Fire Safe North America initiated and completed a study with Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) entitled, “Impact of Smoke Compartment Size on Horizontal Evacuation Time in Healthcare Facilities.” Dozens of weekly teleconferences kept FSNA members informed during the study of the progress and also the outcome, which resulted in the approval of a compromise agreement between the ICC Ad Hoc Health Care Committee and National Association of State Fire Marshals on the size of smoke compartments in hospitals.
The study itself has been presented at two international conferences; the International Symposium on Human Behavior in Fire in London, and the first ever European Society of Fire Protection Engineers conference in Copenhagen, on health care and fire safety. The paper was nominated for a Certificate of Achievement and was also integral in getting an IBC code change proposal approved regarding the size of smoke compartments.