toxic gases can be trapped in one defined area – minimising risk to human life and infrastructure damage.

Significant fires in railway stations are mercifully rare – and that, more than anything, speaks volumes for how far fire safety has progressed over recent years, not only in advanced detection systems, but in building materials, fire safety regulations, and in fire and rescue response.  In the USA, every safety statistic has moved significantly in the right direction.

However, fires do happen, in stations or on trains, and people do get injured.  Perhaps the worst modern station fire disaster, in 2003, was at Daegu Station in South Korea in which 192 people died.

What was particularly shocking, on top of the scale of human loss, was how badly the station’s fire compartmentation systems were designed.  Instead of containing the fire, but allowing people to escape, the system closed fire shutters and smoke barriers – effectively concentrating the heat into places from which people were desperately trying to escape.  Nor was there a sprinkler system to reduce heat and douse the flames.

The Korean fire once again concentrated minds on the importance of effective compartmentation and on providing escape routes able to cope with large numbers of people all exiting simultaneously.  In the UK it was a reminder of the King’s Cross disaster in which fire claimed the lives of 31 people in 1987.

Probably started by a discarded match or dropped cigarette on an escalator, it underlines how most major accidental fires start from something almost insignificant – a faulty light socket, or a burning cigarette casually disposed of.  It also underlines how detection systems have to pick up on those insignificant events and determine how insignificant – or otherwise – they really are.

However, in the London fire, and underlining the vagaries of human nature, many passengers stepped over fire hoses to reach elevators taking them underground for their trains.  That’s what they were at Kings Cross to do, and a seemingly-innocuous fire wasn’t going to stop them.  In the retail sector, research suggests that people would rather first go to the check-out to purchase goods rather than immediately evacuate the building.

All Wrightstyle systems are tested as one compatible unit and, as we always emphasize to architects and designers, based on our extensive fire, ballistic and bomb testing experience, the glass and steel components should always be specified as one integrated and tested assembly.  The glass is only as good as its framing system, or vice versa. And if one fails, both fail, with potentially catastrophic consequences.  We also have test certification in the USA, one of the few international suppliers to have tested our systems in Europe, the Far East and America.

All of us in the fire and building security sector now work interdependently; assessing a whole building’s ability to withstand fire and designing in safety - making sure that, if the worst happens, we have the systems and evacuation procedures in place to contain the fire and get everyone to safety.

Photo Credits: Network Rail

Featured

  • Making the Grade with Locks and Door Hardware

    Managing and maintaining locks and door hardware across a school district or university campus is a big responsibility. A building’s security needs to change over time as occupancy and use demands evolve, which can make it even more challenging. Knowing the basics of common door hardware, including locks, panic devices and door closers, can make a difference in daily operations and emergency situations. Read Now

  • Choosing the Right Solution

    Today, there is a strong shift from on-prem installations to cloud or hybrid-cloud deployments. As reported in the 2024 Genetec State of Physical Security report, 66% of end users said they will move to managing or storing more physical security in the cloud over the next two years. Read Now

  • New Report Reveals Top Security Risks for U.S. Retail Chains

    Interface Systems, a provider of security, actionable insights, and purpose-built networks for multi-location businesses, has released its 2024 State of Remote Video Monitoring in Retail Chains report. The detailed study analyzed over 2 million monitoring requests across 4,156 retail locations in the United States from September 2023 to August 2024. Read Now

  • Gaining a Competitive Edge

    Ask most companies about their future technology plans and the answers will most likely include AI. Then ask how they plan to deploy it, and that is where the responses may start to vary. Every company has unique surveillance requirements that are based on market focus, scale, scope, risk tolerance, geographic area and, of course, budget. Those factors all play a role in deciding how to configure a surveillance system, and how to effectively implement technologies like AI. Read Now

Featured Cybersecurity

Webinars

New Products

  • Automatic Systems V07

    Automatic Systems V07

    Automatic Systems, an industry-leading manufacturer of pedestrian and vehicle secure entrance control access systems, is pleased to announce the release of its groundbreaking V07 software. The V07 software update is designed specifically to address cybersecurity concerns and will ensure the integrity and confidentiality of Automatic Systems applications. With the new V07 software, updates will be delivered by means of an encrypted file. 3

  • Camden CM-221 Series Switches

    Camden CM-221 Series Switches

    Camden Door Controls is pleased to announce that, in response to soaring customer demand, it has expanded its range of ValueWave™ no-touch switches to include a narrow (slimline) version with manual override. This override button is designed to provide additional assurance that the request to exit switch will open a door, even if the no-touch sensor fails to operate. This new slimline switch also features a heavy gauge stainless steel faceplate, a red/green illuminated light ring, and is IP65 rated, making it ideal for indoor or outdoor use as part of an automatic door or access control system. ValueWave™ no-touch switches are designed for easy installation and trouble-free service in high traffic applications. In addition to this narrow version, the CM-221 & CM-222 Series switches are available in a range of other models with single and double gang heavy-gauge stainless steel faceplates and include illuminated light rings. 3

  • Mobile Safe Shield

    Mobile Safe Shield

    SafeWood Designs, Inc., a manufacturer of patented bullet resistant products, is excited to announce the launch of the Mobile Safe Shield. The Mobile Safe Shield is a moveable bullet resistant shield that provides protection in the event of an assailant and supplies cover in the event of an active shooter. With a heavy-duty steel frame, quality castor wheels, and bullet resistant core, the Mobile Safe Shield is a perfect addition to any guard station, security desks, courthouses, police stations, schools, office spaces and more. The Mobile Safe Shield is incredibly customizable. Bullet resistant materials are available in UL 752 Levels 1 through 8 and include glass, white board, tack board, veneer, and plastic laminate. Flexibility in bullet resistant materials allows for the Mobile Safe Shield to blend more with current interior décor for a seamless design aesthetic. Optional custom paint colors are also available for the steel frame. 3