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An article we wrote on fail safe systems in January 2003 created a lot of response from our readers. We had the opportunity to talk with one of those who responded.
Brian Fabel of Orr Protection Systems Inc. agreed to discuss issues from the perspective of a fire suppression company. I caught up with him before a conference for the 7x24 Exchange, where he was going to be discussing improper application and maintenance.
With his speech topic on his mind, we began discussing the issues that he often addresses in his presentation.
"The largest obstacle we face is complacency," Brian stated as he began talking about what is seen in data centers. "Items are placed in front of nozzles or in unsafe areas. If the system were to discharge in some cases, items would fly across the room increasing destruction."
"Training is forgotten and personnel are constantly changing," Brian continued as he addressed other obstacles in the data center business. With the turnover of people, and the time between uses, training is often forgotten because it is not used. He encourages those that are working in an area protected by a gas system to train and re-train on an annual basis.
Training is included as a standard part of the servicing offer and can be coordinated with the required semi-annual inspection of system.
He encourages the training to include:
- Component review (detectors, alarm systems, etc.)
- Review manual controls
- Control systems and how to respond to messages on panels
- What agent containers are
- The health and safety issues of gas
- Sequence events for systems
- Operating procedures
- Response route and order of actions
Training is an important way to keep your fire suppression system working properly, and can help prevent costly false alarms. These services are offered regardless of customer installation. For more information please see: www.orrprotection.com
Brian Fabel is an employee of Orr Protection. He can be reached at [email protected] or at 513.672.8513
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