We are a medical school with an invitro clinic in one suite. The recovery room for the proceedure which is around 45'X 15' has 5 siren/strobe units in it and is quite traumatic to the patients so we were wondering if the sirens could be disabled and make it strobe only for the patients but keep both for the staff area. I'm not sure about any local codes but will check on that. The Fire Marshall referred me to NFPA 72 but I can't seem to find a code referring to that situation. Thanks for the reply.
There is a minimum decibel level that must be maintained. You may be able to remove it as long as, while in the room, the alarm signal is still at the minimum level. I doubt the walls will transmit the sound without bursting eardrums in the adjacent room.
Another option is to install an alarm with a lower sound level - as long as you maintain the minimum level throughout the room.
If you have regular false alarms and a 24 hour supervised on site system, you can work out with the local fire department a system of delayed alarm annunciation. Typically, this is done with on site security who immediate investigate the alarm and reports to the central location if it is a false alarm or not. If no response with, say, 1 or 2 minutes, the building fire alarm would annunciate. I have seen this work quite well in high-rise office buildings where you do not want to disrupt thousands of workers.
I forgot to add, most building codes allow you to adjudicate a requirement if you can make a convincing enough case. But to be successful, you need the support of the building and fire officials. That would be another legal option.
Then you have licensing and insurance requirements that may specify a different standard with no clear ability to seek releif. It could take months to find the person to get the variance.
You need a licensed fire protection engineer. You are dealing with a health care occupancy and we are not your consultants.
In my experience a pre-signal system may be required but you haven't told me enough - I've seen pre-op areas near post-recovery areas and the treatments can be different.
Following Don´s line. I´m not sure, it´s on the 101 or 72 where there is a pre alarm possibility for hospitals and similar facilities that alerts first the "nurse room" in each floor before a general alarm is activated. So the people in charge of each floor have a role in the alarm process to prevent panic, and where a general alarm can be dangerous or useless.
The Fire Marshal passed me on to an engineer who said common sense would dictate that I remove the sirens and keep the strobes but no regulations to back that up so I would absorb all the risk. I do appreciate the response that you all have provided and it appears that I should get a professional fire alarm installer to redesign the system in that area and resubmit it for approval to the Fire Marshal. Thanks for your help.
