Electrical Abstract-Gujarat Fire Prevention and Life Safety Regulations, 2023

February 20, 2024 1 Comment

 

Electrical Clause (Gujarat Fire Prevention and Life Safety Regulations, 2023)

Clause

 Head

Description
17 /18

Electrical Duct:

Buildings Height more than 15 meters up to 70 meters: Electrical duct should have sealed metal doors with metal frame or fire rated doors at each floor level. Opening of the duct shall be from basement to terrace level.
15.3 / 17 /18 /19

Electrical Installations

 Buildings of Height up to 45 meters: Electric cable/wires used shall be of 700 volts grading with Mechanical circuit breaker and earth Leak Circuit Breaker (MCB and ELCB).
Buildings of Height more than 15 meters up to 70 meters: Electric cable/wires used shall be of 900 volts grading with Mechanical circuit breaker and earth Leak Circuit Breaker (MCB and ELCB).
Buildings of Height more than 15 meters up to 70 meters: Electrical Installations from Fire Safety point of view shall comply with IS-1646. Use of fire resistance cables and wires.
15.31

Electrical Installations

 Buildings of Height more than 15 meters up to 70 meters: Separate uninterrupted standalone power supply shall be provided for emergency services, which includes Fire Pump, Sprinkler Pump, Fire Lift, Staircase Lighting.
15.23

Sub-Stations

 The sub-station shall have separate fire resisting walls / surroundings and shall necessarily be located at the periphery of the floor having separate access preferably from fire escape staircase.
The outside walls, ceiling and floor including doors and windows to the sub-station area shall be of 2 hours fire rating.
Oil Filled Equipment at Basement: A sub-station or a switch-station with oil- filled equipment must not be located in the building. When housed inside the building, The transformer shall be of premises by walls/doors/cut outs having Fire Resistance rating of 4 hours.
The Sub-Station area needs to be maintained at negative air pressure and area in substation shall not be used as storage/dump areas.
Transformer in Building Area: No transformer shall be allowed inside the building.
Substation to be provided at rear corner of a building unit after leaving enough open space around the building for firefighting requirements
15.11

Electrical Services:

 Back up Supply: Electric supply for fire pump/fire lift shall be provided separately and not get switched off along with the main supply of building.
Fire Retardant Sealant: The electric distribution cable/wiring shall be laid in a separate duct. The duct shall be sealed at every floor with non-combustible materials having the same fire resistance as that of the duct.
Separate Conduit: Low and medium voltage wiring running in shaft and in false ceiling shall run in separate conduits.
Separate Circuit: Separate circuits for firefighting pumps, lifts, staircases, corridor lighting and blowers for pressurizing system shall be provided directly from the main switch gear panel and these circuits shall be laid in separate conduit pipes, so that fire in one circuit will not affect the others. Such circuits shall be protected at origin by an automatic circuit breaker with its no- volt coil removed. Master switches controlling essential service circuits shall be clearly labelled.
Electrical Room: An independent and well-ventilated electrical service room shall be provided on the ground level or first basement with direct access from outside or from the corridor for the purpose of termination of electric supply from the licensees’ service and alternative supply cables.
Fire Door: The doors provided for the Service Room shall have fire resistance of not less than 2 hours
Electrical Room at Basement: If service room is located at the first basement, it should have automatic fire extinguishing system

15.20

Service Ducts/Shafts

 Fire Door : Electrical Shafts / Ducts shall have not less than 2 hours fire resistance and for other services shafts/ducts, the fire resistance shall be not less than 1 hour.
Fire Retardant Sealant: All such ducts/ shafts shall be properly sealed and fire stopped at all floor levels
Opening at Terrace: A vent opening at the top of the service shaft shall be provided having between one – fourth and one half of the area of the shaft.
Refuse Cute: Refuse chutes shall have opening at least 1 m above roof level for venting purpose and they shall have an enclosure wall of non-combustible material with fire resistance of not less than 2 hours. They shall not be located within the staircase enclosure or service shafts, or air-conditioning shafts. Inspection panel and doors shall be tight fitting with1 hour fire resistance; the chutes should be as far away as possible from exits.
15.5

Exit Door / Exit Area Illumination

Exit Signage: Exits shall be clearly visible and the route to reach the exits shall be clearly marked and signs posted to guide the occupants of the floor concerned. Signs shall be illuminated. and wired to an independent electrical circuit on an alternative Source of supply. The color of the exit signs shall be green.
Illumination of Exit Area: The floors of area covered for the means of exit shall be illuminated to values not less than 1 ft candle (10 lux) at floor level. In auditoriums, theatres, concert halls and such other places of assembly, the illumination of floor exit/ access may be reduced during period of performances to value not less than 1/5 ft candle (2 lux)
Exit Door: Fire doors with 2-hour fire resistance shall be provided at appropriate places along the escape route and particularly at the entrance to lift lobby and stairwell where a funnel or flue effect may be created, inducing an upward spread of fire and smoke.
15.5

Illumination of Staircase / Corridor:

 Separate Circuit: The staircase and corridor lighting shall be the separate circuits and shall be independently connected so that they could be operated by one switch installation on the ground floor easily accessible to firefighting staff at any time irrespective of the position of the individual control of the light points, if any. It should be miniature circuit breaker type of switch so as to avoid replacement of Fuse in case of crisis.
Back up Supply: Staircase and corridor lighting shall also be connected to alternative supply. The alternative source of supply may be provided by battery continuously trickle charged from the electric mains; and Suitable arrangement shall be made by installing double throw switches to ensure that the lighting installed in the staircase and the corridor does not get connected. Double throw switch shall be installed in the service room for tenanting the stand- by supply.
15.15

Emergency and escape lighting

 The Emergency lighting shall be provided to be put on within 5 second of the failure if the
normal lighting supply and shall be of independent of main supply.
Escape lighting luminaries should be sited to cover the following locations:
a) At each exit door,
b) Near each staircase so that each flight of stairs receives direct light,
c) Near any other change of floor level,
d) Outside each final exit and close to it,
e) Near each fire alarm call point,
f) Near firefighting equipment and,
g) To illuminate exit and safety signs as required by the enforcing authority.
Mounting Height: The luminaries shall be mounted as low as possible, but at least 2 meter above the floor level.
Emergency lighting systems shall be designed to ensure that a fault or failure in any one luminary does not further reduce the effectiveness of the system.
The emergency lighting system shall be capable of continuous operation for a minimum duration of 1 hour and 30 minutes.
15.4

Elevators (Lifts) / Escalators

 Building Height more than 13 Meter: Lift shall be provided. Lift shall have all the provision of fire life as specified in the National building code of India.
Building Height more than 21 Meter: At least Two Lifts shall be provided. From these lifts at least one of them shall be designed as fire lift as specified in National building code of India.
No of Lift: Lift shall be provided at the rate of one lift for 30 dwelling units of all the floors, or part thereof for residential buildings and at the rate of one lift per 1200 Sq. meters. or part thereof of built up area for non-residential buildings.
Lift Dimensions: Minimum internal dimensions for passenger lifts shall be 1500 mm x 1500mm. A clear landing area in front of the lift doors shall be 1800mm x 1800mm and the clear opening width of the doors shall be of minimum 900 mm. A handrail of 600 mm length at 1000 mm height from the floor shall be provided.
Door Closing Speed: The time of an automatically closing door should be min 5 seconds and the closing speed should not exceed 0.25 meter/sec.
Floor Indication: The interior of the cage shall be provided with a device that audibly indicates the floor the cage has reached and indicates that the door of the cage for entrance/exit is either open or closed.
15.26

Fire Lifts

 No of Fire Lift: Each building should have at least one lift as a Fire- lift and if the building is divided into two or more parts then each part should have a Fire-lift.
No of Fire Lift: To enable fire services personnel to reach the upper floors with the minimum delay, one fire lift per 1200 Sq. Meter of floor area shall be provided and shall be available for the exclusive use of the firemen in an emergency.
Lift Speed: The speed of the fire lift shall be such that it can reach the top floor from ground level within one minute.
Lift Dimension:  The life Floor area of not less than 1.4 sq. meter It shall have loaded capacity of not less than 545 KG (8 persons lift) with automatic closing doors of minimum 0.8m width.
The electric supply shall be on a separate service from electric supply mains in a building and the cables run in a route safe from fire, that is, within the lift shaft. Lights and fans in the elevators having wooden paneling or sheet steel construction shall be operated on 24-volt supply.
Ceiling Hatch : Firefighting lift should be provided with a ceiling hatch for use in case of emergency
Standby Power Supply: In case of failure of normal electric supply, it shall automatically change over to alternate supply. For apartment houses, this changeover of supply could be done through manually operated changeover switch.
Automatic Rescue Device:  the lift shall be so wired that in case of power failure, it comes down at the ground level and comes to stand-still with door open.
Fire Switch :The operation of fire lift should be by a simple toggle or two -button switch situated in glass fronted box adjacent to the lift at the entrance level. When the switch is on, landing call points will become inoperative and the lift will be on car control only or on a priority control device. When the switch is off, the lift can be used by the occupants in normal times.
Lift Well Pressurization: Lift-well should have blowers to pressurize the lift-well so connected that it will automatically operate when alarm call point is operated, so that it prevents the lift well getting smoke logged.
Signages: The words ‘Fire Lift’ shall be conspicuously displayed in fluorescent paint on the lift landing door at each floor level
Buildings of Height more than 45 meters up to 70 meters: One fire lift for each 1200 sq. meter area of floor area on each level (Fire lift otherwise can be used as a common passenger lift).
Buildings of Height more than 45 meters up to 70 meters: All lifts of the building shall be Fire lifts and shall have a provision to ground in case of electrical failure and shall be installed with a panic button and a talk-back system. The lift shall not be installed in the center of the building and the lift shaft shall be ventilated from the top with smoke extractors. The lift for the higher floors shall end at the ground level and not go to the basement

 

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