Updates and Articles

15 November 2018

The Importance of Life Safety in Building Design

At J.V Tierney & Co, our M & E Engineers are long established exponents of sustainable design and over our long history, we have been involved in numerous mechanical & electrical engineering projects of which we are justly proud. There are many aspects to building design that need to be addressed in order to meet all regulations and requirements and today, we look at one of the most important.

When engineering consulting firms look at a building as an entire picture, one facet of design that is right up there in terms of importance is the life safety system, which is vital to protecting building users in a variety of different scenarios. To be classed as a life safety system, an element must be a system that is used to help evacuate personnel in times of emergency, such as power failures and fires. What these elements may also be designed to protect people when the scenario demands that some remain in situ whilst the emergency is dealt with.

Electrical services engineering professionals have to consider the employment of a range of technologies, from smoke detectors to alarms that alert not only the building’s occupants, but also the local fire service, so as to minimise response times. Other elements that mechanical and electrical engineering design teams use in this capacity are things like sprinklers and ventilation systems that shut off to prevent the spread of noxious smoke.

Life safety systems do exactly what you would expect to them to do - protect life. When a building is designed by mechanical and electrical engineering consultants using these systems, it gives those inside the best possible chance of survival, either by leaving the building safe and sound when emergencies occur or by remaining protected in situ.