Fire safety declaration and independent risk assessment.
Unfortunately, legislators rarely indulge the Russian fire safety market with new, more advanced regulations that open up development prospects. Although new laws are very much needed, and leading market experts constantly talk about this, including on the pages of the TZ magazine.
So it is no coincidence that the premiere of the new section of the magazine coincided with the entry into force of new regulatory documents establishing general fire safety requirements for protected objects and a special procedure for implementing state fire supervision. We hope that the new section «LEX» (Latin for «law») will receive a permanent «registration» in the TZ. And we invite readers and experts to a broad discussion of the materials published in it.
Since May 1, 2009, new regulatory documents have entered into force, establishing general fire safety requirements for protected objects and a special procedure for implementing state fire supervision, namely: Federal Law No. 123-FZ “Technical Regulations on Fire Safety Requirements”, codes of practice.
In accordance with Art. 64 of the Federal Law of July 22, 2008 No. 123-FZ «Technical Regulations on Fire Safety Requirements» and Art. 49 of the Urban Development Code of the Russian Federation, a fire safety declaration is developed for capital construction projects for which the legislation of the Russian Federation on urban development activities provides for a state examination.
The declaration for the designed protected object is prepared by the developer or the person preparing the design documentation.
For designed protected objects, the declaration is submitted before they are put into operation.
For protected facilities in operation on the date of entry into force of the law of July 22, 2008 No. 123-FZ “Technical Regulations on Fire Safety Requirements”, the declaration shall be submitted no later than May 1, 2010.
The declaration is drawn up in accordance with the established form approved by the order of the Ministry of Emergency Situations of the Russian Federation dated 24.02.2009 No. 91 «On approval of the form and procedure for registering a fire safety declaration», in two copies, signed by the declarant and sent to the territorial department (department, inspection) of the structural subdivision of the territorial body of the Ministry of the Russian Federation for Civil Defense, Emergencies and Elimination of Consequences of Natural Disasters — a body specially authorized to solve civil defense problems and problems of preventing and eliminating emergency situations in a constituent entity of the Russian Federation, whose area of relevance includes issues of organizing and implementing state fire supervision, directly or by mail.
According to Article 64 of Federal Law 123 «Technical Regulations on Fire Safety Requirements», the fire safety declaration provides for:
1) assessment of fire risk;
2) assessment of possible damage to property of third parties from fire;
3) assessment of the adequacy of fire safety measures taken to prevent fires;
4) assessment of the owner's readiness to operate protected facilities, to localize and eliminate fires and their consequences at these facilities.
If the owner or the person who owns the protected object on the basis of lifelong inheritable possession, economic management, operational management or on another basis stipulated by federal law or agreement, comply with the requirements of federal laws on technical regulations and regulatory documents on fire safety adopted in accordance with Art. 4 of Federal Law 123 «Technical Regulations on Fire Safety Requirements», the declaration shall only indicate the list of specified requirements for a specific protected object.
In accordance with Article 144 of the Federal Law of July 22, 2008 No. 123-FZ «Technical Regulations on Fire Safety Requirements», when conducting an independent risk assessment, only regulatory legal acts of the Russian Federation approved in the established manner are applied.
Independent risk assessment at a protected facility involves obtaining and evaluating objective data on the state of security of the protected facility, determining the level of security of the facility in the field of fire safety, civil defense and protection of the population from emergency situations in accordance with the safety requirements established by the relevant technical regulations, national standards and other regulatory legal acts.
The result of an independent risk assessment is a risk assessment report: on the compliance (non-compliance) of the protected object with the requirements established by legislative and other regulatory, legal acts of the Russian Federation in the field of civil defense and/or protection of the population and territories from emergency situations and/or fire safety, or justifying (confirming) the acceptable (unacceptable) level of risk to life, health of people, property during operation of the protected object due to the possible impact of hazardous factors of fires, emergency situations on them.
The report is issued for a period of up to 3 (three) years.
Since May 1, 2009, 12 sets of rules have entered into force:
1) SP 1.13130.2009. Fire protection systems. EVACUATION ROUTES AND EXITS.
2) SP 2.13130.2009. Fire protection systems. ENSURING FIRE RESISTANCE OF PROTECTED FACILITIES.
3) SP 3.13130.2009 Fire protection systems. ALERT AND EVACUATION CONTROL SYSTEM FOR PEOPLE IN CASE OF A FIRE. Fire safety requirements.
4) SP 4.13130.2009. Fire protection systems. LIMITING THE SPREAD OF FIRE AT PROTECTED FACILITIES. Requirements for space-planning and design solutions.
5) SP 5.13130.2009. Fire protection systems. AUTOMATIC FIRE ALARM AND FIRE EXTINGUISHING SYSTEMS. Design standards and rules.
6) SP 6.13130.2009. Fire protection systems. ELECTRICAL EQUIPMENT. Fire safety requirements.
7) SP 7.13130.2009. HEATING, VENTILATION AND AIR CONDITIONING. Fire safety requirements.
8) SP 8.13130.2009. Fire protection systems. SOURCES OF EXTERNAL FIRE WATER SUPPLY. Fire safety requirements.
9) SP 9.13130.2009. Fire-fighting equipment. FIRE EXTINGUISHERS. Operation requirements.
10) SP 10.13130.2009. Fire protection systems. INTERNAL FIRE WATER PIPELINE. Fire safety requirements.
11) SP 11.13130.2009. FIRE PROTECTION UNIT DEPLOYMENT LOCATIONS. Determination procedure and methodology.
12) SP 12.13130.2009. DETERMINATION OF CATEGORIES OF PREMISES, BUILDINGS, AND OUTDOOR INSTALLATIONS BY EXPLOSION AND FIRE HAZARD.
The main difference between the SP, which came into force on 1.05.2009, and the previously existing regulatory documents in the field of fire safety is that each of the sets of rules presents fire safety requirements for the corresponding engineering section of all types of buildings (warehouse, public, residential, industrial), while the regulatory documents in the field of fire safety set out fire safety requirements for all engineering sections for each type of building.
On March 24, 2008, in accordance with the orders of the Russian Emergencies Ministry dated November 20, 2007 No. 607 and March 13, 2008 No. 119, the State Expertise of the Russian Emergencies Ministry began accepting applications for accreditation of organizations engaged in independent risk assessment in the field of civil defense, protection of the population and territories from emergency situations and fire safety, as well as educational institutions of additional education that train and improve the skills of experts in the specified areas.
After a year of intense work by all involved departments and research institutes of the Russian Emergencies Ministry, new regulatory documents were developed and approved, which became valid from the date of entry into force of Federal Law 123 «Technical Regulations on Fire Safety Requirements».
In turn, as of April 30, 2009, 51 companies in Russia received accreditation for independent risk assessment. The list of accredited organizations is posted on the official website of the Federal State Institution «State Expertise in the Field of Civil Defense and Emergencies and Fire Safety of the Ministry of Emergency Situations of Russia» (ge-mchs.ru).