Properly maintained rated walls and floors protect evacuation routes from fire and smoke migration. Fire and smoke rated walls and floors maximize the window of evacuation time for your facility by containing an incident. Properly maintained rated walls and floors protect assets and critical areas from fire and smoke damage by containing an incident until it is controlled. Fire and smoke rated walls serve to protect operations from each other in large facilities, multi-tenant structures and public buildings.

Every facility has fire rated walls and floors that have been penetrated by tradesmen. Electrical, plumbing, HVAC, telecom, building operations and even sprinkler and alarm system installations go through fire rated walls and floors in your facility.

Firestopping is defined as the activity of properly repairing breaches (openings) made in rated fire and smoke walls and floors. In almost all cases, the required repairs are made with a tested system. Selection of a tested system takes into consideration the size and type of the opening and the penetrating item. The repair should be completed to restore the rating of the barrier. It is important to remember that all openings in fire rated construction should be repaired using a “tested system detail” or recipe to be fixed properly. Always ask for the TESTED SYSTEM DETAIL from the installing contractor when firestopping is involved.

Caulk or any firestop material alone IS NOT RATED. Only materials properly installed to the TESTED SYSTEM DESIGN are acceptable.

Firestop can take several forms, depending on the application:

Repair systems for a “through penetration”, such as a pipe going through a fire rated wall, can commonly consist of malleable materials that fill in gaps between conduits, wires, pipes, etc. and the walls, as they pass from one room to another.

Firestop can also be wraps or coverings designed to remain around the conduits, wires and pipes. Firestop materials are different from the caulk used to seal doors and windows. Firestop sealants are approved by a testing laboratory. They are proven to contain fire and smoke, if they are installed exactly as they were tested. Please read the tested system detail for proper installation instructions.

Firestops can be pre-formed putty or intumescent collars around plastic pipe (PVC), electrical sockets, switch boxes, etc. They can be fire-resistive joint systems used during construction to seal joints, and they can be designed to accommodate seismic movement, wind loads and thermal loads.

Firestop products become SYSTEMS when they are used in various combinations to achieve a specific safety goal. Each of the components used to form a system must meet specified design ratings from an independent organization, such as Underwriters Laboratories (UL) or the American Society of Testing and Materials (ASTM.)

Inspect, Inspect, Inspect

If you are responsible for facility safety, I strongly recommend you consider inspection and monitoring of fire and smoke rated construction. Basically there are four simple things you need to know and ask to assess your facility’s firestopping:

• Where are the rated walls and floors?

• Are the penetrations and top of wall sealed?

• If sealed, what tested system design was used for the repair?

• Does the repair match the tested system design detail?

Ultimately, the safety professional and his/her supervisor assume the direct responsibility for the safety of the building and the functioning of all safety systems, such as fire and smoke containment and installed firestop.

But how can you make sure that everything is functioning properly?

In the case of new construction, the process is well defined. The general contractor (GC) has liability until the building is handed over to the owner. GCs are very good about making sure all firestops are properly installed by their subcontractors (if it is included in their job specifications) and inspected at completion.

If not monitored, even your newly constructed building could come with unprotected openings in walls and floors. Due diligence at time of construction is critical to assure fire rated construction integrity. Make sure you ask for full submittal documentation from the contractor and that the installed tested system information is provided before you release the contractor from the job.

Existing construction always provides an unique challenge to the facility safety manager. Structures with installations older than 10 years rarely have any firestop in stalled and contain many unprotected wall and floor penetrations. In addition to the lack of firestopping from the past, older buildings have gone through many upgrades for telecom, mechanical systems, use changes and renovation.... and each activity modifies wall and floor integrity in a different way. A mixed bag of contractors, service professionals, maintenance staff and installers working in your buildings all need to be educated, monitored and held accountable for you to assure proper firestopping.

As with many safety program activities, a written Fire and Smoke Barrier Management Plan may be the best method for managing your barrier integrity issues.

As a safety professional, I look at managing fire and smoke barriers with the same methodology used in a simple Lock Out Tag Out program: If someone is opening or closing a rated wall or floor, we need to know about it. This can be accomplished by adopting a simple permit process, requiring Safety Office Approval, just as we do with electrical work. A check box added to your work order form and a paragraph holding contractors responsible should be added to your purchase documents.

Labeling of walls and floors on a clean set of drawings will greatly help standardize the process. Inventory and prioritize these areas. Consider that the higher the rating, the more safety the architect has designed into the structure. Just as safety professionals perform a Job Safety Analysis, they should look at wall repairs with a critical eye.