72. [ Fire Protection. [Substituted by Notification No. 4(a) 4-91-16B, dated 6-4-1995.]
(1)Processes, equipment, plant, etc. involving serious explosion and serious fire hazards. -(a)All processes, storages, equipments, plant, etc., involving serious explosion and flash fire hazards shall be located in segregated buildings where the equipment shall be so arranged that only minimum number of employees are exposed to such hazards at any one time.(b)All industrial processes involving serious fire hazard shall be located in buildings or work places separated from one another by walls of fire-resistant construction.(c)Equipment and plant involving serious fire or flash fire hazards shall, whenever possible be so constructed and installed that in case fire, they can be easily isolated.(d)Ventilation ducts, pneumatic conveyors and similar equipment involving a serious fire is risk shall be provided with flamerresting or automatic fire extinguishing appliances, or fire resisting dampers electrically interlocked with heat sensitive/smoke detectors and the air-conditioning plant system.(e)In all work places having serious fire or flash fire hazards, passages between machines, installations or piles of material shall be at least 90 cm. wide. For storage piles, the clearance between the ceiling and the top of the pile shall not be less than 2 m.(2)Access for the fighting. -(a)Buildings and plants shall be so laid out and roads, passageways etc., so maintained as to permit unobstructed access for fire fighting.(b)Doors and window openings shall be located in suitable positions on all external walls of the building to provide easy access to the entire area within the building for fire fighting.(3)Protection against lightening. - Protection from lightening shall be provide for-(a)buildings in which explosive or highly flammable substances are manufactured, used, handled or stored;(b)storage tanks containing oils, paints or other flammable liquids;(c)grain elevators;(d)buildings, tall chimneys or stacks where flammable gases, fumes, dust or lint are likely to be present; and(e)substation buildings and out-door transformers and switch yards.(4)Precautions against ignition. - Wherever there is danger of fire or explosion for accumulation of flammable or explosive substances in air-(a)all electrical apparatus shall either be excluded from the area of risk or they shall be such construction and so installed and maintained as to prevent the danger of their being a source of ignition;(b)effective measures shall be adopted for prevention of accumulation of static charges to a dangerous extent;(c)workers shall wear shoes without iron or steel nails or any other exposed ferrous materials which is likely to cause sparks by friction,(d)smoking, lighting or carrying of matches, lighters or smoking materials shall be prohibited;(e)transmission belts with iron fastness shall not be used; and(f)all other precautions, as are reasonably practicable, shall be taken to prevent initiation of ignition from all other possible sources such as open flammes, frictional spark overheated surfaces of machinery or plants, chemical or physical-chemical reaction and radiant heat.(5)Spontaneous ignition. - Where materials are likely to induce spontaneous ignition, care shall be taken to avoid formation of air pocket and to ensure adequate ventilation. The material susceptible to spontaneous ignition should stored in dry condition and should be in heaps of such capacity and separated by such passage which will prevent fire. The materials susceptible to ignition and stored in the open shall be at a distance not less than 10 metres away from process or storage buildings.(6)Cylinders containing compressed gas. - Cylinders containing compressed gas may only be stored in open if they are protected against excessive variation of temperature, direct rays of sun, or continuous dampness. Such cylinder shall never be stored near highly flammable substances, furnaces or hot processes. The room where such cylinders are stored shall have adequate ventilation.(7)Storage of flammable liquids. - (a) The quantity of flammable liquids in any work room shall be the minimum required for the process or processes carried on in such room. Flammable liquids shall be stored in suitable containers with closed fitting covers :Provided that not more than 20 litres of flammable liquids having a flash point of 21 "C or less shall be kept or stored in any work room.(b)Flammable liquids shall be stored in closed containers and in limited quantities in well ventilated rooms of fire resisting construction which are isolated from the remainder of the building by fire walls and self closing fire doors.(c)Large quantities of such liquids shall stored in isolated adequately ventilated building of fire resisting construction or in storage tanks, preferably underground and at a distance from any building as required in the Petroleum Rules, 1976.(d)Effective steps shall be taken to prevent leakage of such liquids into basements, slumps or drains and to confine any escaping within safe limit.(8)Accumulation of flammable dust, gas, fume or vapour in air or flammable waste material on-the floors. - (a) Effective steps shall be taken for removal or prevention of the accumulation in the air of flammable dust, gas, fume or vapour to an extent which is likely to be dangerous.(b)No waste material of a flammable nature shall-be permitted to accumulate on the floors and shall be removed at least once in a day or shift, and more often, when possible. Such materials shall be placed in suitable metal containers with covers wherever possible.(9)Fire exits. - (a) In this Rule :-(i)"horizontal exit" means an arrangement which allows, alternative egress from a floor area to another floor at or near the same level in an adjoining building or an adjoining part of the same building with adequate separation; and(ii)"travel distance" means the distance an occupant has to travel to reach at exit.(b)An exit may be doorway, corridor, passageway, to an external stairway or to a verandah or to an internal stairway segregated from the rest of building by fire resisting walls which shall provide continuous and protected means of egress to the exterior of a building or to an exterior open space. An exit may also include a horizontal exit leading to an adjoining building at the same level.(c)Lifts, escalators and revolving doors shall not be considered as exits for the purpose of this sub-rule.(d)In every room of a factory exits sufficient to permit safe escape of the occupants in case of fire or other emergency shall be provided which shall be free of any obstruction.(e)The exit shall be clearly visible and suitably illuminated with suitable arrangement, whatever artificial lighting is to be adopted for this purpose, to maintain the required illumination in case of failure of the normal source of electric supply.(f)The exits shall be marked in a language understood by the majority of the workers.(g)Iron rung ladders or spiral staircases shall not be used as exit staircases.(h)Fire resisting doors or roller shutters shall be provided at appropriate places along with the escape routes to prevent spread of fire and smoke, particularly at the entrance of lifts or stairs where tunnel of the flue effect may be created inducing an upward spread of fire.(i)All exits shall provide continuous means of egress to the exterior of a building or to an exterior open space leading to a street.(j)Exits shall be so located that the travel distance to reach at least one of them on the floor shall not exceed 30 metres.(k)In case of those factories where high hazard materials are stored or used, the travel distance to the exit shall not exceed 22.5 metres and there shall be at least two ways of escape from every room, however small, except toilet rooms, so located that the points of access thereto are out of or suitably shielded from areas of high hazard.(l)Wherever more than one exit is required for any room space or floor, exits shall be placed as remote from each other as possible and shall be arranged to provide direct access in separate directions from any point in the area served.(m)The unit of exit width used to measure capacity of any exit shall be 50 cm. A clear width of 25 cm. shall be counted as an additional half unit. Clear width of less than 25 cm. shall not be counted for exit width.(n)Occupants per unit width shall be 50 for stairs and 75 for doors.(o)For determining the exits required, the occupant load shall be reckoned on the basis of actual number of occupants within any floor area of 10 square meters per person whichever is more.(p)There shall not be less than two exits serving every floor area above and below the ground floor, and at least one of them shall be an internal enclosed stairway.(q)For every building or structure used for storage only, and every section thereof considered separately, shall have access to atleast one exit so arranged and located as to provide a suitable means of escape for any person employed therein, and in any such room wherein more than 10 persons maybe normally present, at least two separate means of exit shall be available, as remote from each other as practicable.(r)Every storage area shall have access to at least one means of exit which can be readily opened.(s)Every exit doorway shall open into an enclosed stairway, a horizontal exit on a corridor or passageway providing continuous and protected means of egress.(t)No exit doorway shall be less than 100 cm. in width, doorways shall be not less than 200 cm. in height.(u)Exit doorways shall open outwards, that is, away from the room but shall not obstruct the travel along any exit. No door when opened, shall reduce the required width of stairway of landing to less than 90 cm. Over head or sliding doors shall not be installed for this purpose.(v)An exit door shall not open immediately upon a flight or stairs. A landing atleast 1.5 m. X 1.5 m. in size shall be provided in the stairway at each doorway. The level of landing shall be the same as that of the floor which it serves.(w)The exit doorways shall be openable from the side which they serve without the use of a key.(x)Exit corridors and passageways shall be of a width not less than the aggregate required width of exit doorways leading from there in the direction of travel to the exterior.(y)Where stairways discharge through corridors and passageways, the height of the corridors and passageways shall not be less than 2.4 meters.(aa)A staircase shall not be arranged round a lift shaft unless the later is totally enclosed by a material having a fire-resistance rating not lower than that of the type of construction of the former.(bb)Hollow combustible construction shall not be permitted(cc)The minimum width to treads without nosing shall be 25 cm. for an internal staircase. The treads shall be constructed and maintained in a manner to prevent slopping.(dd)The maximum height of a riser shall be 19 cm. and the number of risers shall be limited to 12 per flight.(ee)Hand rails shall be provided with a minimum height of 100 cm. and shall be firmly supported.(ff)The use of spiral staircase shall be limited to low occupant load and to a building of height of 9 metres, unless they are connected to platforms such as balconies and terraces to allow escapes to pause. A spiral staircase shall be not less than 300 cm. in diameter and have adequate head room.(gg)The width of a horizontal exit shall be same as for the exit doorways.(hh)The horizontal exit shall be equipped with atleast one fire door of self closing type.(ii)The floor area on the opposite or refuge side of a horizontal exit shall be sufficient to accommodate occupants of the floor areas served, allowing not less than 0.3 square meter per person. The refuge area shall be provided with exits adequate to meet the requirements of this sub-rule. Atleast one of the exits shall lead directly to the exterior or street.(jj)Where there is difference in level between connected areas for horizontal exit, ramps not more than 1 into 8 slope shall be provided. For this purpose steps shall not be used.(kk)Doors in horizontal exits shall be openable at all times.(ll)Ramps with a slope of not more than 1 into 10 may be substituted for the requirements of staircase. For all slopes exceeding I to 10 and wherever the use is such as to involve danger of slipping, the ramp shall be surface with non-slipping material.(mm)In any building not provided with automatic fire alarm a manual fire alarm system shall be provided if the total capacity of the building is over 500 persons, or if more than 25 persons are employed above or below the ground floor, except that no manual fire alarm shall be required in one-storey buildings where the entire area is undivided and all parts thereof are clearly visible to all occupants.(10)First-aid fire fighting arrangements. - (a) In every factory there shall be provided and maintained adequate and suitable fire fighting equipment for fighting fires in the early stages, those be in referred to as first-aid fire fighting equipment in this rule.(b)The types of first-aid fire fighting equipment to be provided shall be determined by considering the different types of fire risks which are classified as follows :(i)"Class A fire". - Fire due to combustible materials such as wood, textiles, paper, rubbish and the like-
