Like other major metropolitan areas, the city of Chicago requires emergency voice and communication systems in its high rise buildings (over eighty feet in height). Rather than sound a general alarm when a detection device activates, the fire department is notified without any audible warning provided to the high rise occupants until the fire department [Read More]
Testing & Inspecting Fire Alarm & Emergency Voice Systems
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A fire alarm system is required to be tested regularly, the results of which are reviewed by the fire department. When scheduling a test of a facility’s fire alarm system, property managers have a vested interest in maintaining safety compliance and limiting their liability exposure while keeping an eye on operating costs. Operating cost reduction might seem [Read More]
High Rise Fire Safety in Chicago, Part IV
As a recap, in our first post on this subject, we defined how the Chicago High Rise Ordinance originated. In our second post, we looked at why the compliancy rate was low. In our previous post, we discussed how a residential high rise life safety score is determined. Let’s now look at what the impact [Read More]
High Rise Fire Safety in Chicago, Part III
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In our last post on the Chicago Life Safety Ordinance, commonly referred to as the Chicago High Rise Ordinance, we looked at some of the reasons a majority of residential high rises in Chicago are not compliant with the ordinance. Let’s now look at what the owners & managers of these buildings are up against [Read More]
High Rise Fire Safety in Chicago, Part II
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Last week we introduced the Chicago Life Safety Ordinance and some of its requirements. Click here to review. This week we’ll answer the question we left off with: Why are some high rises fully compliant and some not compliant at all? As a response to the differences in economic and occupancy realities between residential high [Read More]
Elevator Code Compliance
When providing a scope of work for incorporation an existing elevator bank with an existing fire alarm system, which you may need to do within the next year to keep complaint with the current Chicago elevator code, first ensure the elevator’s emergency operation can be controlled automatically. Chicago adopted ASME 17.3 – 2005 with variations [Read More]
Chicago Life Safety Evaluation 2012 – Information on Amendments
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The Chicago City Council passed two amendments to the Chicago Building Code (CBC) addressing life safety deficiencies in high rise buildings built prior to 1975. Previously, these buildings were exempted from the CBC’s life safety requirements. Collectively, they are commonly and alternatively referred to as the High Rise Building Ordinance, the High Rise Sprinkler Ordinance, [Read More]
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