By David Stymiest, PE, CHFM, FASHE
In In his recent ASHE Annual Conference presentation, George Mills of TJC reminded attendees about the requirements for current LS plans. Much of this information is in a related February 2012 EC News article and is summarized below.TJC Standard LS.01.01.01, EP 2, requires an organization to have a current Statement of Conditions™ (SOC™). EP2 is scoring category A with documentation required. In order to have a current SOC™ an organization must create and maintain an up-to-date and complete Basic Building Information (BBI). Since the BBI requires organizations to indicate the location of current LS drawings, not being able to supply those current LS drawings during a survey can result in a direct impact RFI against EP2.
TJC has stated that current LS drawings must address the following topics:
- A legend that clearly identifies the features of fire safety (including door ratings, exits, etc.)
- Areas of the building that are fully sprinklered (if the building is partially sprinklered)
- Locations of all hazardous storage areas
- Locations of all rated barriers, along with their ratings
- Locations of all smoke barriers and smoke tight partitions
- Suite boundaries, including the size of the identified sleeping and non-sleeping suites
- Locations of smoke compartments
- Locations of chutes and shafts
- Any approved equivalencies or waivers
While TJC does not specify where LS drawings should be located, the engineering department is a logical place to keep such documents. Be sure to have ready access to the latest
accurate version since presenting an older version during survey could be counterproductive.
We recommend that these drawings also contain the following information to assist the organization in managing its Life Safety Code® compliance:
- Occupancy types and separations, including new vs. existing designations
- Horizontal exits
- Exits directly to the outside
- Travel distances to smoke barriers and exits
- Construction types
- Exit passageways
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