NFPA Journal - September/October 2016 - 59

EDUCATIONAL OCCUPANCIES HIGH-RISE UNIVERSITY LABS ç The NHB replaced a UT facility that opened in 1952, and much had changed in laboratory safety over the intervening decades. The previous building contained 77 fume hoods; the NHB contains 234. over one story in height, including increased fire resistance ratings for the isolation of laboratory units and reduced quantities of flammable and combustible liquids. In order to provide a compliant means of increasing the allowable amount of stored chemicals, the design team turned to NFPA 30 for flammable and combustible liquids storage solutions. The design team decided to construct a series of inside liquid storage areas associated with each laboratory unit. The materials stored in these areas would supplement the allowable quantities from NFPA 45 and would also be greater than what would typically be allowed in a building control area. Inside liquid storage areas have several requirements, including compartmentation, drainage, specialty electrical protection, and dedicated exhaust. These features were also able to help alleviate the new restrictions imposed in the more recent editions of NFPA 45 for future construction in shell areas. An additional benefit of these rooms is that they can provide a convenient option for dispensing of flammable liquids as an alternative to using a fume hood, since they are also provided with adequate ventilation. Most of these rooms were constructed similar to a small closet, with a small footprint featuring curbs for containment and rolling fire shutters for access to the inventory inside. A limited number of labs were also provided with a larger room that featured a grated floor for drainage with a depressed area underneath to provide containment. These rooms would allow for lab users to easily enter the room and utilize specialty equipment or conduct operations such as dispensing. As soon as they were able to move in, laboratory users began taking advantage of the flammable liquid storage rooms, not only for the increased allowable chemical inventories, but also as a convenient central storage location, even in labs where elevated quantities of flammable liquids were not present. Not only have these areas proven useful for normal storage of chemicals that have yet to be used, but they also provide convenience in the storage and handling of flammable waste products, allowing for less frequent pickups of bulk waste material. USE AND ADAPTATION At the completion of construction, the building was 60 percent occupied with teaching labs, the vivarium, classrooms, administrative spaces, and two floors of operating research labs. The remainder of the building was left as shell space, to be finished out in the future. Over the past few years, the remaining research lab shell space has been completely finished out, and efforts are underway to finish the remaining shell areas for other uses in the building. The building is roughly 95 percent occupied. Many of the key safety elements for laboratory facilities are centered on operational measures such as inventory limitations, segregation of non-compatible chemicals, and safety and emergency protocols. Because of this, code enforcement for laboratories can be a laborious task, and much of the responsibility for maintaining a safe environment rests with the users themselves. A large, diverse laboratory building like NHB is no different, and it introduces added elements for the inside liquid storage rooms to contend with. For most research teams in the building, the flammable liquid storage rooms serve as the main location for bulk storage of flammable liquids and are accessed several times throughout the day. In the interest of expedience, and due to the troublesome act of operating a heavy chain-driven roll-up door, many lab researchers began to leave the doors to the flammable liquid storage rooms open, often indefinitely. The paramount feature of a flammable liquid storage room, constructed under NFPA 30, is compartmentation. The idea is to contain a fire event originating within the room or to prevent an outside emergency from involving the contents of the room. NFPA 30 is clear in its intent that the doors to flammable liquid storage rooms must remain closed at all times, the only exception being that doors may remain open when transferring materials if the door closes automatically. Many hours have been spent walking the building to ensure that lab users are keeping the doors closed and educating researchers on the need to maintain closed separation between the lab and the flammable liquid storage rooms. These efforts have had mixed success, in part because it's not feasible to have someone patrolling the building 24/7 to keep an eye on the occupants, making sure that they're keeping their doors closed. Resolving this issue was a key priority going forward in the design and construction of the finish outs for the shell spaces. How could we approach this feature so that it's convenient for the users to be in and out of these rooms several times each day, while keeping the doors closed when not accessing the chemicals inside? Unfortunately, we were limited in our options, as the base infrastructure for the flammable liquid storage rooms (depressions in the floor, drainage, and curbs) were already constructed SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2016 NFPA JOURNAL 59

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of NFPA Journal - September/October 2016