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DOE Fire Protection RequirementsThe Department of Energy has historically used an insurance industry concept called "highly protected risk" underwriting to define levels of fire protection required for its facilities. DOE has advocated the use of modern fire protection standards and engineering modeling to assess fire protection needs in its facilities. These requirements were specified in DOE Order 5480.7A (Fire Protection) until the rewriting of many DOE environment, safety, and health-related Orders in 1995. Now, fire protection requirements are in DOE Order 420.1 (Facility Safety) and DOE Order 440.1 (Worker Protection Management).The ES&H Division provides fire protection guidance and technical assistance to SC program offices and contractors, in conjunction with the DOE Operations Offices. We participate in the DOE Fire Safety Committee as a voting member, along with other DOE Program and Operations Offices. By doing so, we stay abreast of current issues and technical problems that affect fire protection of highly complex facilities. The ES&H Division currently chairs the Programmatic Issues Subcommittee of the DOE Fire Safety Committee. This Subcommittee addresses issues dealing with the management of fire protection programs by DOE contractors, including use of fire protection standards. The Subcommittee has examined frequencies for maintenance of water-based fire protection systems in DOE facilities to determine if National Fire Protection Association Standard 25, Maintenance of Water-Based Fire Protection Systems (NFPA Standard 25) is justified for our use given our failure experience. The Programmatic Issues Subcommittee of the DOE Fire Safety Committee has attempted to write a similar document for the maintenance of electrical and electromechanical components of fire protection systems. We found that we had insufficient data on which to base any conclusions. A document on maintenance frequencies of electrical and electromechanical components of fire protection systems will eventually be published. We need more data in order to do this, however. You can help us in determining fire protection system component reliability by sending us information you have. In the past, requests for exemptions from the DOE Order 5480.7A on fire protection requirements were evaluated by the ES&H Division. Often, we assisted in developing the technical basis if the request appeared to be warranted from its onset. With the advent of the Necessary and Sufficient Standards Process, any questions about deviations from requirements will be handled at a local level, although the ES&H Division is available for specialized technical assistance. Contact: Matt Cole (301) 903-8388
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