stm journals
IJADP

Role of Facility Management in Fire and Life Safety in Hospitals

Hospitals are significant buildings where people receive medical care around-the-clock. An internal hazard like a fire is more disruptive and puts more pressure on hospital authorities to ensure the safety of the patients and visitors who are unfamiliar building and the procedures to follow in case of a fire. In order to keep the patients safe in the event of a fire, every healthcare facility needs to have a plan in place. Building fire safety has become a major concern as a result of the fact that the current fire protection systems do not fully address all current fire hazards. Facility Management is beneficial in this instance. Through scheduled and periodic maintenance, facility management keeps places in good working order. The strategy used when providing services might range from offering entirely individualized services to offering services that are universally applicable. Each facility is reliant on the others, and each service is interdependent to each other. Standardization will place a focus on dependability, lowering defects, and saving costs within services. Numerous factors affect how well fire safety is managed, but the fundamental problem is that different services lack consistent procedures. This study proposes guidelines & recommendations that can be incorporated in the contractual obligations during the award of facility management services which can be instrumental for enhancing the fire and life safety of the building.

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IJADP

Determination of fire Resistivity of Door and Window Materials at Portharcourt Markets in Nigeria

The persistence of fire outbreaks in markets is a problem in Nigeria and the repetition of this problem is very frequent at Port Harcourt in Rivers State. To curtail this problem, research was made on the three major markets in Port Harcourt with the aim of determining the fire resistivity of their door and window materials, in order to generate guidelines for designing doors and windows of market buildings in Nigeria. The research made use of desktop study as the instrument for data collection. Then, the data were analyzed and checked by using content analysis technique, so as to validate the results. Among the findings are uses of ordinary windowpanes and their aluminium frames in the design of market buildings are not good practices against fires. Among the recommended guidelines are the design of all the window panes of market buildings must be metal type; the design of all the window frames of market buildings must be steel type, in order to ensure good practices against fires in Nigerian markets. Alternatively, the design of all the window panels of market buildings must be made up of any other fire-resistant material with a minimum of two hours resistance, in order to also ensure good practices against fires in Nigerian markets.

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