Property Training

1
Property Training

• Craig Tuokkola, CSP CFPS

2
About the presenter

• Property specialist for Chubb Insurance covering
  Michigan and Wisconsin
• Eighteen years in loss control
• Member NFPA, SFPE
• Designations CFPS, CSP

3
What my role is

• As a loss control person have two primary roles
• Account Selection-underwriting relies on loss
  control to determine if an account is insurable
  and to collect information for rating.
• Account Retention-Develop relationships and
  provide services to existing accounts to aid in
  account retention.

4
Agenda

• The main objective of this presentation is to
  cover what items we look at during a property
  survey and why
• Construction
• Operations
• Protection
• Exposures

5
Construction

• A construction class is determined
• Fire Resistive
• Modified Fire Resistive
• Masonry N/C
• N/C
• Ordinary
• Frame

6
Construction

• Why does construction class matter?
• Certain types of construction will hold up better
  in a fire than others. Some will also contribute
  to fire loading.
• Construction class can greatly affect insurance
  rates

7
Operations

• We look at the operations to determine what type
  of fire hazards they involve. We then verify
  that the proper controls for this hazard are in
  place.

8
Operations

• Different operations have different inherent
  hazards. Appropriate safeguards should be in
  place for these hazards. Some hazards may
  include
• Use of flammable liquids
• Dusts
• Use of hydraulic fluids
• Ovens, furnaces, etc.
• Highly combustible materials
• Warehousing of combustibles

9
Operations-Flammable Liquids

• Why are they a concern?
• Very easily ignitable
• Horizontal fire spread
• Difficult to extinguish
• Controls
• Bonding/Grounding
• Class I electrical-Explosion Proof
• Ventilation
• Spill containment
• Fire suppression systems

10
Operations-Dusts

• Why are they a concern
• Can be explosive in the right concentrations
• Explosions can repeat with greater intensity
• Controls
• Housekeeping
• Dust Collection
• Class II electrical-Explosion Proof

11
Operations-Hydraulic Fluids

• Why are they a concern-
• Often under very high pressure 1000 psi or more
• Broken lines can lead to atomized sprays which
  are easily ignitable
• Controls
• Hydraulic shut-offs
• Less hazardous hydraulic oils

12
Operations-Warehousing

• Why is it a concern
• Significant fire loading
• May have shielding from overhead sprinklers
• What controls
• Adequate sprinkler protection
• ESFR
• In-rack sprinklers

13
Protection

• We consider two types of protection for
  buildings
• Private Protection
• Sprinkler systems
• Other suppression systems
• Detection systems
• Public Protection
• Public water supply
• Public fire fighting, ISO town class

14
(No Transcript)
15
(No Transcript)
16
Sprinkler system basics

• How are sprinkler systems designed and built
• pipe schedule systems
• common for buildings before the early 1980s
• generally not adequate for high challenge
  exposures
• ordinary hazard pipe schedule systems are very
  common
• hydraulically designed systems
• in all new installations
• usually able to determine design by the tag on
  the riser

17
(No Transcript)
18
Why are sprinkler systems different?

• The basic difference in systems is how much water
  they can put onto a fire
• Sprinkler system designs vary due to pipe sizes,
  water supply, building heights, type of
  sprinklers used and various other factors
• We use the term of density to classify a
  sprinkler system
• Based on the density we can determine sprinkler
  system adequacy

19
What does density mean?

• The sprinkler systems density is the amount of
  water the system can deliver over a design area.
  
• A system with a density of .2/1500 can deliver .2
  gallons per minute per square foot over any 1500
  square feet of floor space within the facility.

20
What do we do with a density?

• We must classify an occupancy based on
  definitions found in NFPA 13
• light hazard-offices, hospitals
• ordinary hazard group 1-automobile parking,
  bakeries
• ordinary hazard group 2-metalworkers, printers
• extra hazard group 1-metal extruding, printing
  with flammable inks
• extra hazard group 2-plastics processing, spray
  painting with flammable paints
• storage occupancies-over 12 for normal
  commodities and 5 for plastics

21
What do we do with a density?
Once we classify an occupancy we use the above
chart to determine a required density.
22
Problems with sprinkler protection

• Inadequate design
• Only partial coverage
• Not properly maintained
• Inadequate water supply
• No central station alarm monitoring
• Disabled systems

23
So what can we do if the sprinkler system is
inadequate?

• Based on the degree of inadequacy, there are a
  number of potential solutions to upgrade which
  include
• ripping out the existing system and installing a
  new one. May cost 2 a sq.ft. or more.
• adding a fire pump. Roughly 50,000 upgrade.
• changing some components of the existing system
  (some piping or individual sprinklers). Prices
  vary greatly but this is the cheapest solution
  when feasible. But this usually only works for
  minor deficiencies.

24
(No Transcript)
25
Private Protection-Other suppression systems

• In addition to sprinkler systems there are other
  types of suppression systems. These are
  generally designed to protect a specific hazard
  as opposed to an entire structure
• Carbon dioxide
• FM-200, Inergen, Halon, Sapphire, etc
• Wet chemical
• The advantage to these systems is they can often
  provide suppression without damaging equipment in
  the way that water can.

26
Fire Detection

• Fire Detectors generally work by detecting either
  the smoke or heat generated from a fire.
• Smoke Detectors
• Faster response times
• Not suitable for all locations
• Can be used for life safety
• Heat Detectors
• Inexpensive and not prone to false alarm
• Slow response, only respond to an involved fire
• Not suitable for use as a life safety device

27
Private Protection-Why does it matter?

• Sprinkler protection is the single best fire
  protection item available. It can also have a
  significant affect on insurability and insurance
  rates.
• Fire detection systems can also enhance fire
  safety by providing early warning and enhanced
  response times.

28
Public Protection

• Public protection can affect insurance coverage
  for a facility. Generally we make assessments
  of
• Water supply available for fire fighting
  including sprinkler use
• Paid or volunteer department
• Distance
• ISO town class code ratings 1-10

29
Exposures

• Sometimes what the insureds building is located
  next to can create a significant concern. Items
  to consider are
• Shared walls or multi-tenant buildings
• Neighboring buildings generally within 100.

30
Questions?