“Digital” Fire Safety Plans: A Canadian Public Safety Initiative Provides Long Overdue Solutions

“Digital” Fire Safety Plans - A Public Safety initiative born right here in Toronto.

Fire safety plans are required for most buildings and occupancies, and a single copy of that plan is required to be maintained by the building Owner for their use, and the use of arriving emergency services in the event of an emergency. 

It is these plans, that can provide a “tactical edge” to arriving emergency services – police, fire and EMS in the event of an emergency in your building. That tactical edge positively impacts both occupant and first responder safety, and operations, resulting in all of those benefits being passed onto the Occupants of the building. It’s a win win – if the plan is maintained, and has the right information.

While this paper based system has been around for years, both building owners and fire services know their is a better way - and there is. We’ve all known for years that during an active fire, multiple copies of the floor plans are needed - yet only one is avail to fire services. There is a long history of first responders needing instant, relevant, and consistent information to support response. Now, thanks to a public safety initiative born in Ontario, over 500 high-rise buildings, hospitals and workplaces in the Greater Toronto Area have digitized their building fire safety plans. The process is simple, inexpensive and accessible to all, and the benefits are shared across the entire community.

There are several key benefits to maintaining a “digital” fire safety plan;

Digital Fire Safety Plans: Building Owner / Property Manager Benefits

It’s the law. Fire safety plans are required by Fire Code for most buildings in Ontario, and must be reviewed and updated at least annually. Once properly developed, approved and implemented, fire safety plans provide valuable building fire safety information for occupants, property managers, and owners and provide the foundation of your building’s risk management program.

A professional fire safety plan provides detailed instructions on the many requirements of the fire code, which owners need to comply with in respect to daily, weekly, monthly and annual test and inspections of building life safety systems and equipment. Now, with digital fire safety plans, building Owners and staff are provided a detailed digital checklist, that meets both the fire safety plan and Fire code requirements. If they are late in completing this inspection, they are reminded. If staff don’t complete the inspection, the building Manager is auto notified.

Another direct benefit to digitizing your fire safety plan is that the fire code checklists, automatically update when the fire code changes in your Province - never missing a compliance component again.

A long standing concern in the property management industry is fire safety companies going out of business, and never finding the author of your original fire safety plan again - costing more money ! When a fire safety plan is digitized, the building owner receives a high ROI in reducing costs by never redeveloping the plan again - Only revising and updating the plan - reducing costs.

Digital Fire Safety Plans: Benefits to First Responders and Emergency Services

Building fire safety plans must be approved by the authority having jurisdiction, in most cases this would be local fire services. Approved fire safety plans are required to be stored at the building, and it most cases in the building’s fire safety plan box at the main entrance to the building. These plans, provide tactical reference tools to arriving emergency services to effectively respond in a timely manner to building emergencies.

The fire safety plan provides important tactical information on life safety systems, stairwell types, smoke control systems available, floor plan drawings, isolation points for sprinklers, HVAC, gas and electrical isolation points and more. Having rapid access to this information by fire services not only saves lives, but significantly reduces property damages. Fire Safety plans that have gone digital, can provide secure access to emergency services - on the way to the building - saving at times an upwards of 17 minutes.   Imagine a fire  dispatcher having instant access to critical information that can be relayed to onsite or enroute fire crews. With a digital fire safety plan, you can call up fire pump capabilities, know what’s connected to the generator and even where the Persons Requiring Assistance during an evacuation are located – in under 3 seconds.

With a digital fire safety plan, municipal emergency services or 911 - can overcome a vast array of first responder safety and operational challenges - minutes faster - with access to any of the following in under 3 seconds;

Benefits to EMS

-        Immediate access to Building Occupancy Type, Security contact details and even  Emergency Lobby Access Codes for rapid lobby entry when there is no security at the building – saving time.

-        Immediate Access to facility Material Safety Data Sheets

Benefits to Police Services

Access in under 3 seconds to the following;

 - Arial photographs, floor plans, perimeter and roof access points

- Owner / Tenant Emergency Contact Information

- Operating Procedures for fire alarm systems – Active Attackers

- smoke control systems, HVAC Isolation (CBRNE),

 Benefits to Fire Services

Access in under 3 seconds to the following;

- Firefighter and first responder hazards, false floor locations, confined spaces, high hazard storage / processes, etc.

 - floor plan drawings, isolation points for sprinklers, HVAC, gas and electrical isolation points

- List and location of Persons Requiring Special Assistance

 - Fire & Standpipe Pump Capabilities, Available smoke control systems, available smoke hatches / windows / shafts and more.

Its important to note, that the above numerous benefits to the emergency services or first responders - is a direct benefit to the safety of occupants of the building.

A digital Fire Safety Plan provides secure access to any 911 service in Canada - rapidly addressing long standing and well documented response challenges.

9-1-1 operators triage critical incident calls and support Fire, EMS and police services. Operators work to gather as much information as possible to help ensure both public and responder safety. Their role is critical to the delivery of emergency services but relies on the information provided by callers, who themselves are impacted by the emergency.

Currently, these operators do not have access to critical information regarding the building and persons needing assistance. Equipping these personnel with data to support their work can improve response times, inform key decision-making, and build awareness of hazards before responders have even arrived on scene.

Most critical building information is currently available only via Fire Safety Plan box onsite - if the box is accessible and intact. It is typically accessed “later” by arriving fire crews, and as the formats are inconsistent takes time to interpret and understand.   There is no standard layout of fire safety plans in Canada – so know wonder the information is hard to read.

Digitizing your fire safety plan, provides free access to all 9-1-1 / Dispatch operators. It provides objective, validated information for buildings across Canada - filling this critical information gap. This information can be accessed by 9-1-1 operators immediately, consistently, and in direct support of the real-time needs of site responders.

The critical benefit of the technology used to digitize fire safety plans for arriving first responders is the provision of instant, relevant, and consistent information to support response. In addition to the fire response, fire safety plans have also been widely utilized as a tactical tool for specialty response teams such as the municipal police services and Emergency Task Forces. Certain building information and detailed floor plans may be used to provide rapid support to first responders in the event of active violent incidents, suspicious packages and criminal acts in both workplace facilities and residential buildings.

Your Fire Safety Plan requires an annual review and update – every 12 months. Each section of that plan, along with the required floor plans, must be reviewed for accuracy,. And to capture any code or best practice changes. The plans are required to be maintained by the building Owner.   Your building Fire Safety Plan, digital or not, is a vital tool used to protect your building occupants and arriving first responders.