FA168/May 1997 Safety and Health Considerations for the Design of Fire and Emergency Medical Services Stations FEDERAL EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AGENCY UNITED STATES FIRE ADMINISTRATION This document was scanned from hard copy to portable document format (PDF) and edited to 99.5% accuracy. Some formatting errors not detected during the optical character recognition process may appear. Safety and Health Considerations for the Design of Fire and Emergency Medical Services Stations FEDERAL EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AGENCY UNITED STATES FIRE ADMINISTRATION SAFETY AND HEALTH CONSIDERATIONS FOR THE DESIGN OF FIRE AND EMERGENCY MEDICAL SERVICES STATIONS This publication was produced under contract EMW-95-C-4703 for the United States Fire Administration, Federal Emergency Management Agency. Any information, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect the views of the Federal Emergency Management Agency or the United States Fire Administration. PREFACE This manual was developed under contract for the U.S. Fire Administration to provide comprehensive guidelines for the design or remodeling of fire and emergency medical services (EMS) stations and other facilities (e.g., training centers) in terms of safety and health concerns. The purposes of this manual are: 1. To alert fire and emergency medical service personnel to potential safety and health hazards within the station and other facilities; 2. To identify pertinent regulations which affect the construction and inspection of fire and EMS stations which can be applied to station design for safety and health; 3. To establish compliance guidelines for new station construction/existing station modification with model specifications that can be adopted as part of a fire/EMS department’s station design/construction bid package; and 4. To provide a checklist for station health and safety inspections and to assist evaluations of existing station designs. This is not a manual which provides a detailed step-by-step procedure for designing fire or EMS stations. Rather, this manual is intended to be a useful guide when addressing design aspects of the fire or EMS station which pertain to the health and safety of personnel who must work and live in those facilities. It is recognized that many of the nation’s fire houses and EMS stations were built prior to the development of this document. Therefore, this manual should be consulted for guidance both when facilities are remodeled and new ones are built. Often city managers, emergency medical directors, fire chiefs, and local government officials are faced with a variety of choices when undertaking new construction or remodeling. This manual has been prepared to simplify this process by providing a comprehensive list of requirements and suggested design alternatives. Users of this manual are encouraged to implement, manage, and develop safety and health concepts for the well being of their emergency service personnel when designing and building fire and EMS facilities, The guidelines in this manual are also intended to help reduce actual and potential accidents and injuries in the fire or EMS station. The information provided in this manual was developed from a variety of references including consensus standards, OSHA regulations, occupational health codes, provisions of the American Disabilities Act (for public areas) and related articles relative to the construction of such facilities. Recommendations in this manual are primarily based on Federal OSHA regulations. Users of this manual are encouraged to determine the applicability of station standards, local codes and ordinances, consensus standards, and recommended practices for their particular area. i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The authors of this manual would like to acknowledge and thank several individuals who were involved in this project and who provided valuable input for assisting in the development of the this manual. For this project, a Quality Review Panel, consisting of experts with different backgrounds to provide broad perspectives, served as the primary resource in the manual’s development. These individuals included: Sherri-Lynne Almeida, Houston Fire Department, Houston, Texas John Ball, John Ball and Partners Architect, Inc., Phoenix, Arizona W. Robert Barnard, Washington State Office of Fire Protection Services, Olympia, Washington (retired) Richard M. Duffy, International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF), Washington, DC Jim Minx, Oklahoma State Firefighters Association, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma Thomas Thorpe, Sandy Springs Volunteer Fire Department, Maryland; Litton Systems, Inc., College Park, Maryland The International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF), Fire Department Safety Officers Association (FDSOA), National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), and National Volunteer Fire Council (NVFC), the Volunteer Firemen’s Insurance Services, Inc. were helpful in providing useful information. In addition, several organizations responded to requests for specific information which were helpful to the project, including: Austin Fire Department (Texas), City of Camden Fire Department (New Jersey), City of Glendale Fire Department (California), Dallas Fire Department, Fairfax Country Fire and Rescue Services (Virginia), Los Angeles City Fire Department, Marion Fire Department (Iowa), Tulsa Fire Department, and U.S. Coast Guard Facilities Design and Construction Center (Pacific). TABLE OF CONTENTS SECTION 1 - INTRODUCTION ................................. 1 General Requirements .................................... 4 Using This Manual ...................................... 6 SECTION 2 - THE NEEDS ASSESSMENT-BASED PLANNING PROCESS ..... 8 The Design and Construction Process ........................... 8 The Needs Assessment .................................... 11 The Building Committee ................................... 15 The Design Team ....................................... 17 SECTION 3 - OVERVIEW OF DESIGN CONSIDERATIONS .............. 19 Design Philosophy for Fire and EMS Stations ...................... 19 Design Factors ......................................... 20 Siting and Space Planning .................................. 25 Exterior Design Considerations ............................... 28 Interior Design Considerations ............................... 33 Type of Construction ..................................... 36 SECTION 4 - SPECIFIC SAFETY AND HEALTH CONSIDERATIONS ....... 37 Electrocution/Shock Hazards ................................ 39 Slips and Falls ......................................... 42 Explosions ........................................... 52 Vehicle Hazards ........................................ 55 Falling Objects ........................................ 57 Drowning ............................................ 59 Overexertion .......................................... 59 Hazardous Materials ..................................... 60 Diesel and Vehicle Exhaust Hazards ............................ 62 Cigarette Smoke ........................................ 66 Sick Building Syndrome ................................... 69 Radon Exposure ........................................ 71 Infectious Materials and Biohazards ............................ 76 Food and Waterborne Infections .............................. 78 Noise .............................................. 80 Earthquakes and Other Natural Disasters ......................... 83 Fire (all types) ......................................... 87 Theft and Burglary ...................................... 90 Vandalism and Violence ................................... 91 SECTION 5 - COMPLIANCE AND FUNDING ISSUES .................. 96 Determining Compliance .................................. 96 Funding ........................................... 96 Achieving a Safe and Healthy Work Environment ................... 97 iii SECTION 1 - INTRODUCTION U.S. Fire Administration injury statistics show a significant number of injuries, particularly strains and sprains, have occurred away from the emergency activity. 1 Many of these injuries and deaths are occurring where they would be least expected. Fire or emergency medical service department facilities are rarely looked at in terms of their potential safety and health hazards. Yet according to U.S. Fire Administration fatality summaries from 1983 to 1995 prepared by the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), a total of 17 firefighters have died at fire stations from causes other than cardiovascular systems deaths.2 These deaths include: seven falls (including two from hose towers), three carbon monoxide poisonings, two crushing traumas due to vehicular movement, one electrocution, one steam boiler explosion, one SCBA cylinder explosion, an overturned tractor crushing trauma, and one homicide, At least two of the firefighters died in a hose tower accident while hanging wet hose. Hose tower ladders are known as a common fall hazard that can result in a traumatic accident in the fire station (yet there are safety regulations which address proper fall protection requirements). Other common areas with a high risk of injury in the fire/EMS station are sliding poles, apparatus bays, and battery charging rooms. Firefighter and emergency medical service (EMS) personnel injuries at the station are much more common than recognized by the industry. 3 Unfortunately, firefighter injury statistics specifically for station injuries are not collected consistently on a national leve1.4 However, this information can be obtained for individual departments