Safe Secure Magazine (June 2021)

Total Pages : 70 June 2021

Volume XII - Issue 06 - June 2021

Volume XII - Issue 06

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India is currently in the middle of a national response to COVID-19, with varying degrees of success in different states. If predictions from WHO, national agencies, and experts are to be believed, we are in it for the long haul. While the country is at it, the recent announcement of the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) of normal to above normal monsoon in June/July projections needs to be taken seriously; it is very likely that there will be severe water-related disasters in several parts of India after the onset of incoming monsoon. We are about to deal with and manage a double disaster. It also notes significant changes in the rainfall pattern, increase in the frequency of high intensity rainfall events, larger rise in sea levels and storm surges and coastal inundation. Of the different types of natural disasters, in India, hydrological disasters have the largest number of recorded instances and the highest mortality and damage costs.  Dual Challenges For a disaster management system that is already strained and stretched by a biological disaster, the forecast of above-normal monsoon paints a grim picture that of facing unprecedented, intertwined challenges of severe flooding along with the pandemic. This is because, at the onset of water-related disasters, people will be evacuated in large numbers to emergency shelters. Balancing the nature of facilities in such shelters while maintaining social distancing poses a challenge, especially when COVID-19 cases are seeing a resurgence. The frontline responders like health personnel, police, and civil administration, in both these disasters, are stretched thin.

Financial and administrative resources at the Centre, and in most states, are also already under severe strain. A large section of our citizenry, who are bearing the brunt of lockdown, are poor and will be battered if hit by yet another calamity.

June 2021

 Dual Management The disaster management plans and guidelines that are in place currently, however, are not designed to simultaneously manage biological and natural disasters.

The situation demands that the country must start preparing to manage dual disasters.

Further, we now know that states in India where local authorities were empowered were efficient, responsive and better managed the COVID-19 crisis. A dual disaster will have far more adverse effects, and identifying and insulating the vulnerable section must come as a priority. As detailed above, biological disaster response is led by the Centre, and flood related disaster is being led by the states. With the possibility of floods, we may witness role reversal in terms of management of response with the state leading and Centre assuming a supportive role by making necessary changes.

Under this possible dual disaster, federalism is about to be tested again.

Riddhi Trivedi

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* 5% GST Extra Applicable

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EXPERT TALK

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Dr. Rakesh Chaturvedi Deputy General Manager Fire Services Adaniports Special Economic Zone, Mundra.

CONTENT JUNE 2021

Mr. Hemant Khadse CEO, East Corp Group.

Fire Safety of High-Rise Buildings

 The Future: PFAS-Free Firefighting Foams 26  Security on the Edge: Thermal Technology can Now Provide Affordable Perimeter Protection 28  Make Faster and Better Traffic Management Decisions with Hikvision Traffic Visualization Dashboard  Prama Hikvision's Smart Healthcare Solutions with AI Empowered End-to-End Thermal Screening Ensures Security

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 Plenum, Riser, CM and LSZH Ratings Cables 37  Elevator Surveillance Guide

 ZKTeco Introducing Elegant & Cost-Effective Entrance Control System 10

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Have we Learnt from Recent Past Hospital Major Fire Incidents Occurred in India & Abroad? “Fight only with illnesses not with Fire”

 Is DSPA the Answer to your Knock Down Needs?

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 The Importance of Fire Doors for Creating Safe Buildings

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 Risk of Oxygen-Related Fires in Hospitals Treating Covid-19 Patients

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 Comfortable Work Boots for Construction Work: What You Must Know?

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 Challenges Small Businesses Face During the COVID-19 Pandemic

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 AI-Powered End-to-End Thermal Video Technology Solutions can Protect Businesses: Ashish P. Dhakan 58 June 2021 - www.visionmediahitech.com

EXPERT TALK

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Mrs. Sujal Shah Sheth

Mr. Niccky Rajput

Mr. Rakesh Sachdev

Director NewAge Fire Fighting Co. Ltd.

HSSEQ Country Manager Halliburton International Ventures Ltd.

Managing Director Acetech Technologies Pvt. Ltd.

Fire Hose Care and Maintenance

Hospital Fire and Safety

The Guide to Locker Management

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Hemant Parab Takes Over as the Chief Fire Officer Mumbai Fire Brigade Hemant Parab, an experienced Fire Officer serving the Mumbai Fire Brigade for the last 32 years is elevated as the Chief Fire Officer. The erstwhile CFO Kailash Hiwrale retired from the service on 31st May 2021. Hemant Parab, the newly appointed CFO MFB is from the new generation of fire officers having progressive outlook towards Fire Safety Management. His credentials speak loud from the accolades he has received from time to time in recognition of his outstanding work during emergency situations. He was awarded Municipal Commissioner’s Silver medal for successfully carrying out rescue work at the Lucky Compound, Mumbra. He is also the recipient of the commendatory certificate for the rescue work carried out at Laxmi Chhaya Building, Borivali. On academic front, he passed Grade 1 Fire E. Course in 1992 and has also cleared M 1 Fire E ( UK ) course in 1994. Continuing his endeavor to stay updated with Fire Safety Management techniques, he passed an Advance Diploma in Industrial Fire Safety in the year 2011.

MR. HEMANT PARAB Chief Fire Officer Mumbai Fire Brigade

On assuming charge as the Chief Fire Officer of Mumbai Fire Brigade, he mentioned that he and his team stay committed to the safety of the citizens with great valore and determination.

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EXPERT TALK

FIRE SAFETY

of High-Rise Buildings

Fire Safety of high-rise buildings has attracted extensive attention in recent past. There are many serious high-rise building fire accidents In metros like Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore resulting in catastrophic loss of human lives and properties occurred frequently in recent years. Compared to normal compartment fires, the fire behaviour in high-rise buildings has some inherent challenges, that includes: (1) The extensive use of external facade insulation materials; (2) Fire and smoke transfer due to complex building structures; (3) Building materials that adds fire hazard; (4) Human Evacuation.

In recent years, highly advanced techniques have been developed in the building external facade material industry. Exterior walls made of organic insulation materials, such as polystyrene and polyurethane, are widely used in high-rise buildings due to the demands for energy savings. However, flames can spread very quickly over their surface and produce large amounts of toxic products once these combustible insulation materials are ignited. Hence fire safety 12

issues of external facade insulation materials have become a major issue for high-rise buildings.

The existence of a stairwell, elevator shaft, Utility shafts or other special structure in the high-rise building could cause a stack effect and piston effect during the fire.

This will contribute significantly to the spread of fire and smoke. Smoke management is a critical element of fire and life safety design and the effect of the presence of a non-pressurized or fire protection lobby before entering the stair at each floor is important factor for the evaluation of risk of smoke spread in high-rise buildings.

Fire also brings threats to the structures of high-rise buildings. The fire can emerge from the broken window and will not be easily controlled.

Finally, human evacuation in high-rise buildings in case of fire also becomes a major safety issue because personnel evacuation behaviour in high-rise buildings shows complex multi-directional characteristics.

Familiarity with the building layout influences escape behaviours of the occupants.

The following major findings are reported from the report of British Research Establishment (2017): June 2021 - www.visionmediahitech.com

1. The aluminium panels and insulation were used in the facade.

2. There was a compartmentation problem, i.e., lack of fire doors.

3. The new windows were too narrow.

4. The cavity barriers were of insufficient size.

As tall buildings become more complex with dramatic changes in building envelope and materials, it is vital to consider fire safety implications of new buildings or other construction or refurbishment projects at the concept design stage. The following factors need to be considered for designing fire: • • • • • • •

Regulations compliance Fire detection and suppression Fire modelling, and risk assessments Heat transfer to the structure Materials fire rating Fire protection measures active and passive Smoke movement and smoke and heat exhaust ventilation systems • People movement and means of escape The main objective of fire safety design is to save lives, not to prevent collapse of buildings.

The primary objective is to reduce the potential for death or injury to the occupants of a building and others who may become involved, such as the fire and rescue services. It is also crucial to protect contents of the buildings and ensure that, as much as possible, the building can continue to function after the fire or that it can be repaired.

The fire can spread either through the exterior of the faca ̧ de or the interior gaps. To avoid the first route of spread, the material used in the faccade should have sufficient fire resistance.

The Main Design Strategies for High Rise Fire Safety are; • Prevention: controlling fire ignition.

• Warning: ensuring that the occupants are informed in the event of fire.

• Containment: fire should be contained to the smallest possible area.

• Evacuation: ensuring that the occupants of buildings and surrounding areas are able to move to places of safety; ensuring also that adequate means of escape and protection of escape routes are provided.

• Extinguishment: ensuring that fire can be extinguished quickly and with minimal consequential damage.

It is time we need to learn from accidents and build fire strategy while design planning. It is the mix of Processes, People and Products that can transform to safe building design. It is said, 'Fire is good servant but bad master'. If we learn to manage and contain fire, we can save lives and protect from High rise fires.

Mr. Hemant Khadse Therefore, in the event of an outbreak of fire, the load-bearing elements of a building should continue to function until all occupants have escaped, or been assisted to escape, from the building. In addition, to achieve this primary objective, effective compartmentation and evocation route, as well as other factors such as means of warning, should be guaranteed in the design.

June 2021 - www.safesecuremagazine.com

CEO, East Corp Group.

www.eastcorpgroup.com

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EXPERT TALK

Have we Learnt from Recent Past Hospital Major Fire Incidents Occurred in India & Abroad?

“Fight only with illnesses not with Fire”

The hospital fire safety has become life-threatening issue not only after COVID-19 pandemic strike but also it was before COVID-19 too. First we need to understand fire incidents before COVID-19 and after pandemic strike, what are the challenges for hospitals to meet the government fire safety requirements V/S their commitment to save human lives of huge COVID-19 patient with 100% utilisation of available resources.

This pandemic has added more hazards like increased volume of flammable liquids (Sanitizers), liquid oxygen gas, increased electrical load, stressed on life saving electrical equipment, HVAC/AC used in ICU and COVID patient wards (24x7x365 running of these critical equipment), huge number of visitors along with patient in hospital, compartment of beds with highly combustible synthetic curtains for isolation of COVID-19 patients, 14

Dr. Rakesh Chaturvedi Deputy General Manager/Fire Services Adaniports Special Economic Zone, Mundra.

each beds sanitation after new patient as well to maintain good hygiene condition too, sudden increased demand of health workers by compromising quality, training of health care workers compromised and high rate of change over of these health worker staff in every hospital.

I hope the readers will now be able to understand the challenges faced by hospital and health care worker & Management in COVID situations, probable causes of fire incidents are Alcohol vapour rich environment + Oxygen rich atmosphere + Over load or stretched use of 24x7x365 running of electrical equipment & HVAC/AC system + Confined atmosphere of ICU to ensure no infection to patient + insufficient air circulation = FIRE. Apart from above critical contributing factors poor housekeeping, storage of unused combustible material in stores, High fire load due to number of beds June 2021 - www.visionmediahitech.com

increased, combustible mattress with PVC covers, huge use of plastic material equipment increased for life saving, combustible interiors, use of fuel like LPG/PNG for cooking and other purpose, provision of kitchen inside hospital, pantry at each floor for making tea, oxygen gas compressor and huge storage of oxygen gas cylinders adjacent/inside building to hospital and smoking and arson.

Which leads back to back major hospital fire incidents and killed hundreds of COVID patients and non COVID patients in India & Abroad. My focus points will be what went wrong to these hospitals Fire Safety Management System, minimum required infrastructure and the outcomes of past fire incident investigations and recommendations to prevent same kind of incidents. Our memory is too short we forgot past and recent incidents easily, because these are very frequently happening, in my opinion all these fires are preventable, by adopting proactive and practical approaches like daily fire safety inspection with checklist by hospital staff, random visit of respective fire officer having audit skills and immediate corrective actions, 100% mandatory training to health care staff including doctors too and shall be documented. In such ways these fires in an incipient stages can avert loss of human lives and property.

A 2013 study published in the Journal of Clinical Anaesthesia concluded that "Fire happens with alarming frequency and potentially devastating consequences in hospitals around the world."

NFPA Journal summarized the study and global news reports that show how poor hospital fire safety leads to hundreds of deaths in Algeria, South Korea, Brazil, China, India, and Russia. Hospitals in the United States, however, are much safer. The most of the fire incident occurred in intensive Care Units mostly in air conditioners and other electrical equipment. The US fire departments respond to about 1,100 hospital fires annually, and the most current National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) data show that less than one death per year occurs in these fires. The reason for this exceptional safety record. The United States' strict adherence to and enforcement June 2021 - www.safesecuremagazine.com

of building and fire codes and standards. *All code references in this blog are from the most current editions of NFPA. However, The Centres for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) guidelines for healthcare facilities are still based on the 2012 edition of NFPA 101. The two primary codes that outline requirements for healthcare occupancies and hospital fire safety are NFPA 99: Health Care Facilities Code and NFPA 101: Life Safety Code.* This article explains how these documents define healthcare occupancies while providing an overview of the requirements that keep these facilities safe.

In Indian hospital fire safety context there is National Building Code rev- 2016 under these building are classified and BIS 12433 if hospital is having less than 30 number beds.

Now I want to take you to past case study from Feb 2010 to Nov 2019. HAVE WE LEARNT FROM FIRE INCIDENTS OCCURRED IN INDIA & ABROAD? The National Building Code- 2016 of India guidelines is basically followed with different building bye laws of state to ensure fire prevention and life safety of hospital in India and NABH standards to get certification of hospitals. If you go through last fire incident analytics started from Feb 2010 to Nov 2019 (Total 33 number fire incidents claim total 134 nos lives lost) out of them major disastrous hospital fires occurred, which leads heavy dead of patients. If we go through the study out of 33 number fire incidents: 07 nos occurred in private and 26 number in government hospitals, the causes of fire mostly were electrical short circuit/overloading/ overheating in AC or other electrical system.

The post COVID hit from March 2020 to April 2021 the number of hospital fire incident in India approx. 20 number fire incident and total 96 number people died ( 07 number Gujarat, 08 number Maharashtra, 02 Delhi, 01 Madhya Pradesh, 01 Odisha, 01 No Raipur). The above fire incident statics shows in last ten years 33 numbers entire world and last one year's 20 numbers in India, it means COVID-19 hit very severally to hospitals. In addition to one major hospital fire and explosion incident due to oxygen leakage killed 82 patients in COVID -19 hospital of Iraq, Bagdad.

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Room heater coil with parabolic reflector

Electrical Motor for driving the blower

Fig.6 Electrical component and wiring in a split air conditioner (AC) are potential fire sources

Fig.5 Indoor unit containing the motor to drive the fan

Fig.15 Exposed heater coil is a potential sources of fire: an unacceptable item in the intensive care unit.

FIRE STATISTICS ON AIRCON Breakdown of aircon fires Wiring near FCU 4.6%

Wiring near CU 5.6%

3.0% Isolator

42.6% 44.2% Condensing Unit (CU)

Fan Coil Unit (FCU)

Fires Incident Analysis done on Hospitals Worldwide: Root cause analysis and recommendations for their prevention from 2004 to 2010. (Before COVID-19).

First I would like to share fire incident analysis report whose outcome was based on Total 29 number of case studies done. Out of which 22 nos incident were taken from Indian hospital fire due to high potential fire and loss of lives, there was most of the fire related to electrical fire, 16 numbers air-condition fire, 02 number was oxygen gas cylinder leakage & 02 nos oxygen gas line leakage and only one fire was due to kitchen LPG gas cylinder. The major reason of deaths in such fire incidents is not only due to burning of people by fire but also the most of the casualties occurred 16

due to inhalation of dense smoke and toxic carbon monoxide gas and other gases.

The few outcomes of the above study and my vast experience in fire incident investigation were: 1. It is Hypothesised that oxygen (O2) enrichment of air, is primarily responsible for most of the fires, particularly in intensive care units, Indian hospitals need to make several changes in the arrangement of equipment and practice of handling O2 gas and electrical equipment, as well as create awareness among hospital staff, doctors, and administrators.

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2. Use of huge volume of liquid oxygen gas to treat COVID -19 patients and use of highly flammable alcohol based sanitizer, vapour trapping nearby by electrical equipment inside ICU rooms/OT and vapour trap inside HVAC ducts during re circulation of air & false celling. Where sources of ignition readily available electrical wiring.

3. Selection of wrong material of construction and rating of electrical wiring & incompetent electrical engineers for execution of projects as well as engaging same type of electrical engineers for due course repairs & maintenance for cost cutting measures.

4. Most common cause of fires were non availability or fail to operate electrical safety devices like ELCB/MCCB/ROBO as per define logic before short circuit or overload or over heating due to improper selection of rating as per equipment (100 MA instead of 30 MA). The temporary electrical connection might be one of the reason of electrical fire.

5. Non availability of electrical safety devices or no preventive inspection testing and maintenance of installed electrical safety device to ensure their trip mechanism or any injury to human and equipment damage and avoid fire incident or restrict the propagation of fire.

6. Huge storage of flammable liquids and haphazardly storage of reactive chemical without confirming compatibility of chemical and gases, which leads fire due to chemical chain reaction and spontaneous combustion. Storage of large quantity of edible oil for cooking purpose, high number of LPG gas cylinders inside or outside the kitchen and storage of other inflammable liquids diesel for DG set and petroleum products. We need to explore how we can reduce the quantity of these fuels as per weekly consumption to minimise fire load due to huge storage of fuels.

7. There are no early fire detection and alarm system in most of the hospitals and if available they are not in working condition. Early fire detection cum suppression system can be game changer to minimised loss of life and property (water sprinklers/Aerosol based system/clean agent gas for critical ICU/patience wards/IT server room/UPS/Battery/Generator room).

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8. The material of construction of electrical equipment like air conditioners are being made from combustible plastic for emergency saving are the main cause of fire due to dripping of melted plastic liquid and fall on other combustible material lead to speedy flames propagation.

9. No or improper smoke management system for immediate venting of deadly toxic CO gas which is main reason of fatalities and poor visibility due to dense smoke generation lead to panic in building occupants. There is very critical concern that most of the hospital buildings were not protected with passive fire protection system to restrict the spread of fire, minimised burning speed of combustibles materials and no provision of compartmentation.

10. Climatic condition are also contributing factors like in summer season extensive use of electrical equipment to get rid of hot weather and in winter use of heating equipment are the reason increasing fire incidents.

11. Last but not the least ARSON is the reason by setting owner property to claim insurance or escaping from business.

These fires are preventable and level of escalation or mortality rate can be eliminated or reduced: A. Fire Prevention, Performance Based Robust Building Infrastructure: The hospital building shall have robust structure inbuilt fire prevention, life safety, early fire detection and alert system, firefighting arrangements from planning, designing, construction as per occupancy defined in worldwide best practices for Fire prevention and life safety and National Building Code-2016 and various state building bye laws.

1. Building management system integration with early fire detection and alarm, occupants alert system, smoke management system, public announcement and fixed firefighting system especially for critical and vulnerable areas like ICU/patients wards/stores of flammable and combustible materials. There shall be provision of sufficient numbers of emergency escape routes, as per occupancy load and associated fire risks, glow in dark signage's for safe and speedy evacuation of building occupants.

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The display of evacuation plan floor wise and building plan layout displayed at ground floor to guide emergency response team to understand location of critical patients, ICU room for speedy rescue, storage of hazardous area like storage of LPG gas/Chemicals/ Flammable liquids/Radiation risk etc. with numbers of building occupants.

2. Mobile apps for Fire Safe Hospital directly connected to local fire brigade with one touch button with fire/other emergency as well to hospital staff, admitted patients, their relatives and nearby occupants too for immediate alert of any untoward incident of hospital.

3. The control of fuels and control of ignition sources to prevent fire and restrict spread of fire and smoke by Hazards Elimination - Substitution of Risk Engineering Control (Activation of electrical equipment trips mechanism based on electrical faults) - Administrative Control (Permit to work system) - Early gas leak and smoke detection Personnel Protective Equipment. For example LPG gas cylinder can be replaced either PNG pipeline to minimised fire and explosion risk or can be eliminated hazards by replacement with electric operated cooking devices. Identify the daily consumption of flammable liquids keep only 2 to 3 days stock inside hospital keep rest stock in remote location with sufficient fire protection system.

4. There are three most important philosophy for fire prevention are control of fuels (Combustible material, flammable liquids, flammable and explosive gas like LPG/PNG, other reactive chemicals & liquid oxygen gas, unsafe act and unsafe condition) and control of ignition sources (open flames, electrical power, smoking, static current and lightening, external sources last but not least surrounding risks, unsafe act and unsafe condition) & robust electrical wiring and trip mechanism & alternative Escape route for all patients.

5. Use of non-combustible or less combustible building construction material, interior decoration system, explore fire resistant plastic for air conditions and saving equipment like ventilators to avoid dripping effects after overheating or fire to restrict the fire within these equipment.

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6. Innovation need to explored by introducing fire prevention system like hypoxic environment which is mentioned in NBC-2016 specially in critical area like ICU, Patients wards, IT server/Battery/UPS rooms and other venerable areas.

7. Application of passive fire protection to minimised sense smoke generation in case of fire as well as compartmentation, smoke barriers, sealing of vertical electrical and utilities plumping shaft with fire barriers, sealant and fire retardant paint. The HVAC ducts and their support structure and opening shall be two hours fire resistant and opening shall be one hour's fire rating.

8. Robust smoke management system like exhaust fans, HVAC ducts, smoke barriers and vent pipe at roof top for smoke venting in case of fire situation.

B. Control of Ignition Sources: 1. Heated metallic parts due to friction, act as ignition sources, lubricating oil, grease, and insulation varnish, plastic and other polymers, dust particles, and metals such as aluminium, steel, and other, serve as fuel for fire.

2. To prevent fires regular inspection and maintenance of these electrical equipment which are running 24X7X365, alternative operation of equipment and thermography to identify HOT SPOTS. 3. It is suggested to explore reorientation of patient beds by increasing distance 4 to 5 metres between beds and electrical switches & other equipment to avoid fly or fall of spark due to short circuit or busting of capacitor of split AC due to overheating or dripping of plastics liquids from splits AC on combustible materials.

Or brain storming whether to go for central HVAC floorvise system with auto trip mechanism in case of fire detectors activated.

4. Explore ways and means to minimise the level of electrical stress on electrical equipment to avoid overloading, provide sufficient number of equipment which can be operated 12 hours only or if there are resources constraints give them 2 to 3 hours rest.

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C. Control of Fuels: (Electrical power, storage and use of combustible material and interiors decoration, liquid oxygen gas, flammable liquids and flammable & explosive gases like LPG/PNG).

1. Layout of electrical wirings should be performed by professional electricians. The connections made by twisting wires and wrapping insulating tapes (use terminal block connectors instead), haphazard layout, disregard of the colour codes for electrical wires, are problems of training and attitude of staff, and should be avoided so as to prevent fire.

2. To prevent electrical fire due to overheating thermography shall be done for identification of HOT spot inside electrical panels, cable joints on quarterly basis for rectification.

3. Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning (HVAC) system regular health check-up and schedule preventive maintenance and auto trips interlock with fire detection and alarm system.

4. The outdoor unit of the split AC should not be located just above or very near to the O2 control room, as O2 May be released to create fire in the outdoor unit.

5. The diesel generator (DG) set should not be located near the O2 control room, as unburnt fuel may form an explosive mixture with O2.

9. Oxygen enrichment of air inside a closed environment, which occurs due to leakage of O2 gas, is responsible for most hospital fires. Fire may be initiated in any equipment in the Vicinity of O2enriched air if there are ignition sources and easily ignitable material therein. Occasional sparks (which are otherwise harmless in ordinary air), heated electrical parts. To prevent such fire reorientation or layout plan need to be change to avoid close proximity of fuel and sources of ignition.

10. For power supply dry transformer shall be installed with mineral oil and in case of oil filled transformer nitrogen injection gas suppression or water spray system shall be provided oil capacity more than 2000 Litre or power generation capacity 10 MVA. 11. The air compressor room and vacuum room should not be located near the O2 control room.

Housing these rooms together in the same location as the O2 control room is unacceptable.

12. Oxygen and N2O pipelines should not pass unnecessarily through a pathology laboratory.

The number of joints in the O2 and N2O pipelines should be kept to a minimum and should be checked periodically for leakage.

13. Before installation, the O2 pipeline should be thoroughly cleaned, acid-washed, and alkaliwashed.

6. No flammable and explosive gas line shall be allowed in underground or basement or below hospital buildings.

14. Rinsed with hot water, and dried so that it is free of dust and oil (and grease), which are primarily.

7. Synthetic curtains were used for each patient beds, ICU, which need to be phase-out with fire retardant clothes. As immediate preventive action remove these all combustible curtains inside ICU/COVID-19 wards of hospital, later make phase-out plan for fire retardant curtain.

15. Responsible for initiating fire in the O2 control room and pipelines. The oxygen pipeline generates and Accumulates dust from the system. Oxygen pipelines and regulator should be cleaned and the non-metal Parts replaced by competent professionals at least once every two years.

8. A low-pressure alarm should be placed outside the O2 control room and after each isolation valve, to be used for isolating each hospital ward from the main O2 supply in case of fire. At least one portable O2 monitor (0-80%) should be procured and used by each hospital/ nursing home.

16. Substitution of material of construction for electrical equipment can be game changer for prevention of fire as well escalation too: Some materials are more suitable than others in the O2enriched environment. Polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE; "Teflon"), copper, copper alloys (eg, brass, bronze), nickel, nickel alloys, and thick stainless steel are safer materials.

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Most plastics, lubricating oil, soft solders, aluminium, carbon steel, and thin stainless steel are prone to fire in the O2 enriched environment. All aluminium components in the O2 line should be replaced by brass, bronze, or copper. PTFE is the best material for a seal, but PTFE tape must not be soaked in lubricating oil. If burnt, PTFE produces toxic fumes.

D. Early Detection of Fire and Alarm System & Fire Protection System: It is said the initial first five minutes of any fire incident dictates next five hours. There are two part of any fire emergency management one is time indirectly manageable and other one is time directly manageable. The growth of fire with time and escalation of fire without fire protected area and protected area. We need to selected very judiciously whether ICU/COVID -19 or Patience wards need to be protected with automatic water based fire suppression system, which might control the fire in an early stage but the other hand the life of ICU patient who are on life safety support system in threat due to any malfunction and discharge of water sprinklers. The challenge will be after exposure to water these lifesaving critical facility as well as critical equipment like ventilators and other equipment become out order then what will be the back plan to ensure critical patient life safety.

17. Housekeeping and preventive inspection & maintenance the key for fire prevention: All kinds of rusts, dust particles, and powders are potential sources of fire. Periodic maintenance of Electrical units should include cleaning of potential heating spots (or points that are likely to spark) from dusts. This cleaning should be done specifically to prevent fire as fine dusts are generally considered to be the biggest culprit in initiating fires (due to the availability of large surface area per unit mass and low bulk thermal conductivity).

Flashover

600oC

Fire Growth

Temperature

Unrestrained fire growth

Fire growth with automatic sprinkler

0 Ignition

1 Detection of fire

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3

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Report Dispatch turn out of fire

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6

7

8

Travel time

9

10

Minutes

Application of Set up extinguishing agent

Time varies Time indirectly manageable

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Time directly manageable

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2. Any commercial kitchen and cooking facilities in a medical facility must be protected with a hood and fire suppression system, which requires semi-annual inspections, testing, and maintenance. Additionally, the filters and exhaust ductwork that make up the hood system require regular cleaning the frequency of which is based on the amount of grease that is used in the cooking process.

3. Vehicle parking inside hospital area and smokers are also high potential fire risk. There shall be sufficient number of portable fire extinguishers for small parking; and for underground parking fire detection and alarm system with water sprinklers as per NBC 2016 guidelines. It will be better to avoid underground parking.

3. One initiative which will be boon for fire prevention that is online platform open to all visitors and healthcare staff for uploading unsafe act and unsafe condition of hospital which might lead to any fire incidents.

4. Roles and Responsibilities of each and every hospital staff and monthly Muster shall be prepared and post on each floor with define floor wise wardens (Fire, First Aider, and Rescue), incident commander and deputy incident commander, frequently wet drill with all credible emergency of hospital including ICU/Patient wards.

5. Internal fire safety audit and third party fire safety audit for system gas identification and bridging the system gaps. Tracking of previous audit recommendations compliances.

E. Fire Safety Audits, Capacity Building of Healthcare Staff & Evacuation Drill and Mock Drill: 1. Strict compliance of fire safety by law enforcement agency by setting examples for defaulters.

2. To ensure life safety of hospital staff, patient and visitors there shall be system to issue Life Passport which is having information about risk of hospital, emergency contact numbers, Do and Don'ts of

hospital, floor wise Evacuation plan as well as display on LED screen at strategic location in three language English, Hindi & Local languages.

The presence of mind and fire prevention and emergency response awareness to occupants in case of fire and smoke logged room or building can save lives. We are committed for the fight against COVID-19; but we need to be equally committed for prevention of fires too.

We are Deeply Saddened by the Loss.

He will be Truly Missed by the Fire Industry.

Shri. Sanjeev Bhatiani

1962-2021

May Lord Bless and Comfort his Family During this time of Grief.

Please Accept our Sincere Condolences.

June 2021 - www.safesecuremagazine.com

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EXPERT TALK

Fire Hose Care and Maintenance

Mrs. Sujal Shah Sheth Director NewAge Fire Fighting Co. Ltd.

NewAge® Fire Fighting Co. Ltd. is the largest and oldest manufacturer of fire fighting hoses in India and larger part of the continent. When fighting a fire, quality equipment is paramount to the safety of firefighters and the effectiveness of their firefighting efforts. One of the most important pieces of equipment is undeniably the fire hose. While fire hoses are durable, they aren’t invincible and still require proper care to work effectively. Without regular maintenance, mildew, UV rays, abrasions, and other damaging factors can weaken the hose. To keep your fire hose in quality shape and avoid detrimental equipment failures while out on the fire line, here are some tips on proper fire hose care and maintenance. minimize damage. When dragging the hose, avoid dragging it along the edge or fold, which will concentrate the abrasion on the outer jacket. It is advisable to drag the flat section of the hose on the ground so that the wear is evenly distributed across a larger surface area.

Tip 1 - PROPERLY USING YOUR FIRE HOSE

• Over and Above this, it is very important to be mindful of how you use the fire hose.

You must avoid using the hose above its rated working pressure. Surges in water pressure can damage the hose. It is advisable to use the hose at or below its rated working pressure and gradually raise the pressure inside the hose at a slow pace.

Tip 2 - CLEANING AND DRYING THE FIRE HOSE

• Biggest threat to the shelf life of any fire hose is abrasive surfaces. While using the fire hose, one should avoid dragging it on the ground whenever possible, especially over abrasive surfaces or sharp edges which would cut or tear the hose very easily.

• If you have to absolutely drag the hose without any option, you may use a tool such as a hose roller to 22

•

Unroll the fire hose on a clean surface and gently stretch it out to remove any kinks.

Thoroughly brush any dirt off of the hose using a clean dry brush with soft or medium June 2021 - www.visionmediahitech.com

bristles. Refrain from using a hard-bristled brush, power washer, or solvent when cleaning the hose, as doing so may damage its outer jacket.

•

If dirt can’t be completely brushed away or if the hose was exposed to hazardous materials such as gasoline or oil, it must be washed and decontaminated using an approved method for the contaminant. When washing the fire hose, use a low-pressure water source such as a garden hose.

•

Once properly washed, wipe dry hoses that are covered with rubber, nitrile, or other protective exteriors. If a hose doesn’t have a protective exterior, place it on a towel or rack to dry. When using a commercial hose dryer, make sure that the inside of the hose drains entirely. The hose should not be dried under intense sunlight or on hot pavements.

facilitate mold or mildew growth. At least once every three months, change the position of the hoses folded in storage to prevent damage.

Tip 4 - INSPECTING YOUR FIRE HOSE

•

Inspect the hose’s interior at each end. When doing so, pay special attention to any physical signs of liner delamination. When liner delamination occurs, the separated liner can clog the hose nozzle or block pumps, rendering the hose inoperable. To determine if a hose liner has separated from the hose jacket, reach inside the hose and try to pinch the liner. If the liner can be pinched, then the liner is delaminated. If you notice signs of liner delamination, the hose is deemed irreparable. It must be removed from service and condemned.

•

Carefully inspect the fire hose’s couplings. When doing so, keep an eye out for defects such as damaged threads, missing lugs, corrosion, loose external collar, improperly operating locking devices, slippage on the hose, and other defects that could potentially impair the hose’s operation.

When inspecting the hose, ensure that the service test of the hose is current.

•

If the hose doesn’t pass the physical inspection, it must be removed from service. Fortunately, many hose defects can be repaired. In cases of minor damage, the hose must receive necessary repairs and undergo a service test.

If the damage is irreparable, the hose must be condemned.

Tip 3 - STORING YOUR FIRE HOSE

•

Hoses should be stored in a clean, properly ventilated area, away from direct sunlight. Before placing them in storage, thoroughly drain all hoses to prevent mold or mildew from accumulating.

When preparing the hose for storage, make sure to roll the exposed male coupling threads inside the hose or cover them with protective caps to avoid damage.

•

When stored, allow plenty of room for the fire hose to breathe. Refrain from storing the fire hose in containers that create an air-tight storage environment such as plastic bags or shrink wrap.

Doing so traps moisture inside the hose, which may

June 2021 - www.safesecuremagazine.com

For more information visit: www.newage-india.in 23

EXPERT TALK

Hospital Fire and Safety

Mr. Niccky Rajput HSSEQ COUNTRY MANAGER Halliburton International Ventures Ltd.

Introduction: I am Niccky Rajput working with Health, Safety and Environment business from last 13+ years and currently working with a leading Oil and Gas service provider Halliburton offshore as a HSSEQ Country Manager India.

Hospital Fire and Safety has become a very important topic not only for the hospital but also for the govt, as such accident cause a wide spread panic among people and at the same time creates a law and order situation.

 Why We Need a Robust Fire and Safety for Hospital ?

Some of the worst fire accidents took place in India is in last 10 years has killed more than 250 patients who were either in intensive care unit and immobile due to their medical condition and that why a need for robust fire and safety for hospital is a must.

The most important element to prevent fire accidents is hospital is below : 24

Construction and Layout Design: The construction and layout design should not only include and satisfy the building code but it should also take lesson learned from all the previous fire accident happened and this will pave way to better design and layout.

As the hospital uses a variety of combustible substances, gases, heat dissipating equipment etc. a special attention needs to be paid while laying out all this spaces away so that during event of fire this can be contain fast.

Fire Safety Plan and Training: All the member of the hospital must be aware of a safety plan and action which needs to be taken during the event of fire break out. A periodical fire drill is required so as to make all the responsible party aware of their duties during an event of fire this also include doctors, nurses, ward attendant and security personnel.

Preventive Detection System: The first step towards preventing fire hazards is to detect the fire. Hospitals must have fire detection system such as heat detector, smoke detector, fire gas detector, flame detector etc. installed and in running conditions.

Prohibiting Smoking: Hospital Authorities must ban smoking inside the premises of the hospital and especially areas where combustibles things are kept. Signages and instruction of no smoking to be installed at respective location to ensure people understand that this is a no smoking zone.

Periodic Maintenance Schedule: Faulty wiring and equipment is major cause of fire inside the building and having periodic maintenance of electrical wiring and equipment becomes critical to prevent any outbreak of fire incident. The hospital should have a maintenance team who looks after the periodic maintenance of all the hospital electrical wiring and fittings.

Assurance Audit: There should be monthly and yearly audits of the fire system, equipment's, plan, training, etc. so as to ensure that hospital is up to date with their preventive and mitigation controls to deal with any type of fire emergency.

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Fluorogenic compounds are common in firefighting foams due to their performance-boosting effects. Some per-fluorinated substances are recognized as having adverse effects on our health and the environment. As a result, the manufacturers of firefighting foams are investing in the development of new, improved fluorine-free foam concentrates. A serious challenge since high-risk areas such as the chemical and petrochemical industry requires foams with the highest possible performance.

Today, manufacturers offer a new generation of highperforming fluorine-free foams for various applications.

PFAS- Free fire-fighting foams are being manufactured with the vision of choosing biodegradable substitutes and committing to environmental responsibility.

The FOAMTECH Solution…

Foamtech Fluorine Free Foamgenerally referred to as F3 or Green Foam is the most innovative, effective, and sustainable solution in fire suppression applications such as high-risk flammable liquid fires. Foamtech Fluorine Free Foam uses state-of-the-art Surface Active Technology.

Today's Environmental, Health and Safety concerns have given rise to the need for a Fluorine Free Foam, particularly for use where foam cannot be contained to prevent ground or water infiltration. Foamtech is proud to introduce Foamtech F3 Green Foam, the new "green" standard in foam fire suppression technology.

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The Future: PFAS-Free Firefighting Foams

Foamtech Fluorine Free Foam Concentrates with the most modem Surfactant chemistry in full range-Hydrocarbon & Alcohol-based Fire Extinguishing capabilities. The Green Foam is a Viable Alternative to Fluorinated Aqueous Film-Forming Foams based on synthetic foam technology that is completely free of all fluorinated compounds.

• • • •

High performance with minimal environmental impact Effective and efficient deal for high-risk situations Separate production line for fluorine-free foams F3 Green products are compatible with most of the UL listed equipment like Nozzles, Branches Foam pourer-Foam chamber, Variable-fixed portable-fixed inline inductors, Bladder tank, Full range of Monitors, Sprinkles, etc.

June 2021 - www.visionmediahitech.com

June 2021 - www.safesecuremagazine.com

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Security on the Edge: Thermal Technology can Now Provide Affordable Perimeter Protection It's true that every building has a different security need. There are various factors that can change this, not least the surrounding area that the building is in.

Imagine, for example, a place surrounded by thick foliage, fences or outlying buildings. Imagine also that there are no street lights in the area. All of these things make perimeter security harder, especially for traditional optical cameras that rely on line of sight and at least a low-level of light to spot intruders.

It's these scenarios that benefits greatly from another technology - thermal imaging.  Now Affordable and Accessible to SMB According to Inkwood Research, the Global Perimeter Security market will have grown to $38459 million by 2026. Companies are realizing that securing their perimeter, so often previously added as an 'afterthought', is increasingly important. The use of thermal technology has been traditionally for largescale projects, with technology prices being quite high. These days, however, manufacturers like Hikvision have brought costs down, making this technology accessible to a wider range of projects.

Smaller business and homeowners can now benefit from this extra layer of security, which gives more peace of mind, since intruders can be flagged even before they get to the front door. With modern convergence technologies now available, they can also link their thermal cameras to their alarm systems. This means that they can have a simple way to monitor the situation holistically, even through their mobile phones using an app.  See Through the Perimeter In a perimeter security situation the focus is on ensuring a person does not approach past a certain 'line' into an area. But this can be tricky, since it deals with an outside area, which is more likely to be out of the direct control of the home or business owner.

In this scenario, there are lots of places where potential intruders can lurk, behind fences and in dense shrubbery, for example. Traditional 'optical cameras alone would not be able to detect them. Thermal 28

technology, on the other hand, does not require any light at all. Since thermal sensors detect emissivity - the low-level radiation given off by all 'surfaces' at different levels - it can 'see through' obstacles like fences and bushes.

Another issue at the perimeter is that of distinguishing between a human trespasser and another object, which could set off a false alarm. Sometimes animals can be picked up, for example, or even branches and other non-human items. To counter this, Deep Learning technology can be used in combination with thermal imaging. It enhances video analytics to distinguish humans, thus reducing false alarms and the associated operating costs. When detection rules are triggered by a human being, for example, Line Crossing and Intrusion Detection, the camera can instantly raise an alarm to the operator. Some cameras can flash to deter the intruder away, or even give the operator the ability to give a warning through the built-in speaker.  Efficient Technology The effective nature of the technology mean fewer cameras are necessary to cover a perimeter. For instance, for a 50 meter range, a camera (for example a Hikvision HeatPro) can usually replace 2-3 optical security cameras.

This is partly due to the fact that object movement sensing capability is more accurate using thermal imaging in this way. Even when the target is at the edge of the detection range, thermal imaging can still sense the object movement accurately; while for video cameras, the object needs to get much closer for the sensor to detect it.

It's usually been the case that, as technology advances, it becomes more affordable and so accessible to more people. Security is no exception here, and Hikvision is at the cutting-edge of innovation, creating an effective perimeter security using thermal technology, for example.

This development has meant it's available to be used in smaller projects, at a lower cost. Now, small businesses, and even home owners, can reap the benefits of thermal technology protecting their perimeter and seeing the unseen, in the form of Hikvision HeatPro cameras.

For more information visit: www.hikvisionindia.com June 2021 - www.visionmediahitech.com

June 2021 - www.safesecuremagazine.com

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Make Faster and Better Traffic Management Decisions with Hikvision Traffic Visualization Dashboard

Submitted by Prama Hikvision In today's crowded cities, effective traffic management is critical for reducing congestion and preventing accidents. With the Hikvision Traffic Visualization Dashboard, traffic managers can view historical and real-time traffic information, helping them make the best decisions and improve outcomes for road users and residents.

 The Growing Traffic Management Challenge Cities around the world are experiencing major traffic management challenges related to congestion, air pollution, slow journey times, and increased road accidents. With 68% of people expected to live in cities by 2050 (compared to 55% today), and tough demands for sustainability and lower emissions, the challenges are set to increase exponentially.

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In an attempt to keep traffic flowing and to maximize road safety, many cities are investing in roadside infrastructure to monitor traffic conditions - including cameras and sensors at key junctions. However, with no way to convert vast quantities of traffic data into actionable insights, this kind of infrastructure can rarely support effective strategic and real-time traffic responses.

 Converting Traffic Data into Actionable Insights To help authorities overcome their immediate and longer-term traffic management challenges, Hikvision has created the Traffic Visualization Dashboard.

This integrates data from roadside cameras and sensors, and displays it to traffic management teams via an immersive, map-based interface.

With options to overlay historical and real-time traffic data on either a 2D or 3D map, it gives traffic managers fast, easy access to the information they June 2021 - www.visionmediahitech.com

need. The dashboard can also be customized quickly and easily, allowing teams to focus on the traffic information that is most important to them - from vehicle counting and congestion information, to traffic incidents and violations - such as drivers who break the speed limit, drive without their seat belts fastened, or run red lights.

Key benefits of the Traffic Visualization Dashboard

 Real-time incident responses and improved traffic violation management As well as helping to inform long-term traffic planning, the solution helps teams to identify and respond to traffic incidents and violations in near-real-time.

This helps to keep key corridors on the road network as clear as possible, helping to speed up journey times for road users.

 Optimized Traffic Management Decisions The Hikvision solution combines historical and realtime traffic data to help managers understand key traffic trends, helping them to make better planning decisions. In particular, the Traffic Visualization Dashboard can support better decisions on which kinds of traffic management policies and solutions to implement, from signal optimization, to access management solutions and congestion charging schemes.

By helping traffic managers to make better long-term planning decisions, the Traffic Visualization Dashboard can help to tackle traffic issues such as traffic congestion and other negative impacts of excessive traffic.

Key Features of the Hikvision Traffic Visualization Dashboard • Immersive 2D or 3D map-based interface for traffic insights ‘at a glance’ • Simple configuration for specific use cases including congestion management and traffic violation management

Photo Caption: 3D map-based dashboard showcasing traffic violation and traffic congestion insights

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Photo Caption: 3D map-based dashboard showcasing intersection statistics

 Actionable Traffic Insights ‘at a Glance’ The solution provides 2D and 3D map options that model junctions and traffic corridors accurately, and to scale. The map-based interface provides a fully immersive experience that allows traffic and incident managers to quickly spot congestion and to detect traffic incidents and violations in different areas of the city - all in a matter of seconds.

With no need to generate reports to understand real-time traffic conditions and ongoing traffic trends, managers can also make faster, better informed decisions - helping to optimize traffic flow and public safety.

For more information visit: www.hikvisionindia.com 33

Prama Hikvision's Smart Healthcare Solutions with AI Empowered End-to-End Thermal Screening Ensures Security Healthcare facilities like Hospitals, Special Healthcare Centers and Clinics have myriad and specialized protection requirements. What's more, they require security, safety and hygienic environment for the patients, doctors, nurses and paramedic staff. Hospital and healthcare authorities should consider a smart healthcare solution to address various security, safety and hygiene challenges effectively.

Specific Requirements: Hospitals and health care facilities are designed to be places of healing, recovery, and tranquillity. However, with high volumes of people constantly coming and going visitors, volunteers, patients, and others - maintaining smooth operations and responding quickly to emergency events are becoming more challenging.

Furthermore, recording the activities of hospital personnel, securing limited access areas, and keeping parking lots operating efficiently require intelligent technology. Some of the most common requirements for a hospital solution might include, ensuring around-the-clock safety for patients and staffs, quickly evaluating incidents for prompt event response, effectively managing access control and 34

attendance for critical and restricted areas and centralizing operations for all the various systems.

Smart Healthcare Solution: Prama Hikvision's Solution for Healthcare Facilities helps to answer to all of these concerns and more with its advanced technology, powerful cameras, and reliable recording devices. Everywhere from guard stations to intensive care units, Hikvision products powerfully assist and protect healthcare facilities and personnel, making both security and management for hospitals easier and more intelligent.

Temperature Screening and Face Mask Wearing Alert: In the ongoing pandemic crisis, innovative products and solutions like Temperature Screening Thermographic Cameras, Temperature Measurement Walk-Through Detector and MinMoe Face Recognition Terminal with Temperature Screening and Face Mask Wearing Alert, are helpful to manage large number of hospital staff, visitors, patients and doctors.

Hikvision Temperature Screening Solution, with multiple product types and wide range of applications, is designed for the detection of skin-surface temperatures so as to achieve rapid and safe preliminary screening in public June 2021 - www.visionmediahitech.com

areas with high efficiency in a multitude of scenarios.

These include Thermographic Cameras, MinMoe Terminals, Metal Detector Door, DeepinMind NVRs and Smart Onboard Terminals.

A complete hospital solution requires the synergy of a number of systems - video security, panic alarm, and access control systems, to name a few. Hikvision offers advanced and comprehensive solutions that fluidly integrate all the moving parts, making setup and daily operations much easier for your unique conditions. The solutions include following activities and requirements, reception to patient calling, Internal Calling System, Doctor Monitoring, Paging in clinic, 2nd Generation IP Video Intercom Solution, IP VDP Intercom Clinic Kit and Analog Video Intercom Solution.

Prama Hikvision's Smart Healthcare Security Solution covers Nurse Station to Patient Areas and other critical parts of the hospital.

Command and Control Room: It offers powerful and unified security management to ensure quick response to alarms with advanced alarm management function. It effectively helps to manage access control systems, including assigning permissions, managing user groups, and more. It also offers an intuitive dashboard showing the status of devices.

It further helps to set up automatic health inspections and receive notifications of errors.

Parking Lots: The parking solution helps efficient vehicle access management by reducing the labor costs with automatic vehicle entry by ANPR camera.

It helps to manage the vehicle flow and entry / exit records efficiently. It enables comprehensive monitoring for the entire parking lot with clear video both day and night.

Entrance Monitoring: It helps clear monitoring at all time by capturing sharp imaging at entrances even in high contrast conditions with WDR cameras.

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It uses people counting technology to record numbers of visitors for capacity control and optimized security.

Lobbies and Nurse Stations: It helps to enable emergency response to sudden events. The solution helps to detect and respond quickly to events, such as a patient falling, with intelligent cameras. It helps to efficiently display hospital floor map or health-related public announcement with digital signage. Clearly record all work and interaction at reception or nurse stations.

Pharmacies: All-around protection with multiple systems helps to keep Pharmacies safe and secure.

Strict and controlled access with face recognition terminals to ensure that only authorized persons can enter the premises. The solution keeps Video Log of all entry and exit records of the visitors. It monitors the indoor temperature and send alarm notifications if any temperature anomaly is found.

Doctor's Offices: The solution has compact video security cameras for routine monitoring. They record the daily work of doctors in case any medical arbitration is required. These cameras monitor offices during off-hours to ensure the safety of all information such as patients' clinical records or other medical information.

Patient Areas: Thoughtful and efficient care is ensured by the CCTV monitoring of patient areas. The patients are provided a panic button to call for help in case of emergency. They can communicate easily with audio intercom (public broadcasting also available) Corridors: Effective monitoring of all areas enhances healthcare security. It offers full view of the corridor without losing any detail with the specially-designed corridor monitoring mode (3:4 frame ratio). It helps to utilize intelligent cameras to monitor sudden events, enabling quick responses. These solutions are available in two categories of Healthcare facilities: Hospital Solutions and Clinic Solutions.

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Safety and Hygiene through Prama Hikvision Intercom (VDP) Solution: This solution can be used for Doctor to patient as an intercom (VDP) Solution. Further, it can be used for reception desk for patients. It can be used to effectively communicate between Nurse, Doctor and Patient in the Hospital.

DS-KD9613 is FRS unit, which is having FACE+BIOMETRIC+CARD access. Visitors either call to reception or patient room. After the visiting hours visitors can contact patients. It can help to maintain Social Distance in Hospitals and Health Centres.

Doctors, Nurses and other regular paramedical staff of the hospital can directly use facial recognition terminals for their touch free entry and attendance in the hospital.

EZVIZ Solutions for Healthcare: EZVIZ Camera can be installed in the isolation ward of each patient using Wi-Fi, Install EZVIZ app on the Doctor/ Hospital mobile/Laptop, add all cameras on the app with name of the cameras as patient name/id.

One can monitor patient remotely from anywhere whenever possible using mobile app. It can help to monitor the patient from Laptop/ computer also using EZVIZ studio, communicate with patient while using 2 way communication and enquire about his well-being.

The EZVIZ advantages include, Wi-Fi Connectivity on the go and wire free, it is very easy to install, it can be fitted on a table top or ceiling mounted according to requirement. Live View- EZVIZ cameras help to communicate with patients from Mobile or Laptop.

Two way talk- it helps to communicate with patient any convenient time without contact. In the times like these, physical verification of patients time and again increases risk for healthcare workers. It helps to monitor patients remotely from laptop/Mobile

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without meeting them physically at your own convenient time.

Healthcare professionals are at the forefront of the fight against the pandemic. However, healthcare professionals are in contact with the infected patients all the time and are at the risk of contracting it themselves. To overcome the challenges healthcare professionals should use the solution of two way talk through the EZVIZ camera, watching the patients while they are away. This solution can safeguard them from getting in contact with infected patients multiple times in a day. It can help to avoid the contact with potential patients, who come for diagnosis and testing. It can help to communicate with infected patients who are quarantined at home or remote locations. It can help in keeping a tab on a large number of patients without going on multiple rounds in the medical premises.

It can also help to avoid being in physical contact with other health workers.

Key Advantages: The key advantages include, property and personnel safety for all patients and staff, intelligent functions to help improve service and operations, effective, accurate access control for key areas like pharmacies and more and efficient and reliable device integration and management.

Prama Hikvision's Smart Healthcare Security Solution is specially designed for Hospitals and Clinics, it also brings the value added convenience, security and safety to the entire ecosystem.

For more information visit: www.hikvisionindia.com

June 2021 - www.visionmediahitech.com

Plenum, Riser, CM and LSZH Ratings Cables

by Arindam Bhadra

What are Plenum, Riser, CM and Low-Smoke Zero Halogen Ratings, and What are the differences between them?

Plenum (CMP) Rated Cable:  Complies with NFPA-262 and UL-910.  Allowed in spaces defined as "air plenums", such as raised flooring systems and air handling ducts.  Must self-extinguish and not reignite.  Produces less smoke (which is toxic) than traditional PVC cables.

Type FPLP power-limited fire alarm plenum cable is listed by the NEC as suitable for use in ducts, plenums and other space used for environmental air. All FPLP cables are listed as having adequate fire-resistant and low smoke-producing characteristics and must pass both UL test 1424 and UL tunnel test 910.

Riser (CMR) Rated Cable:  Complies with UL-1666.  Defined for usage in vertical tray applications, such as cable runs between floors, through cable risers and in elevator shafts; spaces that cannot be used for environmental air.  Must self-extinguish and must also prevent the flame from traveling up the cable in a vertical burn test.

Plenum rated cables can be used in Riser spaces, whereas Riser rated cables cannot be used in Plenum spaces.

Type FPLR power-limited fire alarm riser cable is listed as suitable for use in a vertical run in a shaft or from floor to floor. All FPLR cables are listed as having fire-resistant characteristics capable of preventing fire from traveling floor to floor. Riser cables must pass both UL test 1424 and the vertical riser flame test UL 1666.

Low Smoke Zero Halogen (LSZH) Rated Cable:  Used in shipboard applications and computer networking rooms where toxic or acrid smoke and fumes can injure people and/or harm equipment.  Examples of halogens include Fluorine, Chlorine, Bromine and Iodine.  These materials, when burned, produce acrid smoke that can cause harm to people and equipment.  Does not produce heavy black soot and smoke common with PVC cables.  Used mainly outside of the U.S.  Self extinguishes.  Does not pass UL-910 or UL-1666 for a Plenum or Riser rating.

General Purpose (CM, CMG, CMx) Rated Cable:  Complies with UL-1581 testing.  Will burn and partially self-extinguish.  Not for use between build floors and air plenum spaces.  Often used for workstation cable and patch cor.

Stranded Copper Conductor XLPE Insulation LSZH Bedding LSZH Sheath

Conductor Insulation Insulation Screen Copper Tape Screen (CTS) Filler Galvanized Steel Wire Armour (SWA)

CU/XLPE/PVC/SWA/PVC 6.35/11 kV 1/C BS 7835 June 2021 - www.safesecuremagazine.com

Type FPL power-limited fire alarm cable is listed by the NEC as suitable for general purpose fire alarm use.

All FPL cables are listed as being resistant to the spread of fire and must pass both UL test 1424 and vertical flame test UL 1581.

LPCB approved fire resistant cable standards:BS 7629-1:2008 BS 6387:2013 (Category CWZ) EN 50200:2006 (Class PH30) EN 50200:2006 Annex E (30 mins) BS 5839-1:2013 (Clause 26.2d Standard) 37

The Guide to Locker Management Although we have made considerable headway in ensuring efficient access to our premises via various access control systems and management software, locker management - that is, the efficient use of physical storage - is still a topic that several establishments would find themselves in need of re-visiting.  Why is it so?

Many workplace and public-use establishments make use of locking systems that are easily impregnable-you would by now be used to seeing the traditional padlock or combination locks still being used in public spaces.

Not only are these methods easy to breach, the culprits of any such breach are hard to trace-especially if those lockers aren't assigned to a specific person and are being used freely by multiple users.

Furthermore, as the number of lockers in an organisation increases, the amount of total administrative effort involved also rises significantly.

Locker owners change. Whether in public spaces like gyms, spas and recreation centres, or in workplaces where the flow of employees joining, moving within or leaving the firm can cause significant fluctuations, the amount of organisational and supervisory effort required from admin and facilities department is high. Add into this key management and the replacement for key theft/loss, and the need for an efficient management system becomes quite evident, if not dire.

Automation comes as a blessing to those struggling with this issue.

Automation and online management of lockers via smart locks can not only greatly simplify existing processes, it can add new processes or combinations of processes that were not achievable before.  Meeting Multiple Use-Cases The type of locking and locker system required would naturally depend on the specific needs of an organisation.

Let's go over a few locking mechanisms currently in place -

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MR. RAKESH SACHDEV Managing Director Acetech Technologies Pvt. Ltd. 1) Static/Fixed Lockers: These are lockers that have been assigned to one specific user, typically allocated to that user by a manager (manual allocation). The only way a static locker is made available again is if the allocation is removed by the administrator.

2) Dynamic Lockers: These lockers can be freely chosen and are automatically assigned to a user for one time use. No intervention in required in giving/revoking access.

3) Hot Locker: These lockers are not only dynamic, but a time restriction is also typically related to locker-use (For eg, a user can only hold a locker for a specific time period, or that all lockers unlock at a specific time).

4) Group Lockers: Multiple users make use of a single locker (allocation can be manual or automatic).

Professional organisations following a more traditional approach of fixed zones/workplaces tend to make use of Static lockers whereas public spaces necessitate the use of dynamic mechanisms since their audience is constantly changing. Hot lockers prevent the long term storage of any contraband/weapon or other illegal

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or sensitive information. Group Lockers can be relevant when the locker size is significant or when the same materials need to be accessed by multiple people in a team.

That being said, these applications shouldn't be put into neat little boxes.

Many workplaces also value the allocative efficiency and reduced efforts of using dynamic systems, while public spaces may require a certain number of lockers to be fixed for staff use.

The beauty of our modern locking systems is that any good product would typically allow you to use any or all of the above locking mechanisms in whichever manner, even simultaneously, if required.

The number of dynamic or fixed lockers, for instance, could then be dependent on the percentage of Employees vs Visitors in your building.  Reducing Administrative Effort and Time Having an online system naturally implies more information and greater control, with less effort for the Admin department.

Records of the locker status (available, in use, low battery etc), user rights and card number are maintained at all times. Allocation of lockers or release of this allocation; remotely opening lockers or viewing reports regarding locker usage are all possible with the system.

The ability to remotely give mass entry to all lockers becomes important in times of cleanings, inspections or searches - and requires much less effort than the traditional approach.

Assigned Mode

RFID

RFID

RFID

RFID

 Security Having your lockers be constantly online provides a strong layer of security. Any thefts are easy to identify as the last user can usually be traced. Furthermore, tampering alarms on the locks also exist to highlight any threat to the required authorities.

RFID

Suspicious activities or behaviours in usage of the locker can be further investigated based on usage logs. The access of a user card to any (or all) lockers can be permanently blocked by admin in an emergency or if the card has been misplaced or lost.

Pre-Assigned Mode

 Conclusion Choosing a locker management system is a decision with significant time, effort and efficiency consequences for all the stakeholders involved. Allowing for a comprehensive online system is therefore highly recommended.

Passtech locks is a brand carefully selected for distribution by Acetech Technologies that offers all the above mentioned features (and more) in their locker management solutions.

RFID

Multi User (Up to 8, Assigned mode only)

RFID

RFID

RFID

RFID

RFID RFID

RFID

RFID RFID

RFID

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Any locker management system is to be evaluated against three pillars (1) Its ability to provide a robust security solution (2) Its ability to automate processes and reduce effort (3) Its flexibility or ability to meet varying use cases.

• Electronic Locker Locks can be unlocked using PIN, RFID or Mobile phone • Easy management of Access rights for Administrator • Wireless locks for easy installation • Offline locks for small installation • Online locks for large number of lockers • Audit trail of locker usage with date & time

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By Arindam Bhadra

Elevator Surveillance Guide

of the elevator as well. Where aesthetics are the key concern, domes may not be preferred.

Corner Mount This type of mount places the camera in a roughly triangular housing made to cover one of the elevator's corners. Some are sold as unitized housing/camera packages, while other manufacturers sell housings meant to accept a box camera. Size and Appearance varies depending on manufacturer:

Installing surveillance in an elevator can be challenging. Small but wide areas, vandal resistance, and transmission methods all present challenges not found in other areas cameras are installed. In this note, we look at: • • • •

Form Factor: Box vs. Dome vs. Specialty Resolution: How much is necessary?

Transmission: Wired vs. Wireless vs. Laser methods Dealing with electrical contractors

 Form Factor The first decision to make when considering elevator cameras is form factor. Minidome and corner mount are the two most common options in use as they most compact compared to box, bullet, or full sized dome cameras. Other form factors, such as box or bullet may be more easily tampered with due to the low ceiling height of the elevators, and more easily knocked out of position.

Dome

Corner

Minidome The key advantage to minidomes is camera choice, as most manufacturers offer cameras in this form factor, with numerous resolution and lens options.

These options are not generally seen in corner mount cameras.

However, they are more obtrusive than many corner mount housings, and do not blend into the interior 40

They key drawback to corner mount cameras is limited availability. Most manufacturers do not offer corner mount options, and those that do typically only offer one or two models, with limited resolution and lens choices. Larger corner housings built for box cameras add more flexibility, but are larger and more obtrusive.

 Field of View/Resolution Given elevators' small size, generally under 10' wide, users typically choose to cover the full car instead of just the doors. This gives them not only the opportunity to view comings and goings, tracking subjects throughout a facitity, but to view potential incidents in the elevator, as well.

However, care should be taken that pixels per foot (PPF) does not drop below acceptable levels for recognition if no other cameras will provide facial shots of subjects, e.g. lobby and hallway cameras.

For example, using an actual 103° field of view from an elevator camera with Camera Calculator, we can see the difference between VGA, 720p, and 1080p in a typical 8x8' elevator. Estimating ~9' to target to reliably capture subjects as they enter through the elevator doors, 720p provides 56 PPF in this scene. This is likely enough to provide identification quality video under good lighting.

VGA provides only 28 PPF, too low for recognition, while 1080p provides 85, more than enough.

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?

Imager Size: 1/3" Camera Resolution

720p HD (1280 x 720)

Focal Length: Angle of View:

56 ppf

23' Wide

103

1.9

Distance to Target: 9

ft

Width at Target: 23

ft

mm

103 FoV: 103

PPF: 56

Imperial o

Select Scene

o

720p

Target is 9' away

Day - Ideal

Night

56 ppf away

9'

• Traveler cable • RF wireless • Optical laser Traveler Cable Connections between the elevator car and the machine room for power and signal are made via a specialized traveler cable. This cable is attached to the car, typically to the bottom, and to the top or center of the shaft. The construction of this cable varies, but it typically contains multiple twisted pair conductors for power and control, and possibly a UTP or coaxial cable for video.

Warning results may vary depending on light and camera

Mounting Height Since most people look down while walking, and criminals may actively avoid cameras, mounting height in elevators should be carefully considered for the best chance of capture. As we found cameras are typically best mounted as low as possible, with ~8' being a "sweet spot", better able to see those with heads down or hats on while also see over subjects beneath the camera.

This image shows cross-sections of various flat traveler cables:

This image shows the effects of mounting height and the subject's face angle, displaying the difference in capture quality at various mounting heights with the subject's face level as well as tilted down.

Object face tilted ~15-20O downwards

Camera Height = 10'

Camera Height = 7'

Camera Height = 5'

Object looking straight ahead

Signal Transmission Once the camera has been selected, installers must decide how signal will be carried from the elevator.

There are three typical options for this: June 2021 - www.safesecuremagazine.com

Generally speaking, since these cables are often attached to the top of the shaft, making the cable approximately twice the height of the shaft, UTP is not a usable solution for Ethernet. Buildings of 12-14 stories can easily have a 300' traveling cable, which exceeds the maximum distance category cables can be run, before even considering horizontal runs to an equipment room or IDF. In low-rise buildings, UTP may be an option, however. Fiber-optic and coaxial cables may be considered otherwise.

RF Wireless The second option is to opt for wireless connectivity, utilizing a pair of wireless APs between the car and bottom or top of shaft. Both are used in practice, with the bottom of the shaft generally chosen for easier servicing. In this case, local power must be obtained from the car, which may involve the elevator contractor. Power is readily available, however, due to lights and air conditioning installed in the car.

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Deploy Way 1

Deploy Way 2

Wireless eliminates the issue of necessary conductors in the traveler cable, but presents challenges of its own. Cables and Conduits located in the elevator shaft may cause interference, making wireless connectivity unreliable. Very narrow beam width antennas may be used to compensate for this, but antenna alignment must be carefully set and maintained over time.

Optical Wireless Optical wireless uses a pair of laser transceivers, one mounted to the car, the other in the shaft, to send/receive data. This is specified to handle elevator shafts up to 75 floors.

Optical product performance is degraded by dust, dirt, and other debris which may fall in the elevator shaft and as such should be cleaned regularly.

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 Dealing With Elevator Contractors Normally, most facilities maintain service contracts with an elevator contractor, since the elevator must undergo routine maintenance. These contractors may be difficult to deal with, as a number of users have shared. They are often hesitant to modify existing traveling cables for new services, simply because it complicates (however slightly) their routine maintenance of the elevator with a system outside their control. If the traveling cable is insufficient to add video, installing a new cable is, most times, cost prohibitive, and may remove the elevator from service for several days. Both of these add up to expenses users may not wish to incur.

To avoid the coordination and expense required to have the elevator vendor add video to a car, users and integrators may attempt to add their own cable to the car. There are two things to be aware of in this case: • Third parties attempting to modify the cable without the contractor's permission will void warranties and service contracts in most cases.

Even leaving existing cables alone and simply zip-tying a new UTP cable to it may be frowned upon.

• According to NEC code, hoistway cables must be listed for use in these applications, and be of type E. Standard UTP, fiber, and coaxial cables do not meet these requirements.

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www.zkteco.in

1. V5L[TI] Face & Palm Verication with Thermal Imaging Temperature Detection Features: • Visible Light Facial Recogni on • Be er hygiene with touchless biometric authen ca on, temperature detec on, and masked individual iden fica on • Thermal Imaging Temperature Detec on, 0.1s High-Speed Detec on, Measurement Distance of 30 - 120cm • An -spoofing algorithm against print a ack (laser, color, and B/W photos), videos a ack and 3D mask a ack • Mul ple Verifica on Methods: Face / Palm / Fingerprint / Password

2. MINITA Linux Based Time Attendance with Visible Light Facial Recognition Features: • • • • •

Visible Light Facial Recogni on An -spoofing algorithm against most of the color and B/W photos, videos a ack and 3D mask a ack 2.8-inch Touch Screen Supplement ligh ng with adjustable brightness Exquisite and Compact, Easy to install

3. MINIAC Linux Based Access Control & Time Attendance Terminal with Mask Detection Features: • • • • • •

Visible Light Facial Recogni on An -spoofing algorithm against print a ack Mul ple Verfica ons: Face / Palm / Card / Password Mul ple Card Modules: 125KHz ID card (EM)/ 13.56MHz IC card (MF) 3,000 face templates capacity Facial Recogni on with Mask Detec on

4. TDM95E USB BASED TEMPERATURE DETECTION MODULE Features: • • • •

USB Communica on Temperature Measurement Distance: 3cm to 5cm Temperature Measurement Range: 32.0°C to 42.9°C or 89.6°F to 109.22°F Devia on: ±0.3°C or ±0.54°F

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ZKTeco Introducing Elegant & Cost-Effective Entrance Control System The SBT2000S Series offers a single-lane swing barrier designed for smooth and quiet operation and draws very little power.

The width of the lane is 800mm. The default gate opening/closing time is 3 seconds. The sensitive infrared sensor installed at the bottom part of the gate could avoid accidental hurt by the moving barrier glass. Besides, during a power outage, users could simply push and open the gate then leave the area.

Features Reliability • A design for both disabled and nondisabled users • MCBF of 5-million times • Smart indicator modes representing the standby, successful verification and access denied status SBT2000S Series Specially Designed for Large Parcel Delivery and Users with Physical Disabilities Safety • Anti-collision • Barrier unlock automatically during a power outage • Fast and Straightforward card and fingerprint authentication 44

Specification

Model Operating Speed Boom Arm Length

SBT2011S RFID 10,000

SBT2022S RFID & FINGERPRINT 100,000 3,000

N/A 100,000

100,000

Controller Power Requirement

PGIC Controller AC 110V/220V, 50/60Hz

Sensor Cabinet Material Lid Material Barrier Material Support Operating Temperature Operating Humidity Working Environment Dimensions (L*W*H) Chassis Weight

Infrared Sensor Cold Rolled Sheet (Opt. SUS304 Stainless Steel) Acrylic Tempered Glass (Opt. Stainless Steel or acrylic) LED Indicator & Emergency Support 15°C to 60°C 20% to 93% (non - condensing) Indoor/ Outdoor (if sheltered ) 202*187*1109 (mm) 24KG June 2021 - www.visionmediahitech.com

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Is DSPA the Answer to your Knockdown Needs?

Aerosol generators have been around for some time, but the relatively new DSPA-5 knockdown tool could be the solution to a variety of issues currently being faced by various fire and rescue services in India, including: high rise apartment blocks; reducing water damage; safer working conditions for firefighters.

First introduced at an open demonstration hosted by Pune Fire department in 2012, the DSPA-5 is being closely monitored by a number of fire and rescue services in India, with Steel Authority India Ltd. Fire Service the latest brigade to test it at their Fire Training Unit.

The DSPA-5 is a hand held, grenade-like device that is activated manually by a sharp tug on the detonator. The firefighter then has around eight seconds to throw the device towards the seat of the fire, either through an open door or window. There is no need for the firefighter to enter the structure. This activation converts the solid material in the canister into an aerosol that floods the compartment. The compound consists mainly of potassium-based particles, which are non-toxic, non-conductive and non-corrosive. They are harmless to humans and animals and environmentally friendly; so there are no issues with clearing away afterwards and disposing of the used canisters.

Any subsequent fire investigation is not compromised.

The compound acts by interrupting the chemical reaction that causes the flames. By removing the flames the temperature in the compartment is dramatically reduced, so making it safer for the firefighters to enter the structure to attack the fire. On the

After the pin is removed from the starter, the device will make a clicking sound. The DSPA-5 is now activated and will start producing aerosol after a delay of 6 to 8 seconds. The DSPA-5 will produce all its aerosol within 40 seconds. Always throw the DSPA5 directly inside the room without any hesitation! Keep 48

downside, however, is the lack of visibility once the DSPA-5 has been activated. This can be overcome by the use of thermal imaging cameras.

Trained fire fighters and first responders need to evaluate and judge the situation carefully before deciding if the DSPA-5 can be deployed. If a room is properly closed (preventing aerosol loss), the more effective the DSPA-5 will be.

Activation of the DSPA-5 has been made very simple for any fire person to use it : Bend the far ends of the pins straight, like displayed down below:

a safe distance considering the temperature build up around the DSPA-5. Close the room immediately after deployment.

Frans Vogelzangs, CEO of DSPA b.v., the Netherlands manufacturer for the DSPA products, explains, June 2021 - www.visionmediahitech.com

“At the test at Cheshire's headquarters, a fire attack container was loaded with a crib filled with wood, then two walls and the ceiling lined with plywood. The crib was lit and the fire allowed to develop to over 700°C. A DSPA-5 was deployed and left to do its work for approximately 45 seconds. “With the aid of their thermal imaging camera the crew then approached the container to attack the fire. Once in the compartment it was noticeable that the temperature had reduced considerably and, with the aid of the camera, they could locate and fully extinguish the remaining hotspots.

Very little water was required.”

In general, one DSPA-5 can be used to fight fires in rooms of which the size is depending on unit of choice considering there are no big (ventilation) holes or openings. After activation, the aerosol will be released within 6-8 seconds. In a properly sealed room, the aerosol stays airborne for a considerable amount of time (up to 30 mins). As time progresses, the aerosol particles will slowly precipitate or disappear through small cracks and holes. The speed in which this happens, depends on the size and quantity of these openings.

The nature of the aerosol generator restricts the type of fires for which it is appropriate. “We see the DSPA-5 as being a valuable tool for attacking fires in compartments such as basements and high rise residential blocks,” says Frans.

"The independent report from Chiltern highlighted the manner in which the DSPA compound contained the fire spread so buying valuable time for the firefighters. In various parts across India, they have a real problem with accessing water in the rural areas, so they see the DSPA-5 as a valuable tool to enable them to utilise the water much more efficiently and effectively,” says Frans.

“We also see the unit as a potential defence against fires on sites where there are extremely narrow lanes thus restricting the movement of fire vehicles at the scene of fire. For these situations DSPA-5 knockdown tool can be extremely effective. The best part is it is additive in nature so you can deploy multiple units into the fire and it will do the job” DSPA-5 demonstrations were recently carried out for the Indian railways.

Frans says, “We are delighted to have partnered with various reputed distributors throughout India for the distribution of the DSPA-5 device. They have a proven track record in supplying to the various fire and rescue services pan India and the DSPA-5 fits in with their product portfolio.”

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When fighting fully developed fires, which can result in flashovers or backdrafts, DSPA-5 will knock down the flames and drop the temperature quickly and efficiently to a manageable level.

For firefighters this means that the safety when performing an indoor attack will be increased significantly.

For more information visit: www.dspa.nl 49

The Importance of Fire Doors for

Creating Safe Buildings  Door Leaf  Frame / Lining  Intumescent Seals  Smoke Seals*  Latch or Lock

 Hinges  Door Closer*  Signage*  Other Ironmongery*  Fire Door Glazing*

 Frame / Wall sealing  Threshold Seals*  Installation  Regular Inspection & Maintenance  Air Transfer grille (ATG)* *if required

Building design today has been significantly shaped by fire safety considerations. Architects today are familiar with the wide range of code requirements for a building to be compliant, from materials, to fire extinguisher locations, to fire-rated walls and doors. As buildings have become better-equipped to withstand fire emergencies, however, modern life has simultaneously increased the amount of fire hazards we live with.

As per survey there was a civilian fire death every 2 hours and 24 minutes, taking almost 3,000 lives in total and additionally costing huge loss in property. One of the problems is that modern-day fires progress more quickly due to the prevalence of synthetic materials in the home. According to Laboratories research, inhabitants 30 years ago had 14-17 minutes to escape a house fire, on average. Today, it's closer to 2-3 minutes.

A small flame can become life-threatening in as little as 30 seconds, and it can take less than five minutes for a fire to engulf an entire property.

Like people, fires use doors to reach different areas of a building. While it can burn through walls (especially if not firerated), fire will naturally take the path of least resistance, which is most often a door. If the doors themselves are not fireproof, they can even contribute to the strength and spread of a fire.

Fire doors, doors with a specified fire-resistance rating, can help contain fires to one room or part of a building and slow the spread of the fire, which allows more time for firefighters to arrive and occupants to escape.

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Of course, this only works if every component is fire-rated and third-partyapproved to resist fire. All components of an entry system, including the doors, closers, hinges, locks, intumescent seals, panic hardware, hold-opens, and free-swing devices and signage, should all be specified by an expert and officially approved.

None of this will effectively stop fire spread, however, if the door itself is left open.

Just as fire doors are an obstacle for fires spreading from one part of a building to another, they can sometimes also be an obstacle for people trying to get from one part of the building to another. This can lead a building's inhabitants to find an informal solution to keep the door open and their access unrestricted, such as wedging it open with a piece of wood or cardboard. Therefore, for fire doors to be effective, they must be easy to use and not restrict access for those in the building.

Additionally from a legal perspective, if a facility wedges a fire door open, they could invalidate their insurance or even suffer criminal penalties. Modern fire door models have features that allow the door June 2021 - www.visionmediahitech.com

to remain open, but automatically close in an emergency. An inbuilt fire and smoke detector can be connected to the building's central system, activating the door closer the moment the alarm goes off. This way, the fire door can save lives in an emergency without creating a hindrance in day-to-day life. Fire Doors can naturally be heavy if this is not mitigated, which is one reason inhabitants may try to hold the door open. An adjustable powered closer is an additional way to fine-tune the closing force to the exact requirements while also minimizing the opening force. While technology is helpful, education of the building's inhabitants is also a piece of the puzzle. Some fire doors will include a sticker stating that they must remain closed for fire safety, a simple but important reminder for those using the building.

Fire Doors are one of the most important elements in slowing fire spread for large buildings and complexes, from office buildings to multi-family applications and more. Various other aspects of

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a building may also increase its risks in the case of a fire event.

For example, healthcare environments like hospitals and retirement communities have a higher occurrence of mobility challenges to consider in terms of exiting. Also, depending on what else is housed in the building, such as flammable storage, the fire could catch and spread more quickly.

In each of these instances, fire doors and closers are crucial in slowing the spread of fire. For specific door and door hardware needs, it can be best to work with an expert consultant through the planning process to ensure all the necessary requirements are understood as early as possible.

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It's intended to raise awareness of risks associated with oxygen-rich environments in hospitals due to intensified use of oxygen therapy.

The pandemic has created a high reliance on providing supplemental oxygen to extremely ill patients to combat severe effects of the disease. It is important for hospitals to be fully prepared for the elevated risk of fire associated with oxygen-rich environments, particularly in intensive care units where several oxygen ventilation units may be in operation.

Risks associated with oxygen-rich environments Oxygen is essential to life and generally makes up about 21% of the gases in the air we breathe. Many users may not be aware of hazards associated with oxygen-enriched atmospheres.

However, chemists and process safety specialists recognize its hazardous aspects in relation to its contribution to corrosion and its role in chemical reactions. Pure oxygen reacts with common materials such as oil and grease to cause fires, and even explosions, when released at high pressures.

A leaking valve or hose, and openings at interfaces of masks and tubes, when in a confined space or where air circulation is low, can quickly increase the oxygen concentration to a dangerous level. Even a small increase in the oxygen level in the air to 24% can create a fire hazard. In an oxygen-enriched environment, materials become easier to ignite and fires will burn hotter and more fiercely than in normal air. There is also a potentially heightened risk of using ethanol-based and organic solvents as cleaning agents in oxygen rich atmospheres. Ignition can come from gas velocity, friction, adiabatic heat, and contamination, and can be generated by the oxygen devices themselves (through improper handling or design) but also by the external environment. Notably, six 52

Risk of Oxygen-Related Fires in Hospitals Treating Covid-19 Patients

incidents of fires in Covid ICUs have been reported as attributable to electrical faults and some reports have quoted witnesses as being overwhelmed very quickly by the rapid spread of the fire. The ease of ignition and rapid escalation are typical signs that an oxygen rich atmosphere is involved. The rising incidence of fires in Covid 19 hospitals Fires involving medical oxygen are not a new phenomenon but are more common in the operating theatre where oxygen is routinely administered. In these settings, strict safety protocols are normally enforced and surgical staff are well trained in dealing with oxygen hazards. Moreover, they involve only one oxygen ventilation unit and the oxygen-rich environment is concentrated around the face of the patient. However, recently, the Covid 19 pandemic has necessitated increasing oxygen ventilators available in intensive care units. This has led to an increased electrical demand in the ICU, which in some cases may have overloaded the electrical supply systems. It has also meant that, due to the increased number of oxygen ventilators, that the oxygen concentration is more readily elevated.

Given that infectious units have a low air exchange rate with the outside environment by design, the potential for a dangerous oxygen rich environment is increased. While the most deadly fires have been associated with intensive care units,

there have also been at least two incidents of fires in storage rooms where oxygen tanks are held. In one case, more than 150 patients were evacuated from a dormitory that was being used as a temporary coronavirus hospital because of a fire in the oxygen storage room that spread to the rest of the building.

An increased use of oxygen can create elevated risk in the oxygen delivery system and storage locations if conditions and practices are not wellsuited to meet the higher demand.

Preventing and preparing for oxygeninduced hospital fires currently working on recommendations for applying more rigorous risk management approaches. In particular, it will recommend borrowing strategies developed for chemical process safety to manage flammable and explosive atmospheres, so that there is no possibility of ignition when such hazards are present. Management procedures need to involve the whole of the management chain including not only medical and nursing staff, but also housekeeping, cleaning, electrical maintenance and other technical departments. Furthermore, emergency preparedness should take into account potential intensive care unit fires, incorporating necessary measures for reducing impacts including response equipment, training of staff, and planning for the practical and psychological needs of recovery.

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Comfortable Work Boots for Construction Work: What You Must Know?

In the construction industry, it is important to wear proper foot protection i.e. work boots that have been approved by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) to protect you against hazards in the work zone. As a construction worker, work boots can impact one's productivity either positively or negatively because the work boots are worn to our feet which support our entire body weight; if the work boots do not fit correctly to our feet, support our movement, and fit well to the kind of job under execution, then we are bound to tire out early; and vice-versa. Wearing work boots that are not comfortable for construction does not stop at impacting construction employee's productivity, it causes lower back pain, shin splints, and plantar fasciitis among other health issues.  How do I Recognize a Standard Work Boot ?

Standard work boots will have an ANSI label inside it. The label will identify the level of protection offered by the work boot for impact, compression, penetration, and electric shock. Through that label, it becomes easy to identify the right work boots for the right job.  Features of Safety Boots for Concrete Work At the mention of construction work, the first construction material that comes to mind is "concrete" because it is the most widely used construction material in the construction industry. However, the construction industry also involves carpentry and ironwork/welding which we will look at in the later subsections.Concrete floors are among the harshest surfaces to work on because they are completely solid and hard. When a construction worker is looking to get a comfortable work boot for concrete work, the boot should have: 1. Orthotic Insoles with wonderful Arch & Heel Support Working on a construction surface involves moving to and fro on a very hard surface without some padding, such a movement causes fatigue to the feet.

A work boot should have an insole that allows employees to stand on their feet longer, reduce muscle fatigue in feet and legs, and allow a high level of comfort. It is better when the insole is removable so that it can be easily replaced when due.

2. Rubber Outsole with the Ethylene-Vinyl Acetate (EVA) Traction Tred A dull concrete surface is slip-resistant but concrete surfaces become slippery with snow and mud or any other contaminate on it. Worn concrete surfaces also increase slipperiness. Work boot with a strong rubber outsole and traction improve slip resistance, so, it becomes easy to grip moist floors and walk on slippery surfaces without having to fear the potential of taking a fall.

3. Compression Pads Lots of stress is associated with getting construction work done. The compression pad absorbs stress, shock and provides comfort to the metatarsal heads, thereby helping the wearer to improve productivity.

4. Tough Full-grain Waxed Leather During concrete works such as chipping, drilling, and cutting of concrete, the concrete particles can irritate the skin or mix with sweat coming out from the skin to form a caustic solution that burns the skin. High quality leather offers the feet extra comfort and protection against small falling objects and stays strong against a demanding work environment, thereby prolonging the lifespan of the boots. Also, waxed leathers offer resistance against water and other liquids, and they are easy to clean.

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5. Breathability Working on concrete for a long period (about 8 hours) in a very harsh environment can make your feet sweaty and make the inside of your boot smelly. Work boots with mesh lining and design to allow air to pass through it can alleviate the smell. How? The material will allow air to pass through it to cool your feet all day thereby preventing the boots from smelling. Also, breathable boots are easy to dry after they have been washed.

6. Toe Protection A construction employee working/ walking on a concrete slab can accidentally hit his/her foot on rebars that stick out of the concrete slab. A comfortable work boot should have a steel, aluminum or Thermoplastic Polyurethane (TPU) reinforcement in the toe to offer lasting protection to the foot.

7. Lightweight Working on concrete involves standing or walking around for a long time. Hence, it is important to avoid heavy work boots. Work boots made from lightweight materials bring a lot of comfort to the wearer which prevents the wearer from having sore feet among other lower body pains. It also allows easy, comfortable, and quicker movements.

8. Puncture Resistance Construction workers are faced with the hazard of being impaled on rebar sticking out of concrete slabs.

Under foot safety is important to keep the feet of construction workers safe from sharp and heavy objects while working/walking on concrete.

9. Insulation Working on concrete might involves working outdoors, which can be in very cold weather conditions. It is better to have work boots with a fitted topline that snugs the calf to protect the feet against cold temperatures.

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Challenges Small Businesses Face During the COVID-19 Pandemic Due to the pandemic, some businesses have had to decrease the number of employees through layoffs, furloughs or changing the hours of operations. These business changes will have an immediate impact on the business' operations as it is trying to compensate with less employees.

In addition, local economies suffer from this as well.

Since March 2020, small businesses have had to adapt to facing new challenges caused coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic in addition to pre-existing challenges that every company must face to survive. Small businesses across the globe have followed government issues in the midst of this pandemic. Local businesses have had to shut their doors for a period of time, apply new social distancing methods, and adapting to work from home orders until further notice. COVID-19's challenges magnify pre-existing business challenges with competition, supply chains, etc. Nevertheless, small businesses have remained resilient and have taken these challenges head on despite decreased demand.

This article will address five major challenges and how companies can identify, overcome, and adapt to these challenges during the COVID crisis. Understanding and identifying these challenges will allow companies to reflect and adapt to the situation.

Identifying these challenges early on will allow owners and managers to reformulate and strategize business operations. These are not cure all solutions but recognizing and anticipating new challenges is half the battle as we move further along. The five largest challenges facing small businesses today revolve around five themes: money management, client dependence, work-life balance and fatigue, switching to online platforms, and government regulations pertaining to the pandemic.

Small business owners must be able to identify and address these challenges in order to persevere.

 Challenge 1: Money Management: This is the most common problem and biggest challenge for any small business is money management. Whether the business is starting up, going through a growth spurt, or in decline, the question is do I have enough to pay the bills or enough for future. Making sure to have enough cash flow to pay the bills is so vital and a constant challenge for owners and managers in determining the company's needs presently and for future growth. COVID-19 has magnified that challenge further as many of us have closed our doors for business. Balancing the budget and being able to pay the bills have resulted from either decreasing cost of operations or promoting and relying on alternative ways for revenue.

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The Small Business Administration (SBA) has helped provided assistance to help businesses. The federal government implemented the Act, provided small business loans with funds to keep up with payroll and operational expenses. However, this program has been on pause due to the lack of funds.

The next steps in Congress will need to provide additional funds in order to support these programs further.

 Challenge 2: Client Dependence Similar to money management, understanding your base clientele addresses a lot of what the business goals are and should be moving forward. Whether you are a top-tier restaurant, a sports facility, or any other small business, understanding your client base is so vital and will be able to help expand toward other areas.

Being dependent on one demographic can have consequences toward long-term growth depending on the company's operations and what it produces. The question is what can the business do to cater to other groups while remaining loyal to its base? Like maintaining your base, do you have enough supply lines to keep production going in case one of your suppliers is out of commission? Although these are basic questions to starting a base, they are still applicable to this pandemic continues to impact various sectors and industries.

 Challenge 3: Going Digital Going digital has been a new trend for small businesses over recent months as a way to attract a larger audience. It is not a cure-all solution, but still an effective marketing strategy. It takes time and funds to build up an audience. Social media apps, newsletters, and June 2021 - www.visionmediahitech.com

customer subscriptions can ameliorate that establishment period while keeping customers informed on new updates.

Switching to e-commerce areas or online stores in another way to advertise their products and using social media to develop a new or extended customer base. Having a social media presence is valuable and almost a prerequisite as companies are making the switch over. It is possible to do simultaneously but it requires a lot of knowledge and strategizing. For some, this will be the company's first experience with building up an online brand and developing a new base for customers to interact.

 Challenge 4: Establishing a Work from Home - Life Balance The United States and countries across the world implemented a work from home strategy.

Working remotely versus working from home are similar but have different connotations and duration. The former was practiced to a certain extent as some business needs change and flow and how flexible employees can work.

The latter is more of a new experience, a phenomenon that has remained long-term for the time being. It is difficult to establish such a balance as priorities have shifted because some people are at home working while taking care of personal obligations such as children, elderly, etc. For some, it is difficult to establish boundaries and priorities between business and personal obligations. Balancing these obligations as well as individual mental health levels is a constant challenge.

Everything and everyone have largely gone digital from students learning to their parents working on assignments from home. One of the challenges is establishing a healthy worklife balance despite the two environments (home and work) reside in one location, the home. For some people, it is difficult to come up with strategies to deal with the mental fatigue as some people are taking care of loved ones while working from home.

Balancing the environment to what business needs are required and what you can or must do to take care of loved one's needs is a challenge in of itself for employees and employers alike.

With fatigue and low morale as an ongoing individual for employers and employees, it is June 2021 - www.safesecuremagazine.com

important to stay connected. Zoom, Google Hangouts, Skype, and other video chat applications have been used in order to keep the team organized and in communication with one another. The probability for individuals to feeling burnt out is being reinforced by negative attitudes, feelings of hopelessness, and uncertainty. It is important to take time off or establish a period to recharge.

 Challenge 5: Stay the Course on COVID The COVID-19 pandemic has brought further changes as companies and businesses have had to reorganize and create new strategies.

The pandemic's impact will continue to play a part of this new normal.

The goal is to stay the course through this pandemic through following recommendations from all levels of government as well as from the Center for Disease Control (CDC) and using those requirements and even going further to protect the company from unintended consequences like business liabilities from the virus.

Government regulations and governmental assistance remain a large challenge as companies are working to stay open. New government regulations from all levels have focused on fighting the pandemic.

At first, the effort was directed at flattening the curve and early social distancing. After six months, we are still in that fight as COVID cases have shown to ebb and flow over these several months domestically and abroad. Businesses have been adapting to social distancing guidelines recommended by the Center for Disease Control (CDC), following state and local regulations as well. It is essential to keep following those procedures in order to assist in flattening the curve as companies begin to start reopening in any capacity. The most difficult part of these regulations is to commit to these recommendations despite such uncertainty and as these regulations can seem to conflict with one another.

 Conclusion: In addition to existing problems that small businesses face, the coronavirus pandemic has launched a lot of new challenges that companies are developing. Existing issues like money management during a period of decreased demand, work-life balance, client base have been exacerbated by this period of uncertainty. As you may have noticed, these challenges tend overlap one another. It is important that businesses recognize and identify these challenges early in order to strategize and reevaluate other options.

Under the government, they had provided small business loans to companies across the country. As government is working toward putting together a new pandemic relief package, it is important to remain vigilant to these upcoming events.

Lastly, establishing a work from home-life balance and mental health exercises are so essential to the company and individual's health and future. Personal and Business obligations conflict with one another as some people have to take care of children, family members, etc.

It is important to remember most to remain aware of fatigue and faltering mental health. This pandemic has provided a lot of questions about uncertainty and what the future holds causing a lot of anxiety.

It is important to take the time to reevaluate and rebalance one's self before facing burnout.

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AI-Powered End-to-End Thermal Video Technology Solutions can Protect Businesses: Ashish P. Dhakan FOCUS (the Forum of Critical Utility Services), rd hosted the 3 Knowledge Series Webinar on 7 May. The theme of the webinar was 'Best Practices in Managing New Normal': CCTV & Movement control

by Adopting Latest Technologies (Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning). In his opening remark Mr. V. Suresh, President, Forum of Critical Utility services, said, “The pandemic has permanently changed the nature and landscape of work, and both employees and employers are already adjusting to this new reality. Technology plays a central role in this new normal, which will change the definition of the workplace. Deployment of new solutions will provide additional safety for those, who are working in Healthcare, Hospitality Industry, Government, Educational Institute, Retail, Project Management, manufacturing, Worship places. This event is aimed to provide you knowledge on practical implementation of solutions.

In his keynote address as a Chief Guest, Mr. Ashish P. Dhakan, MD & CEO, Prama Hikvision India and 58

Chairman- Security at FOCUS, briefly gave an overview of the ongoing efforts to minimize the pandemic risks through AI enabled thermal technology and solutions.

"In these challenging times FOCUS is doing lots of good work, which is an incredible thing. Being proactive and creating awareness about security technology is an empowering vision for all the stakeholders' of critical utilities. The need of thermal screening technology in the Security and Surveillance Industry under the present circumstances is felt more than ever,” said Mr. Ashish P. Dhakan.

He further added, “The challenge today is how to ensure public safety as efficiently as possible, without affecting the business interests. As we adjust to a new way of life, businesses must embrace innovative ways to optimize the density and flow of people through their premises, to protect workers, customers and visitors, while also protecting their businesses.

The AI-powered end-to-end video technology solutions can support businesses of all sizes in this endeavour.”

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After the keynote address, Mr. Vinay Mishra, Senior Vice President, Prama Hikvision India Pvt. Ltd. gave his presentation on AI-powered end-to-end thermal video technology solutions related to Temperature Screening, Mask detection, Flow Control and Social Distancing Solutions. He elaborated on the key features of technology and the advantages it offers in various application scenarios like hospitality, healthcare, retail, banking, education and transportation verticals.

He further added, “Intelligent video cameras, such as those within Flow Control Solution, use peoplecounting technology coupled with dynamic digital signage to display how many people are entering and leaving a building or indoor area. The cameras feature highly accurate 3D binocular vision and deep learning algorithms to accurately count the number of people flowing through, even in the busiest sites with multiple entrances and exits,”

He further added, “For even greater reassurance, businesses can add in thermal and mask-detection camera technology, to help ensure people are safe to enter a location in the first place. AI-powered cameras can intelligently identify whether someone is wearing a mask, while also effectively checking their skin-surface temperatures. Equipped with this information, staff can then take appropriate action to reduce the risk of viral spread.”

At the webinar, the Prama Hikvision representatives had a Q&A session with the participants and answered the queries. The webinar was moderated

by Mr. K.P. Dominic Chairman of Marketing & Events, FOCUS. Mr. A.L. Narasimhan, General Secretary, FOCUS, thanked all the participants, presenters and the chief guest for making the 3rd Knowledge Series webinar a resounding success. The webinar had the convergence of end-users, industry leaders, academic experts, system integrators and partners, which provided a unique opportunity for sharing the latest technology knowledge, experience, and ideas to provide a solution in the times of pandemic.

As a co-presenter in the FOCUS webinar, Mr. Ashish Gujarathi, AVP, Non CCTV Products (Access Control, Intrusion Alarm, VDP and Perimeter Security) explained the key functions of Thermal Technology, Contactless Facial Recognition Terminals with temperature Screening and mask wearing alerts, Walkthrough Metal Detector Door with Temperature Screening, flow control, People counting and social distancing solutions. He further elaborated on key aspects of thermal technology and systems that are helping to protect people and businesses.

For more information visit: www.hikvisionindia.com

Grow Your Online Presence

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INDEX - JUNE 2021  AMBETRONICS ENGINEERS PVT. LTD.

BACK INNER

 DEEPTRONICS

25

 DSPA

47

 E-SQUARE ALLIANCE PVT. LTD.

30 & 31

 FIRE ALARM & AUDIO SYSTEMS

9

 FIRE AND SECURITY INDIA EXPO

60 & 61

 FIRETECH EQUIPMENT & SYSTEMS PVT. LTD.

3

 FOAMTECH ANTIFIRE COMPANY

27

 HD FIRE PROTECT INDIA PVT. LTD.

COVER INNER

 IFSEC INDIA

62

 INTERNATIONAL FIRE INDIA

65

 KEMEX INTERNATIONAL PVT. LTD.

5

 LAKELAND GLOVES AND SAFETY APPAREL PVT. LTD.

55

 MARVEL GLOVES INDUSTRIES

53

 OSH INDIA

63

 PRAMA HIKVISION INDIA PVT. LTD.

COVER & BACK

 RESQ TECHNOLOGIES

29

 SAFETYEX

64

 SECUTECH INDIA

46

 SHAH BHOGILAL JETHALAL & BROS.

4

 VINTEX FIRE PROTECTION PVT. LTD.

7

 WARPP ENGINEERS PVT. LTD.

51

 ZKTECO BIOMETRICS INDIA PVT. LTD.

45 (PREMIUM PAGE)

66

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(One Side) (Both Sides) (Both Sides)

` 40,000 ` 60,000

(Single Page)

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Total Pages : 00 June 2021

Volume XII - Issue 06 - June 2021

Volume XII - Issue 06