FIRE AND LIFE SAFETY

The fire and life safety standards cover fire, health and safety, food safety, security and leisure safety for guests, associates, visitors and contractors.

Each property must have their fire and life safety risk assessment as well as their fire prevention and protection strategy approved by Atana Hotels.

Each general manager is responsible for implementing the policies and procedures to ensure the security and privacy of all guests, associates and visitors.

National and local regulations will apply alongside the Atana Hotels approved requirements. In case of conflict, the stricter standards will be enforced. Any variations must be reported to corporate office without delay.

Atana Hotels may request a report from an independent consultant to confirm that national or local regulations meet or exceed the Atana Hotels standards. The property owner will cover the associated costs.

Special events such as exhibitions, specialty banquets and fireworks require meticulous planning and special permissions to effectively manage fire and life safety risks.

Licenses

Each property must have current operating licenses from the relevant authorities.

These licenses, along with English translations, must be available for inspection before a property opens and regularly thereafter by Atana Hotels or its authorized agent.

Application of standards

Properties failing to meet the standards must provide detailed alternative arrangements to ensure the safety, security and privacy of all guests, associates and visitors.

Atana Hotels must specifically agree to these arrangements. Any associated costs will be borne by the property owner.

Training

Only suitably qualified and competent trainers may deliver fire and life safety training.

All associates will be introduced to fire and life safety procedures as part of their initial training.

A dedicated fire and life safety team will be trained intensively and re-trained annually. Local regulations will determine the number of associates in this team.

Training records must be kept up to date.

Structure and materials

The building structure must achieve a minimum fire resistance rating.

This includes areas such as floors, columns, beams, load-bearing walls, stairs and lift/elevator shafts, chimney and plumbing service shafts, and refuse enclosures.

Structure Type Height Minimum Fire Resistance Rating

Low-rise < 10m 60 minutes

Medium-rise 10m - 25m 90 minutes

High-rise > 25m 120 minutes

For this standard, building height is measured from the external fire brigade access level to the finished floor level of the highest inhabited floor.

Note that this may vary around the perimeter of the building.

A fire resistance rating of at least 60 minutes must be provided between guestrooms, guestrooms and corridors as well as public areas, service areas and guestrooms.

All openings between floors and adjacent areas, such as around pipes, ducts, or services, must be fire stopped.

All materials used in guestrooms and public areas must be flame retardant or treated to comply with minimum statutory requirements, local fire and building codes.

Wall coverings must be flame retardant and adhere to local fire and building codes.

If ground conditions produce gas (like methane) or if a gas intake point poses significant risks, gas monitoring equipment and special venting systems must be installed.

Electrical outlets in corridors or within 6m of water sources must be protected by a residual current device or ground fault circuit interrupter.

Doors

Doors in buildings with 90 minutes of structural fire protection or higher, as well as doors to lifts, linen chutes, plumbing shafts, refuse areas, car parks and staircases in buildings over three floors, must have 60 minutes of fire resistance.

Doors in a building with 60 minutes structural fire protection, as well as doors to storage rooms, plant rooms and plumbing shaft doors with horizontal fire stops at each level, will have 30 minutes fire resistance.

All entrance door hardware will be approved by Atana Hotels. Door locks will be hotel commercial quality or better. All fire-resisting doors will have approved self-closing devices. Where these doors need to be held open, magnetic release devices that are linked to the fire alarm system must be used. Self-closing doors are required for storage, maintenance and equipment rooms, kitchens, staircases and exits.

A professionally designed and fabricated diagram A4 size, that shows the exact exit path to the nearest exit must be posted on the room side of each guestroom and meeting room door.

The written information will be in the local language and English.

Means of escape

Each floor must have at least two emergency exits remote from each other. The maximum distance to an emergency exit is 3m. The maximum distance between emergency exits is 60m. Dead ends will not exceed 8m.

In fully sprinkled buildings these distances may be extended by authorized approval.

Primary corridors must be at least 2.4m wide. Secondary corridors must be at least 1.8m wide.

Rooms and spaces such as offices and meeting rooms that accommodate more than 50 people or greater than 75m² must have no fewer than two exit routes, positioned remote from each other.

All exit doors must open outward onto an unobstructed path.

Internal exit doors must be operable from both sides and swing in the escape direction.

Final escape doors require panic hardware, operable in the travel direction.

Exit doors can have electro-magnetic locks, which must unlock when the fire alarm goes off or if there is a power failure.

Illuminated exit signs must be placed at all exits and where exits are not visible.

Use the international symbol sign if local law allows.

The sign needs emergency power for at least one hour.

Stair enclosures

In new builds, escape doors and stairs must be at least 90cm wide.

No open storage is allowed on, or under stairwells. Storage areas near stairwells must have fire-resistant, self-closing doors.

For high-rise structures (> 25m), Atana Hotels and consultants will review pressurized staircases, ventilation systems and fire lobbies.

All floor levels will be marked with 15cm high reflective letters or numbers.

Emergency exits

Emergency escape staircases must be kept in good condition, with regular checks on all treads, nosing and balustrades.

All fire and safety signage will be in the local language and English and will include graphic symbols where appropriate.

Exits from places of assembly, such as all public areas, restaurants and meeting rooms, must be provided according to the following room capacities:

Number of people Exits required

50 to 500 no fewer than 2 exits

500 to 1000 no fewer than 3 exits

>1000 no fewer than 4 exits

Detection, alarm and notification

All Properties must have automatic alarm systems.

It must be audible throughout the building at a minimum of 75dBA at the bedhead and 65dBA in all other areas.

Smoke detectors must activate the fire alarm throughout the building and by manual alarm call points.

Associates manually operating bells or sounders, except by using call points, is not acceptable.

Unless local regulations state otherwise, an alarm must instantly sound in the room and floor of origin, at the attended alarm panel (ideally at the front desk), and in all areas exposed to the fire.

In new builds, the automatic fire alarm system will incorporate a broadcast evacuation speaker system working in all guestrooms.

Emergency escape lighting

All emergency exit routes and assembly points must have emergency lighting. If there are no local standards for lighting levels, Atana Hotels’ required standard is one lux at floor level.

Emergency power must be available for at least 60 minutes. Emergency power can come from a battery or an automatic standby generator.

Fire fighting

In accordance with local and regional practices, all properties must adhere to a risk assessment conducted by Atana Hotels group or an appointed specialist. Before a license is granted or renewed, all high-rise properties (>25m) in the EMEA Region must have automatic sprinkler protection throughout.

The nearest fire extinguisher must be within 25m. The type must be suitable for their environment (for instance, CO2 near electrical switch panels and fire blankets in kitchens).

Handheld extinguishers will be available in all areas, including service zones. They must be well-maintained and have a valid maintenance tag.

Fire hydrant water supplies must be available at the main entrances of the property. Rising mains will be installed in buildings over 25m tall. Hose valves and reels will be provided as required by local codes.

Kitchen range extraction systems that vent through guest areas of the building will include a fire damper above the range, which is activated by the fire detection system, unless local regulations prohibit this.

Automatic fire suppression systems will be provided on kitchen ranges. In addition, handheld extinguishers must be available in the kitchen area.

Testing and maintenance

All properties will implement a comprehensive quality control program to ensure all life safety equipment and systems are provided and maintained in optimal condition.

Fire and life safety systems will be tested twice a year, once by a certified third-party engineer and once by in-house associates.

Documentation of the testing program must be available for review by Atana Hotels.

All fire safety systems will be tested and maintained in compliance with manufacturers' instructions as well as national and local codes.

An independent architect, engineer, or licensed installer will certify all new installations and major changes to the system, confirming in writing that these are correctly installed and fully operational.

The generator will be tested off-load weekly and on-load monthly, where applicable.

The generator test logbook will be maintained regularly.

An annual full-performance inspection will be conducted by a licensed contractor, including all automatic transfer switches as part of the test.

Two management staff members, including the chief engineer, will perform formal, systematic fire and life safety inspections of all public areas and 25% of the guestrooms each month.

Inspections can be done independently.