A new safety regulation against fire and panic risks has just been published. This document is the result of an initiative initiated in 2011 by the Monaco Fire Brigade, under the leadership of the Department of the Interior and in collaboration with the Department of Equipment, Environment and Energy. Urbanism. Participation in its elaboration with the professionals involved led to a consensual document.
The primary objective of this regulation is to consolidate in a single document the existing texts on the prevention of fire and panic risks in buildings. They have also been adapted to adjust more closely to the characteristics of the Principality.
The new regulation takes into account pre-existing building and safety rules and current standards, particularly in Europe. On the other hand, it allows the implementation of new construction processes and innovative technical solutions.
From a perspective of efficiency in the face of fire risk, this new text also reinforces the protection requirements of specific fire constructions.
In this context, the main developments concern in particular:
- The protection of dwellings in residential buildings by the compulsory installation, according to the building’s classification, of either an autonomous fire detection and alarm system or an automatic fire detection system integrated into the building fire safety system of the building.
- The protection of new parking lots of more than three levels, by the establishment of a fixed sprinkler system or equivalent, covering the entire park. This will allow in particular to install, without restriction, charging plugs of electric vehicles and related activities.
- The improvement of the quality of the radio communications of the fire and rescue services, in the constructions where the latter is failing (pedestrian or technical galleries, constructions with several levels of infrastructures) by setting up of means allowing the retransmission of radio waves.
Finally, the safety regulation introduces a new classification level for buildings with a height of more than 200 meters. It is referred to as “very tall buildings”, a new classification (5th category) for small establishments.
This Ministerial Order, No. 2018-1079, published earlier this week in the Journal de Monaco will be applicable in 6 months.