Handbook

Fire & Life Safety

LIFE SAFETY PLAN:

A complete Life Safety Plan is attached for your convenience. Each tenant is also provided with a floor plan showing locations of stairwells and exits. A specific evacuation plan for your suite should be developed for your office, in conjunction with building procedures. You plan should include a check-in location where all employees are to meet after they have exited the building. All of your employees should be familiar with this plan. Please post it in a conspicuous place so that it is obvious to all exiting the office.

A minimum of two Manual fire alarm pull stations are located on each floor near the building stairwells. The fire alarm enunciator panel is located at the security desk in the Lobby, which indicates the floor the alarm has triggered. When a pull station is activated on your floor, you will hear an audible alarm, see a corresponding strobe light alarm and hear the automatic evacuation announcement. The alarm is designated to sound on the floor where the alarm was triggered, the floor below and one floor above. The automatic evacuation message will be heard on the floor where the alarm was triggered, and one floor above and below. Additionally, you may hear the alarms echoing throughout the stairwells and elevator shafts. Should you hear this alarm, do not hesitate to begin evacuating the building to the ground floor.
Smoke Detectors are located throughout the building, including the elevator lobbies, in front of the freight elevators, in the building equipment rooms and throughout tenant suites. Smoke/heat detectors are also located in all mechanical rooms throughout the building. In case of either fire or smoke, these detectors will automatically turn off the air conditioning systems, trigger the fire alarm and register on the fire alarm panel as above.
Automatic Fire Sprinklers are located throughout the building. The entire building and parking garage is covered to provide safe passage to the fire exits. If a fire sprinkler is triggered, it will register on the fire alarm panel as above.
Smoke resistant stairwells are located on both the Northeast and Southwest corners of the building. Stairwells are your safest haven, fire resistant and safe from smoke, provided the doors are not propped open.
Two ABC Dry Chemical Fire Extinguishers are located inside each stairwell doorway. Fire extinguishers may also be located in each tenant suite. Tenants will need to ensure that all employees are trained in their use.
An Emergency Public Address System provides for instantaneous one-way communication, from the Fire Control Room, throughout the building. This system will be used during an emergency and/or evacuation drill to communicate instructions to tenants. It will also be used periodically to conduct equipment tests.
The Central Alarm Panel is located at the lobby and street level in the Fire Control Room and is activated whenever an alarm condition exists anywhere in the building. The panel will identify the alarm type and its location for any problem. Parmenter Realty Partners’ property management staff and the security staff have been thoroughly trained on reading this panel and executing the proper actions for any given emergency.
The Compartmental Design of the building is intended to prevent fire from spreading from one office space to another. Fire-rated walls are designed to contain the fire in the area it starts.
All air conditioning ducts contain Fire Dampers to slow the spread of fire/smoke through the air conditioning system.
Power Supply to the building is centrally controlled for emergency shutdown.
An Emergency Diesel Generator powers all exit lights, emergency lights, fire pumps and elevators in the case of power loss.
All Stairwells are equipped with Battery back-up lighting in the event all power and/or emergency generator service is interrupted in the building.
An external Siamese Standpipe Connection is available for easy connection to the City’s fire trucks for emergency back-up service to the building fire pumps.
Security guards are equipped with portable radios and are on duty 24 hours, 7 days per week.

SAFETY ORGANIZATION

Life Safety Director: The Life Safety Director, a member of the property management staff, reports directly to the Fire Department for the supervision and maintenance of the entire Life Safety program.

Life Safety Team: The Life Safety Team consists of members of the property management and security staff. While on duty, all of these people carry two-way radios that allow them to receive immediate notification in the event of an emergency.

Fire Warden: The Fire Warden is a tenant employee, holding a position of sufficient authority, to ensure the proper response by suite occupants. They will take charge of the emergency plan and operation of the suite and coordinate the efforts of the Life Safety Team and Fire Department.

Assistant Fire Warden: The Assistant Fire Warden is a tenant employee who will assume the duties of the Fire Warden in the event he/she is absent or unable to perform her/her duties. They will ensure that their portion of the floor has been searched and that they have accounted for each person and everyone had been directed to the primary evacuation stairwell.

Disability Aide: The Disability Aide will assist with the safe evacuation of persons requiring assistance. They will stay with the person until the emergency is over.

FIRE WARDENS RESPONSIBILITIES:

The Fire Warden is a tenant employee holding a position of sufficient authority, to ensure timely and proper response by suite occupants.

The Fire Warden must be familiar with the Emergency Evacuation Plan.
Fire Wardens will review and study the floor plan for his/her suite, the number of suite occupants and the number of exits for the purpose of dividing the population into groups or squads and to formulate the traffic patterns for a timely and proper evacuation in both primary and secondary exits.
Periodically, Fire Wardens shall make checks to prevent any accumulation of combustible materials in the entrances, exits, lobbies, corridors and aisles of his/her suite.
Each Fire Warden shall be responsible for the Assistant Fire Wardens and all Disability Aides (if necessary).
Fire Wardens shall have available, a current list of all persons with disabilities and their aides. This list shall include locations of both the disabled person and their aide. This list should be updated monthly and a copy given to the property management office. It is the responsibility of the Fire Warden to assign Disability Aides to each disabled person in your suite and to insure that they are evacuated to the interior of the stairwell for rescue by fire fighters or other building personnel.

During an emergency:

Take up positions in the corridor by the appropriate stairwell exit.
Instruct Assistant Fire Wardens and searchers to immediately inspect their assigned area, including restrooms, and report their findings.
Insure that the Disability Aides have located the people they are assigned to and that they have sufficient help in moving them to the interior of the stairwell.
Before opening any stairwell door, it should be checked to make certain that it is not hot. DO NOT OPEN A HOT DOOR. If the door is not hot and the stairwell does not contain heavy smoke, have all floor occupants proceed down the stairwell at a steady but safe pace.
After arriving at your designated assembly area outside the building, perform a head count. If an employee is unaccounted for, you should proceed to the Evacuation Command Post to advise the Safety Director that an employee cannot be accounted for.

ASSISTANT FIRE WARDENS RESPONSIBILITIES:

Each Assistant Fire Warden is responsible for assisting the Fire Warden to whom he/she is assigned.
The Assistant Fire Warden must be familiar with the Emergency Evacuation Plan and the location of all exits.

During an emergency:

Immediately go to the appropriate stairwell exit. If the Fire Warden is not present, then assume the duties of the Fire Warden.
If the Fire Warden is present, check to make sure that all interior doors are closed in your suite. Close, but DO NOT LOCK, all interior doors when evacuating. Turn off all electrical equipment except lights.
Be certain all personnel have been evacuated before leaving your floor to report to your designated area.
Report to your Fire Warden any personnel that cannot be accounted for.

DISABILITY AIDE’S RESPONSIBILITIES:

Every person with a disability shall have at least one aide who works in his/her office assigned to assist him/her in the event of an evacuation. In most incidences, it will only be necessary to move the person into the stairwell for safety. They must stay with the person until the emergency is over.

During an emergency:

All disabled individuals should be helped to the stairwell closest to the freight elevator so they can be evacuated from the building if an emergency does arise.
As soon as the emergency situation is confirmed, management personnel will man the freight elevator and will manually control the elevator in order to effectively evacuate those persons requiring assistance from each floor (unless directed otherwise by the Fire Department or conditions exist preventing this as a means of evacuation. In that event, the Fire Department will assume responsibility of the evacuation procedures).
Property management or the Fire Department should be notified immediately if there are handicapped, elderly, pregnant women or anyone else requiring assistance in your suite or on your floor. This will save time and ensure the safety of those people.

SAFETY PERSONNEL

Each tenant will select responsible and dependable employees to be designated for positions of Fire Warden, Assistant Fire Warden and Disability Aide. These individuals should be personnel who remain in the office on a daily basis.

EVACUATION COMMAND POST

In the event of an emergency, the property management office will establish a Command Post across the street from the Las Colinas Blvd. entrance, at the Omni hotel. Further orders and instructions will be issued. In the event that it is not safe to remain in close proximity to the building, the Command Post will progress East on Las Colinas Blvd., stopping at the closest, safe distance from the building.

NOTIFICATION OF NEED TO EVACUATE

You may be alerted to evacuate by a message transmitted over the building's emergency paging system or word of mouth from your Fire Warden, a member of Security or the property management office.

It is imperative that panic is avoided and any evacuation move be made as smoothly as possible. Upon notification, all occupants in the building should not hesitate to begin evacuating the building.