From University of Maryland - College Park
Our fire protection program has the fire marshal (2 lines) in Environmental
Safety (Risk Management & Communication section) conducting building
inspections, fire investigations, & safety education; Plan Review (1 FP Engr +
several part time) is currently in our Arch, Engr, & Construction section of
Facilities Management but will soon be transferred back to Env Safety;
inspection, testing & maintenance of life safety systems is conducted by the
Life Safety Systems Unit within the Operation & Maintenance Dept. of
Facilities Management. I transferred from DES, where the inspections & tests
were conducted, to Physical Plant in 1996 to consolidate this activity with
the maintenance function into a cross functional group that would look at the
systems as "systems", removing repair responsibilities from the shops within
the old Physical Plant that looked at portions of the life safety equipment as
components, not considering the interrelated functions. Back then, systems
failed and it was difficult to determine root cause of the failure with all of
the finger pointing that was going on. Now, many of our problems are
discovered during inspection & testing and repaired on the spot, eliminating a
backlog of repair orders that were characteristic of the old way. There is
also a fire station on campus for suppression & EMS. The building is owned by
the University. Up to 36 student volunteers live in the station in the
dormitory space and there are 4 career FF's (Mon-Fri, 7-3:30) + 2 EMT's
(24/7).
Today, life safety systems include 275 (+/-) fire alarm systems (50 years old
to state-of-the-art; 20 manufacturers, 60 models; 120v AC, 24v DC,
microprocessor & wireless systems), 165 sprinkler systems (3 preaction, 15 dry
pipe, remainder wet pipe; 8.4M of 12 million sq ft of buildings), 13 fire
pumps (150-2000gpm), 180 fire hydrants & about 30 miles of water mains, 86
emergency generators (15-750kW), 1600 emergency showers & eyewashes, and 4000
fire extinguishers on this 1400 acre campus and several research sites located
throughout the state. Most of the inspection, testing & maintenance is done in
house though some tasks are coordinated with other units within FM such as
pump & compressor maintenance, repairs to water mains & hydrants, and some of
the repair tasks at the research sites, some of which are about 150 miles from
this campus. We currently call in manufacturers tech reps for some of the
programming in the addressable systems but are preparing to receive training &
certification from several of the manufacturers. We are also supported by our
Area Maintenance Technicians who conduct first eschelon maintenance in all of
our buildings. They do visual inspections and report deficiencies & problems.
Fixed suppression systems (foam, halon, wet chemical, etc.) are the
responsibility of the using department to have contractors conduct the routine
maintenance.
Staffing:
1 Supervisor
3 Lead Technicians (one each in Fire Alarms, Emergency Power, Suppression
Systems)
4 Electroninc Technicians for fire alarm systems & support to the
generator technician
3 Electronic Technician Apprentices (2 lines currently vacant)
1 Generator Technician (2nd line requested)
1 Plumber & 1 Helper for showers, eyewashes & sprinkler systems
3-6 student employees to support the above technicians
If you have questions, feel free to contact me at 301-405-3971.
Jim Robinson
"Zietlow, Denis" wrote:
> I am trying to get information on how other Universities have set up their
> testing and maintenance of fire/safety systems. I am looking for
> institutions that have fully dedicated service personnel to handle
> inspection/testing/maintenance. How many people are assigned and through
> what department?(Police, Physical Plant, etc). Does anyone have a "Life
> Safety" shop and what types of trades(plumbers,electricians are involved.
> Any information would be helpful.
>
> Denis Zietlow
> Fire Marshal
> Michigan State University
> Police and Safety
> 517-432-1587
> fax517-432-1708
> [log in to unmask]
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