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Keyes Q&A: Frames, beauty shops, fire ratings, and sprinklers

Healthcare Life Safety Compliance, March 1, 2019

This is an excerpt from a member only article. To read the article in its entirety, please login or subscribe to Healthcare Life Safety Compliance.

Editor’s note: Each month, Brad Keyes, CHSP, owner of Keyes Life Safety Compliance, answers your questions about life safety compliance. Follow Keyes’ blog on life safety at www.keyeslifesafety.com for up-to-date information.  

Fire-rated frames

Q: I work in an old hospital, and we have quite a few fire-rated openings that are missing labels. I'm having a company come in and rate the frames for us. Of course, there are many different ratings, but I want to have all the frames rated at the highest rating (90 minutes). Is there any reason I should not do this?

A: As I understand it, frames are not labeled the same as fire-rated doors. Frames are simply rated as being a fire-rated frame, and there is typically no hourly or minute rating that is listed. Now, there are exceptions to this general rule, but as I have learned over the years, frames are not necessarily rated in hour (or minute) terms like doors. One exception that I am aware of is fire-rated door assemblies that are three hours or greater. I’ve been told by individuals smarter than me that frames used on three-hour assemblies (or greater) are required to be rated with an hourly rating. So, you can expect the company that does your field inspection to provide a label that simply states the frame is a fire-rated frame, and does not have an hourly rating.

Oxygen use in a beauty shop

Q: I have a question regarding the use of oxygen in a beauty shop. When the feds were in our community, they indicated that we needed to post a sign that says no oxygen tanks in the beauty shop. They referenced the following codes in the 2000 edition of the Life Safety Code® (LSC): 7-2.1, 7-6.2.4.2, 8-2.1.2.4"D", 8-6.2.1.4, 8-6.2.2.1, 9-2.1.9.3. When looking through the code book, I was not able to locate the language associated with the reference codes. Can you help?

This is an excerpt from a member only article. To read the article in its entirety, please login or subscribe to Healthcare Life Safety Compliance.

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