The Importance of Fire & Life Safety for NYC Buildings
Whether you have a commercial, industrial, or residential building, prioritizing fire and life safety is very important. An all-encompassing fire and life safety scheme for your building may include fire suppression and alarm systems, alarm monitoring, and inspections and maintenance of your fire protection systems.
There are two main reasons why fire and life safety systems are so important for your facility. The first is that they can save lives, and the second is that they protect property.
SAVING LIVES
Installing life safety and fire protection systems in your building and keeping them well maintained can save lives. As a building owner or property manager, protecting the people who occupy your property should be your most important priority. Providing a safe place to live, work, shop, or be entertained requires a fire and life safety scheme.
Fire sprinkler and suppression systems are designed to control or suppress a fire to prevent it from growing to the point that it becomes deadly to people. Alarm and detection systems allow building occupants to safely escape a building during a fire. Voice communications systems can direct people on the course of action to take during an emergency.
An alarm monitoring system can send the proper authorities to your location faster during an emergency, which can save lives. In New York City, the prevalence of high-rise buildings makes prioritizing fire and life safety even more important. If a fire occurs in a high-rise building, occupants on higher levels will need more time to safely escape the building.
Having the proper fire and life safety measures in place will buy the critical time needed for occupants to escape safely.
PROTECTING PROPERTY
Fire protection systems can reduce damage to your building, expensive equipment, important documents, inventory, and other valuable or irreplaceable assets. By protecting your building, you could also be protecting homes or jobs that would be lost if your building was damaged.
Often, fire sprinkler or suppression systems can contain fires to their area of origin, which limits damage to your property. Some fire suppression systems can even suppress a fire in its incipient stage using a gaseous agent that causes no harm to electronics or documents.
CODE COMPLIANCE
Having the proper fire and life safety systems in your building and keeping them maintained is required by local codes and regulations. You could be hit with hefty fines if you violate the local fire code. It is important that you have the required fire protection systems in place, and that you get your systems inspected regularly by a qualified fire protection provider.
