Page 19 - Occupational Health & Safety, October 2019

is required of the fire protection engineer. NFPA 13 Standard for the Installation of Sprinkler Systems does not specifically address the spacing requirements for sprinklers installed under open metal grating. However, section 8.5.5.3.4 of the 2016 edition of NFPA 13 contains the following verbiage: “Sprinklers installed under open gratings shall be of the intermediate level/rack storage type or oth- erwise shielded from the discharge of overhead sprinklers.” The an- nex material elaborates that shields (not heat collectors), should be installed on sprinklers under open grating. The shields are intended to protect sprinklers from discharge of overhead sprinklers, but the intent is often misunderstood as heat collection.
NFPA 13 Section 8.5.4.1.4 states: “Heat collectors shall not be used as a means to assist the activation of a sprinkler.” Studies have shown that “heat collectors” can actually delay the activation of the sprinkler by forming a dead air pocket. For sprinklers installed far below solid ceilings or below metal grates, sprinkler activation is only achieved as stated above.
Sprinklers are sometimes installed far below the ceiling or be- low metal grate platforms for protection of critical equipment. This may include directional sprinklers or nozzles to provide exposure protection to the vessel or equipment, in lieu of fire extinguish- ment or control. This can often be the preferred fire protection ap- proach to mitigate fire damage. The exposure protection objective described in NFPA 15 Standard for Water Spray Fixed Systems for
Fire Protection notes that the protection objective is to keep the vessels and other critical equipment sufficiently wet and cool to protect these assets from fire exposure.
The CPI faces unique challenges when it comes to automatic sprinkler protection. This type of protection can be used for dif- ferent purposes in the CPI. An assessment of the risk, plant layout, and overall loss mitigation goals will help decide which protection option is best suited to the application. Due to the subjectivity and lack of definitive industry guidance for every situation, a qualified fire protection engineer and process safety expert should make the fire and safety design decisions described herein.
Process safety must be applied for loss prevention to decrease the likelihood of a loss occurrence, and this should be combined with active and passive fire protection for mitigation of conse- quences. These topics should not be considered separately, but viewed as working in partnership as proactive and reactive sys- tems. It is important that these subjects are administered and re- viewed by experts in fire protection and process safety fields to en- sure adequate protection schemes are employed.
Ron Melucci, Janet Persechino and Tyler Faszewski of Engineering, Planning & Management, Inc. For more information, contact Janet Persechino at jap@epm-inc.com or Ron Melucci at rbm@epm-inc. com or visit www.epm-inc.com.
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OCTOBER 2019 | Occupational Health & Safety 15