- Author
-
Mowrer, F. W.
- Title
- Fire Safe Student Housing: A Guide for Campus Housing Administrators.
- Coporate
- Maryland Univ., College Park
- Distribution
- AVAILABLE FROM National Technical Information Service (NTIS), Technology Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, Springfield, VA 22161. Telephone: 1-800-553-6847 or 703-605-6000; Fax: 703-605-6900; Rush Service (Telephone Orders Only) 800-553-6847; Website: http://www.ntis.gov
- Keywords
-
students
|
dormitories
|
housing
|
fire safety
|
ignition
|
construction
|
occupants
|
human behavior
|
fire protection
|
data analysis
|
fire prevention
|
training
|
fire detection
|
fire alarm systems
|
fire suppression
- Abstract
- As a campus or fraternal housing administrator, you have the duty to provide a safe environment for the college students housed in your facilities. You are faced with a number of different issues competing for your attention and for the limited resources available to address them. You must decide how to best allocate available resources among competing demands and interests. To make these decisions wisely, you need to understand the risk factors involved, the alternatives available to you and the relative' costs and benefits of the different options. Fire is one of the deadlier perils that threaten student safety. A fire in a student housing facility can quickly rage out of control if appropriate safeguards are not in place to stop it. While fatal fires in student housing are not an every day occurrence, they can and do happen, perhaps more frequently than you recognize. These fires do not make the headlines unless a number of students are killed, so it is easy to underestimate the risk of fire in student housing facilities. It is important for you to recognize that fire safe student housing does not just happen by chance, nor can it be taken for granted. It requires an ongoing commitment on the part of the community, the institution and the administration. Careful planning, implementation and maintenance are all essential ingredients of a successful fire safety program for student housing. The purpose of this report and the accompanying video is to provide campus housing administrators, fraternal organizations and others responsible for housing college students with an overview of the elements of fire safe student housing. The goal is to present a balanced approach that will permit housing administrators to make risk-informed decisions regarding the costs and benefits associated with different fire safety features and levels of fire protection. Additional resources that are available to help in the development of a comprehensive program for fire safe student housing are also identified. Ultimately, student-housing administrators need to seriously consider the installation of automatic sprinkler systems in the residential facilities they manage. These systems have an established record of preventing catastrophic fires in residential facilities, making sprinkler protection perhaps the single most effective weapon in the residential building fire safety arsenal. Over the past 15 years, the hospitality industry in the United States has embarked on an ambitious program to install sprinkler protection in most hotels and motels. As part of this effort, various technologies have been developed to reduce the costs, aesthetic impacts and inconveniences associated with the installation of automatic sprinklers in existing residential facilities. These technologies translate directly to both new and existing student housing facilities, providing the opportunity for college students to enjoy the same high level of fire protection as the traveling public.