Disaster Safety Blog

Are you a mitigationite?

Do you look around at the images of devastation broadcast so widely - and unfortunately, so frequently - these days on the 24-hours news cycle and think "why did this have to happen?" If you're like us, you don't understand why everyone doesn't see the simple, obvious benefits of everyone having a strong, safe place to call home or a business to go back to when disasterous conditions improve.

At IBHS, we want effective mitigation everywhere across the country, and for everyone, regardless of the value of their assets. We know that those assets – which are homes and businesses in the IBHS world – deserve protection. As do the families, businesses, and communities attached to those assets. We can’t understand why everyone doesn’t see the world the way we do, because we know with certainty that if mitigation was truly a core public value, the world would be a much safer, better and happier place.

Maybe you are one of us “Mitigationites.”

Join us and celebrate a FORTIFIED Nation, where strong structures make strong communities. Find out more - www.DisasterSafety.org/conference.

Experts weigh in on best ways to address commercial risks

Small and mid-sized businesses are the backbone of the nation’s economy, but many also operate on tight budgets and time schedules – even a minor interruption is enough to cause major disruptions. Join IBHS Business Resiliency Program Manager Diana McClure and a panel of business experts at “FORTIFIED Nation: Strong Structures, Strong Communities” – this year’s IBHS Annual Conference on Nov. 16 & 17 in Tampa, Fla. The distinguished panel includes RIMS Director of Strategic and Enterprise Risk Practice Carol Fox; Tim Lovell, Executive Director of Tulsa Partners in Oklahoma, and Paul Ford, Director of Safety and Security for Tampa General Hospital in Florida. Panelists will discuss best practices for protecting business operations against costly disruptions and property losses.

The IBHS conference will be held at the Renaissance International Plaza Hotel in Tampa, Fla., which is minutes from Tampa International Airport and provides complimentary transportation to and from the airport. IBHS is pleased to have negotiated an affordable hotel rate for this beautiful property located in the heart of Tampa’s business, shopping and entertainment district. View the agenda, find hotel information, and register today at www.DisasterSafety.org/conference.

International campaign focuses on readying cities for disasters

This week recognized the International Day for Disaster Reduction, which was started by the United Nations in 1989 and which kicks off a yearly preparedness campaign. This year's theme is “Making Cities Resilient: My City is Getting Ready!”

What is your city doing to get ready for a disaster? You can register your city and be included in the international campaign by clicking here.

At the Institute for Business & Home Safety (IBHS), our mission is to help create safer, more resilient communities through the use of strong new construction practices, the development of effective retrofits solutions for existing properties, the adoption and enforcement of strong building codes, and smart land use planning.

"Well over 50 percent of the world’s population lives in cities. Cities are centres for innovation, economic opportunities, economic growth, entertainment – people want to live in cities and be part of modern life," according to a speech delivered by Margareta Wahlstrom, Special Representative of the U.N. Secretary-General for Disaster Risk Reduction in recognition of the international disaster preparedness campaign.

Wahlstrom added that "cities, though, are also high-risk areas because of their very rapid growth.  Many governments, even with the best of intentions, cannot keep up with the enormous growth and pressure on infrastructure. Cities are also sitting in risky areas -- they are built on seismic fault lines, or lying in coastal areas; they are exposed to cyclones, hurricanes and flooding, and experience intense rainstorms and mudslides."

IBHS engineers are always working to develop new ways to help protect properties. A communitywide approach is the most effective way to keep your neighborhood strong in the face of disaster. Find solutions for your city at www.DisasterSafety.org.

New resource examines green building rating systems

A new resource from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) examines current green building rating systems in a broader context, and features an innovative strong, green home built to the IBHS FORTIFIED for Safer Living® standard.

The publication "Natural Hazards and Sustainability for Residential Buildings" identifies green building practices—the tools of today’s green building rating systems — that are different from historical residential building practices and that, unless implemented with an understanding of their interactions with the rest of the structure, have the potential to compromise a building’s resistance to natural hazard events.

This document discusses how to retain or improve natural hazard resistance while incorporating these green building practices. While most common green building practices provide sustainability advantages with little or no effect on structural performance or durability, others require reevaluation of the building’s structural design or detailing to retain its integrity during natural hazard events. Often, only minimal design modifications are required to maintain natural hazard resistance.

Learn more about building FORTIFIED at www.DisasterSafety.org

New facility will challenge conventional construction

The grand opening of the Institute for Business & Home Safety Research Center is Oct. 19. Beginning today and leading up to the event, be sure to check out the Insurance Information Insitute on Twitter to learn interesting facts about the lab, then follow the link to this blog to learn how this unique facility that will change and challenge what we know about the best ways to build stronger, safer homes and businesses.

The Research Center will campus, located in Chester County, S.C., includes a 21,000 square foot test chamber. The huge clear span test chamber is attached to an array of 105 individually controlled electric fans housed in a towering inlet structure specially designed to contract and speed the flow of air, and an observation and control wing. Full-scale homes and commercial structures will be built and transported into the test chamber using a customized movement system. The structures then will be bolted down to a remotely controlled turntable and subjected to one or more natural hazards. Within the test chamber it will be possible to generate realistic Category 1, 2, and 3 hurricane-force winds, extra-tropical windstorms (those associated with the passage of a frontal system or Nor’easter), thunderstorm frontal winds, wildfires, and hailstorms. Variable droplet-sized rain, hailstones, burning embers and various types of “debris” also can be introduced into the wind stream through a series of special ducts and other mechanical systems.

Learn more at www.DisasterSafety.org.

New lab will study wind-driven wildfire conditions; like those in Detroit fire

A wildfire in Detroit that burned 85 structures on Tuesday is further evidence of the need to understand more about how wildfires attack properties and to develop solutions for reducing the risks, according to the Institute for Business & Home Safety (IBHS). A new research facility coming online this fall will help move those goals forward.

Detroit Mayor Dave Bing and Detroit Fire Commissioner James Mack said a combination of 50 mph winds, dry weather and 700 downed power lines set off the natural disaster. Firefighters were brought in from the surrounding cities, marking  the first time the city called in outside firefighters since the 1967 riots, the Detroit Free Press reports. View the Detroit Free Press photo gallery of the fires. The blaze was apparently set off when a power line or transformer, which had been shooting sparks for days, ignited and set fire to a garage, according to the newspaper. Winds knocked out service to at least 124,000 Michigan utility customers.

While unusual, the Detroit fire is an example of how dangerous a wildfire can spread even in a urban setting, says IBHS. Embers generated by these blazes can travel a mile or more and land on rooftops and other combustible items in yards. The result can be a fire that spreads from house to house.

Investigating the threat posed by embers and other wildfire conditions will be one  of the focuses of the new IBHS Research Center, which opens this fall in South Carolina.

Here are some of the highlights of the wildfire research that will be conducted at the IBHS Research Center:

• Developing new ways to simulate full-scale wind-driven ember/firebrand and flame attacks for typical residential and commercial structures.
• Investigating ignition sources, the impact of flame length and impingement across defensible space.
• Working with leading public and private sector research organizations to evaluate and improve test standards for determining roof venting system vulnerability to wind-borne firebrand intrusion.
• Examining the development of rapid deployment instrumentation system to monitor wildfire spread through communities, and discussing with the fire services how to deploy such systems in advance of wind-driven wildfires.

Learn more about IBHS research at www.DisasterSafety.org.

NFPA study prompts antifreeze ban in fire sprinklers

The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) Standards Council has banned the use of antifreeze solution in residential fire sprinkler systems for new construction until further action by NFPA consensus standards committees.

NFPA also has issued a follow-up to its July 2010 safety alert to provide updated guidance on the use of antifreeze in residential fire sprinkler systems.

The ban and updated alert came on the heels of new research, which was conducted after a fatality stemming from a grease fire in a kitchen and an activated fire sprinkler with a high concentration of antifreeze. 

The major findings from the NFPA study include:

• Antifreeze solutions with concentrations of propylene glycol exceeding 40 percent and concentrations of glycerin exceeding 50 percent have the potential to ignite when discharged through automatic sprinklers.
• Both the 40 percent propylene glycol and 50 percent glycerin solutions demonstrated similar performance to that of water alone for fire control throughout the series of tests.
• Based on the results of this research, antifreeze solutions of propylene glycol exceeding 40 percent and glycerin exceeding 50 percent are not appropriate for use in residential fire sprinkler systems.
• Consideration should be given to reducing the acceptable concentrations of these antifreeze solutions by an appropriate safety factor.

New Sprinkler Systems

NFPA standards prohibited the use of antifreeze in residential fire sprinkler systems in new construction as of the Aug. 16, 2010, the date of the issuance of tentative interim amendments (TIA) to NFPA 13, 13D and 13R. Anyone installing a new residential fire sprinkler system (including all NFPA 13D applications and the dwelling unit portions of NFPA 13 and NFPA 13R systems), should refer to the latest editions of NFPA 13, 13D and 13R, as amended by TIA numbers 1000, 995, and 994.

Existing Systems

• Fire sprinklers are extremely effective fire protection devices, significantly reducing deaths, injuries and property loss from fire. These systems should not be disconnected.
• Residential fire sprinkler systems, whenever possible, should not contain an antifreeze solution.
• If you have, or are responsible for, an existing residential occupancy with a fire sprinkler system, contact a sprinkler contractor to check and see if there is antifreeze solution in the system.
• If there is antifreeze solution in the system, determine if other means, such as insulation, can be used to provide adequate freeze protection.
• If there is no viable alternative to antifreeze solutions, NFPA recommends the following:
  • Use only propylene glycol or glycerin antifreeze solution.
  • The antifreeze solution should be the lowest possible concentration required for the needed freeze potential but under no circumstance should the antifreeze solution exceed a maximum concentration of 40 percent of propylene glycol or a maximum concentration of 50 percent of glycerin. Consideration should be given to reducing these concentrations by an additional safety factor.
  • The antifreeze solution should only be a factory pre-mixed; use of factory pre-mixed solutions is essential to ensure the proper concentration level and solution integrity.
  • Antifreeze solutions should only be used with the approval of the local authority having jurisdiction.

Read the full NFPA Safety Alert Regarding Antifreeze in Residential Sprinkler Systems at www.nfpa.org/antifreeze.

NFPA study prompts antifreeze ban in fire sprinklers

The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) Standards Council has banned the use of antifreeze solution in residential fire sprinkler systems for new construction until further action by NFPA consensus standards committees.

NFPA also has issued a follow-up to its July 2010 safety alert to provide updated guidance on the use of antifreeze in residential fire sprinkler systems.

The ban and updated alert came on the heels of new research, which was conducted after a fatality stemming from a grease fire in a kitchen and an activated fire sprinkler with a high concentration of antifreeze. 

The major findings from the NFPA study include:

• Antifreeze solutions with concentrations of propylene glycol exceeding 40 percent and concentrations of glycerin exceeding 50 percent have the potential to ignite when discharged through automatic sprinklers.
• Both the 40 percent propylene glycol and 50 percent glycerin solutions demonstrated similar performance to that of water alone for fire control throughout the series of tests.
• Based on the results of this research, antifreeze solutions of propylene glycol exceeding 40 percent and glycerin exceeding 50 percent are not appropriate for use in residential fire sprinkler systems.
• Consideration should be given to reducing the acceptable concentrations of these antifreeze solutions by an appropriate safety factor.

New Sprinkler Systems

NFPA standards prohibited the use of antifreeze in residential fire sprinkler systems in new construction as of the Aug. 16, 2010, the date of the issuance of tentative interim amendments (TIA) to NFPA 13, 13D and 13R. Anyone installing a new residential fire sprinkler system (including all NFPA 13D applications and the dwelling unit portions of NFPA 13 and NFPA 13R systems), should refer to the latest editions of NFPA 13, 13D and 13R, as amended by TIA numbers 1000, 995, and 994.

Existing Systems

• Fire sprinklers are extremely effective fire protection devices, significantly reducing deaths, injuries and property loss from fire. These systems should not be disconnected.
• Residential fire sprinkler systems, whenever possible, should not contain an antifreeze solution.
• If you have, or are responsible for, an existing residential occupancy with a fire sprinkler system, contact a sprinkler contractor to check and see if there is antifreeze solution in the system.
• If there is antifreeze solution in the system, determine if other means, such as insulation, can be used to provide adequate freeze protection.
• If there is no viable alternative to antifreeze solutions, NFPA recommends the following:
  • Use only propylene glycol or glycerin antifreeze solution.
  • The antifreeze solution should be the lowest possible concentration required for the needed freeze potential but under no circumstance should the antifreeze solution exceed a maximum concentration of 40 percent of propylene glycol or a maximum concentration of 50 percent of glycerin. Consideration should be given to reducing these concentrations by an additional safety factor.
  • The antifreeze solution should only be a factory pre-mixed; use of factory pre-mixed solutions is essential to ensure the proper concentration level and solution integrity.
  • Antifreeze solutions should only be used with the approval of the local authority having jurisdiction.

Read the full NFPA Safety Alert Regarding Antifreeze in Residential Sprinkler Systems at www.nfpa.org/antifreeze.

Promoting straight talk about disasters

A group of climate scientists and the insurance industry will gather next month to discuss a better way of helping the public understand and act on information relating to disaster risks.

A series of extreme weather events worldwide prompted the upcoming workshop in Paris that was organized by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).

"The general conclusion is the magnitude, the severity and extent of extreme events will be greater, which means we have to prepare," Ghassem Asrar, director of the WMO's World Climate Research Program, said in an interview. "We need to develop standards, or indices, with a degree of confidence in our assessment to deal with extreme weather. In the case of hurricanes this is very developed and for heat waves, drought or flooding there is a need to do the same."

The event is expected to draw about 100 climate scientists and statisticians. Participants will examine how very difficult scientific concepts can be boiled down into simple measures or yardsticks for the non-expert to use. The ultimate goal is for the standards to be published and used by national weather services worldwide to issue public alerts.

The insurance industry is among the parties interested in the issue, according to Asrar, and Willis Group Holdings, the world's third largest insurance broker, will co-sponsor the WMO workshop. Willis Re, a subsidiary of Willis Group Holdings, is a member of the Institute for Business & Home Safety. Is your company an IBHS member?

From the ground up: Video chronicles lab construction

Do you like those time-lapse photo videos of construction?

Today's Charlotte Business Joural invites the public to check out a new one, which takes viewers through the construction process of the Institute for Business & Home Safety’s Research Center in Chester County. Watch it at: http://vimeo.com/13857578.

Learn more about the disaster safety lab at www.DisasterSafety.org.