PDFWAC 296-155-260
Fire protection.
(1) General requirements.
(a) You must be responsible for development of a fire protection program to be followed throughout all phases of construction and demolition work, and you must provide for firefighting equipment as specified in this part. As fire hazards occur, you must not delay in providing necessary equipment.
(b) Access to all available firefighting equipment must be maintained at all times.
(c) All firefighting equipment, provided by the employer, must be conspicuously located.
(d) All firefighting equipment must be periodically inspected by a competent person, and maintained in operating condition. You must immediately replace defective equipment.
(e) As warranted by the project, you must provide a trained and equipped firefighting organization (fire brigade) to assure adequate protection to life.
(2) Water supply.
(a) You must make available a temporary or permanent water supply, of sufficient volume, duration, and pressure, required to properly operate firefighting equipment as soon as combustible materials accumulate.
(b) Where underground water mains are to be provided, they must be installed, completed, and made available for use as soon as practicable.
(3) Portable firefighting equipment.
(a) You must provide a fire extinguisher, rated not less than 2A, for each 3,000 square feet of a combustible building area, or major fraction thereof. Travel distance from any point of the protected area to the nearest fire extinguisher must not exceed a horizontal distance of 100 feet.
Note: | One 55-gallon open drum of water with two fire pails may be substituted for a fire extinguisher having a 2A rating. |
(b) A 1/2-inch diameter garden-type hose line, not to exceed 100 feet in length and equipped with a nozzle, may be substituted for a 2A-rated fire extinguisher, provided it is capable of discharging a minimum of 5 gallons per minute with a minimum hose stream range of 30 feet horizontally. The garden-type hose lines must be mounted on conventional racks or reels. The number and location of hose racks or reels must be such that at least one hose stream can be applied to all points in the area.
(c) You must provide one or more fire extinguishers, rated not less than 2A, on each floor. In multistory buildings, where combustibles are present, at least one fire extinguisher must be located adjacent to a stairway.
(d) You must protect extinguishers and water drums that are subject to freezing from freezing.
(e) You must provide a fire extinguisher, rated not less than 10B, within 50 feet of wherever more than 5 gallons of flammable liquids or 5 pounds of flammable gas are being used on the job site. This requirement does not apply to the integral fuel tanks of motor vehicles.
(f) Carbon tetrachloride and other toxic vaporizing liquid fire extinguishers are prohibited.
(g) You must inspect portable fire extinguishers periodically and maintain them in accordance with Maintenance and Use of Portable Fire Extinguishers, NFPA No. 10A-1981 and WAC 296-800-300.
(h) Fire extinguishers which have been listed or approved by a nationally recognized testing laboratory, must be used to meet the requirements of this part. (See Table D-1)
Note: | For additional requirements relating to portable fire extinguishers see WAC 296-800-300. |
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Note: | One hundred feet, or less, of 1-1/2 inch hose, with a nozzle capable of discharging water at 25 gallons or more per minute, may be substituted for a fire extinguisher rated not more than 2A in the designated area provided that the hose line can reach all points in the area. |
(i) If fire hose connections are not compatible with local firefighting equipment, the contractor must provide adapters, or equivalent, to permit connections.
(j) During demolition involving combustible materials, you must make available charged hose lines, supplied by hydrants, water tank trucks with pumps, or equivalent.
(4) Fixed firefighting equipment.
(a) Sprinkler protection.
(i) If the facility being constructed includes the installation of automatic sprinkler protection, the installation must closely follow the construction and be placed in service as soon as applicable laws permit following completion of each story.
(ii) During demolition or alterations, existing automatic sprinkler installations must be retained in service as long as reasonable. The operation of sprinkler control valves must be permitted only by properly authorized persons.
Note: | Modification of sprinkler systems to permit alterations or additional demolition should be expedited so that the automatic protection may be returned to service as quickly as possible. Sprinkler control valves must be checked daily at close of work to ascertain that the protection is in service. |
(b) Standpipes. In all structures in which standpipes are required, or where standpipes exist in structures being altered, they must be brought up as soon as applicable laws permit, and must be maintained as construction progresses in such a manner that they are always ready for fire protection use. The standpipes must be provided with Siamese fire department connections on the outside of the structure, at the street level, which must be conspicuously marked. There must be at least one standard hose outlet at each floor.
(5) Fire alarm devices.
(a) You must establish an alarm system, e.g., telephone system, siren, etc., whereby employees on the site and the local fire department can be alerted for an emergency.
(b) You must conspicuously post the alarm code and reporting instructions at phones and at employee entrances.
(6) Fire cutoffs.
(a) You must give fire walls and exit stairways, required for the completed buildings, construction priority. Fire doors, with automatic closing devices, must be hung on openings as soon as practical.
(b) Fire cutoffs must be retained in buildings undergoing alterations or demolition until operations necessitate their removal.
[Statutory Authority: RCW 49.17.010, 49.17.040, 49.17.050, 49.17.060. WSR 16-09-085, § 296-155-260, filed 4/19/16, effective 5/20/16. Statutory Authority: RCW 49.17.010, 49.17.040, 49.17.050, 49.17.060 and 29 C.F.R. 1910 Subpart Z. WSR 14-07-086, § 296-155-260, filed 3/18/14, effective 5/1/14. Statutory Authority: RCW 49.17.010, [49.17].040, and [49.17].050. WSR 01-23-060, § 296-155-260, filed 11/20/01, effective 12/1/01; WSR 01-11-038, § 296-155-260, filed 5/9/01, effective 9/1/01. Statutory Authority: Chapter 49.17 RCW. WSR 94-15-096 (Order 94-07), § 296-155-260, filed 7/20/94, effective 9/20/94. Statutory Authority: RCW 49.17.040 and 49.17.050. WSR 86-03-074 (Order 86-14), § 296-155-260, filed 1/21/86; Order 76-6, § 296-155-260, filed 3/1/76; Order 74-26, § 296-155-260, filed 5/7/74, effective 6/6/74.]