Fire safety declaration.

Fire safety declaration.

Fire safety declaration

With the entry into force of the Federal Law of July 22, 2008 No. 123-FZ «Technical Regulations on Fire Safety Requirements» [1], the approach to measures to ensure fire safety for people at capital construction sites has changed dramatically. Over the past 10 years, the orders of the State Fire Supervision inspectors have become so commonplace that the elimination of violations could take years, which did not improve safety at the sites. In addition, if we take into account the fact that for each State Fire Supervision inspector in Russia, based on the total number of sites, there were 200-300 sites per year, then we can indirectly judge the quality of violation detection and, accordingly, the state of fire safety at each specific site.

• On August 6, 2009, a major fire in a new 27-story apartment building on Ivan Babushkin Street in southwest Moscow destroyed the top 10 floors of the new apartment building. This incident showed how dangerous fire can be in high-rise buildings when there is insufficient control over developers who allow the use of building materials that do not meet regulatory requirements. The apartment building had not yet been occupied. 28 people were evacuated from the building, none of whom were injured. The fire covered an area of ​​200 m2. The cladding panels and window frames from the 16th to the 27th floors were burning. Ten fire crews were involved in extinguishing the fire.
• On August 13, 2009, firefighters extinguished a fire in a 17-story apartment building in the south of Moscow at 7 Lipetskaya Street, Building 1, where four balconies from the 6th to the 9th floors caught fire; there were no casualties. The fire, covering an area of ​​30 m2, was extinguished by 15 fire crews.

The events of August 6 and 13 quite clearly describe the state of fire safety in residential buildings. It should be noted that this could have been avoided by conducting independent additional control, which was first approved as one of the types of confirmation of the object's compliance with fire safety requirements in Article 144 of the Technical Regulations.

Since May 1, 2009, the term «fire safety level» and the concept of «object compliance with fire safety requirements» have become most significant for owners of objects. According to the legislator, all responsibility for the emergence of a threat to life and health of people is now shifted to the owner of the object. The basis for the introduction of compulsory insurance has already begun to form by declaring the state of fire safety at the object, which must be completed by owners for most capital construction projects before May 1, 2010. The new Federal Law [1] provides the final parameters of fire protection systems. That is, what these systems must provide. And the methods for achieving these safety parameters can now be chosen independently, and the owner can prove this with the help of the fire risk calculation. In order to accommodate business, the legislator has also provided an alternative solution, whereby the proof that the requirements of the Technical Regulations have been met will be the voluntary application of regulatory documents on fire safety (codes of practice and national standards).
As a result, the proof that the facility complies with fire safety requirements can be the implementation of one of two options.
Option 1. All requirements of the Technical Regulations [1] have been met and a fire risk calculation has been performed, which has proven that the risk does not exceed 10–6 (10–4). It should be taken into account that the fire safety system is not only technical, but also organizational measures to ensure fire safety at the protected facility, which the owner of the facility is obliged to accept so that the protected facility complies with the requirements of the Technical Regulations [1].
Second option. All requirements of the Technical Regulations [1], codes of practice and national standards of a recommendatory nature have been met.
Therefore, Part 3 of Article 6 of the Technical Regulations [1] states that when fulfilling the mandatory fire safety requirements established by the Technical Regulations [1] and the requirements of regulatory documents on fire safety, fire risk assessment is not required. It should also be noted that, in accordance with the Materials of the conference call of the Ministry of Emergency Situations of Russia dated June 11, 2009 [2] on the issue of applying the Technical Regulations on fire safety requirements [1], supervisory authorities do not currently have the right to bring to administrative responsibility for violating its requirements. Therefore, it is now possible to draw up protocols only for violations of those regulatory legal acts that operate within the framework of Article 151 of the Technical Regulations [1] (in the part that does not contradict the Technical Regulations [1]).

Fire Safety Declaration

The form of the declaration and the procedure for its registration are established by the order of the Ministry of Emergency Situations of Russia dated February 24, 2009 No. 91 «On approval of the form and procedure for registering the fire safety declaration» [3], which was registered with the Ministry of Justice of Russia. In accordance with it, the declaration specifies a list of specific requirements to be met at a particular facility. A fire safety declaration is developed without fail in relation to capital construction projects for which a state examination is provided. In this case, the declaration can be drawn up both for the facility as a whole and for individual buildings, structures, constructions and premises included in it, for which fire safety requirements have been established.

• The declaration reflects the results of the fire risk assessment of the facility, if such risk has been calculated. In particular, the estimated and permissible values ​​of the fire risk level are indicated, as well as the set of engineering, technical and organizational measures taken to ensure the permissible value of the fire risk level.
• The second section of the declaration provides the results of the assessment of possible damage to third-party property from fire. If there are insurance documents for the facility, their details may be indicated instead of the assessment results.
• The last part of the declaration indicates a list of those regulations and normative documents on fire safety, the implementation of which is ensured at the facility.
• The declaration is developed by the owner of the facility or the person who legally owns it.
• The declaration for the designed facility is prepared by the developer or the person preparing the design documentation.
• For constructed protected facilities, the declaration is submitted before they are put into operation.
• For protected objects in operation on the date of entry into force of the Technical Regulations [1], the declaration is submitted no later than one year after its entry into force, i.e. the declaration must be completed before May 1, 2010 (Table 1).

The declaration is subject to registration with the territorial department of the Russian Emergencies Ministry body, whose area of ​​competence includes issues of organizing and implementing state fire supervision.
The developer of the declaration is responsible for the completeness and accuracy of the information contained therein in accordance with the legislation of the Russian Federation.
Officials of the Russian Emergencies Ministry check the compliance of the received declaration with the established form within 5 working days. If the declaration is completed in accordance with the requirements established for it, they register it in the list of fire safety declarations.
If the declaration is not completed in accordance with the requirements established for it, officials of the Russian Emergencies Ministry return the declaration to the developer with a written indication of the reasoned reasons for refusing to register it.
Within 3 working days from the moment the declaration is assigned a registration number, one copy of it is sent by the Russian Emergencies Ministry to the owner of the protected facility, and the second copy is kept by the Russian Emergencies Ministry.
When submitting a declaration to the State Construction Supervision Service before putting the facility into operation, the declaration is also subject to registration with the territorial department of the Russian Emergencies Ministry.
The declaration is submitted by notification. The owner notifies the supervisory authorities that he/she complies with the declared fire safety requirements at a specific facility. No approval or consideration of the declaration by any authorities is envisaged.

Forms of Confirmation of Conformity

According to the provisions of the Technical Regulations [1], two alternative methods of confirming conformity are provided for capital construction projects.
The first method, traditional, is the implementation of a state fire supervision inspection of the facility, the identification of technical violations of fire safety requirements, the application of appropriate sanctions, and the issuance of orders.
The second form of confirmation of compliance is an independent fire risk assessment (IRA) or a fire safety audit.
It should be noted that a fire risk assessment is the implementation of appropriate calculations using specially approved publicly available methods, with the help of which it is possible to determine whether the risk corresponds or does not correspond to the values ​​established by the Technical Regulations.
Independent risk assessment is a procedure performed by an organization accredited by the Ministry of Emergency Situations to assess the compliance of an object with fire safety requirements.
The procedure for conducting an independent fire risk assessment is regulated by RF Government Resolution No. 304 of April 7, 2009 “On approval of the Rules for assessing the compliance of protected objects (products) with established fire safety requirements through an independent fire risk assessment” [4].
Clause 25 of the Order of the Ministry of Emergency Situations of Russia dated October 1, 2007 No. 517 «On Approval of the Administrative Regulations of the Ministry of Emergency Situations of the Russian Federation for the Execution of the State Function of Supervision over the Fulfilment of Established Fire Safety Requirements by Federal Executive Authorities, Executive Authorities of the Subjects of the Russian Federation, Local Government Authorities, Organizations, as well as Officials and Citizens» [5] states that no control activities are planned at those facilities where an independent risk assessment has been carried out by fire supervision authorities. This provision is especially relevant given that the conclusion on the independent risk assessment is issued for 3 years.

Methodologies for Determining Estimated Fire Risk Values

Order of the Ministry of Emergency Situations of the Russian Federation of November 20, 2007 No. 607 «On approval of the Procedure for voluntary accreditation of organizations operating in the field of civil defense, protection of the population and territories from emergency situations and ensuring fire safety» [6] established requirements for organizations and the procedure for their accreditation to perform work on independent risk assessment.
The accreditation certificate is issued for a period of up to 5 years (for initial accreditation for 1 year) and is registered in the register in accordance with the established procedure. The list of accredited organizations is available for review on the official website of the Federal State Institution «State Expertise in the Field of Civil Defense and Emergency Situations and Fire Safety of the Ministry of Emergency Situations of Russia» (ge-mchs.ru).
Currently, a fairly large number of organizations have received accreditation in this area of ​​activity, but they are not actually working yet. With a high degree of probability, this can be explained by the fact that at the time of preparing this material for publication, there is not a single approved methodology on the official websites of the Russian Emergencies Ministry.
In accordance with the procedure established by Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation No. 272 ​​of March 31, 2009 «On the procedure for conducting calculations for assessing fire risk» [7], the determination of the calculated values ​​of fire risk is carried out according to the methods approved by the Russian Emergencies Ministry.
At present, the following methods have been developed and are undergoing the established procedure of discussion, including for the presence of a corruption component:

1. «The Methodology for Determining the Estimated Values ​​of Fire Risk in Buildings, Structures, and Constructions of Various Functional Fire Hazard Classes (F1, F2, F3, F4)» was approved by Order of the Ministry of Emergency Situations of Russia dated June 30, 2009 No. 382 «On Approval of the Methodology for Determining the Estimated Values ​​of Fire Risk in Buildings, Structures, and Constructions of Various Functional Fire Hazard Classes» [8].
2. «The Methodology for Determining the Estimated Values ​​of Fire Risk at Industrial Facilities» — not approved.
   Until the said methods are approved and put into effect, the Technical Regulations [1], in accordance with Article 151, do not prohibit the use of methods existing in regulatory documents developed before the Technical Regulations [1] come into force. Such documents include the one set out in GOST 12.1.004-91* [9], Appendix 2, “Method for Determining the Level of Fire Safety for People”. This method establishes the procedure for calculating the level of fire safety for people, the probability of exposure to hazardous fire factors on people, and the justification of the requirements for the efficiency of fire safety systems.

List of references:
1. Federal Law of July 22, 2008 No. 123-FZ “Technical Regulations on Fire Safety Requirements”.
2. Materials of the conference call of the Russian Emergencies Ministry on June 11, 2009 on the application of the Federal Law of July 22, 2008 No. 123-FZ «Technical Regulations on Fire Safety Requirements».
3. Order of the Russian Emergencies Ministry of February 24, 2009 No. 91 «On approval of the form and procedure for registering a fire safety declaration».
4. RF Government Resolution No. 304 of April 7, 2009 «On Approval of the Rules for Assessing the Conformity of Protected Objects (Products) to Established Fire Safety Requirements by Means of Independent Fire Risk Assessment.»
5. RF EMERCOM Order No. 517 of October 1, 2007 «On Approval of the Administrative Regulations of the RF EMERCOM for the Performance of the State Function of Supervision over the Fulfilment of Established Fire Safety Requirements by Federal Executive Authorities, Executive Authorities of the Subjects of the RF, Local Government Authorities, Organizations, as Well as Officials and Citizens.»
6. Order of the Ministry of Emergency Situations of the Russian Federation of November 20, 2007 No. 607 «On approval of the procedure for voluntary accreditation of organizations operating in the field of civil defense, protection of the population and territories from emergency situations and ensuring fire safety.»
7. Resolution of the Government of the Russian Federation of March 31, 2009 No. 272 ​​»On the procedure for conducting calculations to assess the fire risk.»
8. Order of the Ministry of Emergency Situations of Russia of June 30, 2009 No. 382 «On approval of the methodology for determining the calculated values ​​of fire risk in buildings, structures and structures of various classes of functional fire hazard.»
9. GOST 12.1.004-91* «Fire safety. General requirements.»

Specialists of Engineering Company CJSC
Sergey Kalenik, Ph.D. in Engineering
Andrey Kuyanov, Ph.D. in Engineering, expert in independent risk assessment
Stanislav Zharov, Ph.D. in Engineering, Associate Professor, expert in independent risk assessment
with the participation of
Vadim Malinin, Director of Security Line
Source: «BDI No. 4, 2009»