Title:
Fire Protection Program Applicability to DOE
Contractor-Leased Facilities
Facility: Multiple
Point of Contact:
Perry D’Antonio [505-844-7956,
pedanto@sandia.gov]
Brief Description of Best Practice:
The Fire Protection
Subgroup of EFCOG developed a recommended best practice that
can be used as a guide for adopting a comprehensive
“DOE/DOE-Prime Contractor” Fire Protection Program for
Contractor-leased facilities into the DOE contractor’s
overall fire protection program to ensure protection of
workers and government owned equipment resident in leased
facilities.
Why the best practice
was used:
DOE Order 420.1B, Paragraph 3. (APPLICABILITY) states that “….this
Order applies to all DOE elements with responsibility
for DOE-owned or -leased facilities…...”
-
Attachment 1 to the Order lists the DOE Elements (e.g.
Office of Science, NNSA, etc.)
-
DOE O 420.1B Contractor Requirements Document (CRD) does
not replicate the same language in regards to the
Orders’ applicability to leased facilities for DOE
contractors. Attachment 2, Section 1, Requirements,
establishes the scope to be design, construction,
operation, management, decontamination or
decommissioning of
DOE sites
or facilities.
-
The Applicability paragraph in the CRD of the Order
(Chapter II of Attachment 2) states “APPLICABILITY. This
chapter applies to both fire protection programs and
facility safety design for DOE nuclear, non-nuclear, and
weapons facilities2.”
Thus, O 420.1B CRD does not specifically include contractor leased
facilities in its scope for fire protection. The commentary
identifies a “covered workplace” to be where work is being
performed in furtherance of a DOE mission at a DOE site.
Thus, the 851 rule also does not specifically include contractor
leased facilities in its scope.
-
There are no specific DOE fire protection requirements
for the DOE contractors to meet for contractor leased
facilities. However, the contractor would still need to
meet OSHA requirements. Therefore the Fire Protection
Subgroup identified a need for a best practice to be
applied at DOE sites relative to implementing fire
protection requirements in leased facilities.
What are the benefits of
the best practice:
This Best Practice helps the DOE contractors select the
appropriate level of fire protection program activities to
include when negotiating lease agreements. It is expected
that each contractor will work with their respective site
office to take a graded approach to ensure the protection of
workers, protection of government owned equipment to limits
established by the DOE, and protection against unacceptable
DOE program or mission interruption.
What problems/issues
were associated with the best practice: Lease agreements
do not specifically address fire protection-related
requirements, roles and responsibilities.
How the success of the Best Practice was measured:
This Best Practice was developed based on consensus input
from the Fire Protection Subgroup members in 2010, based on
their experience implementing 10 CFR 851 and DOE O 420.1B.
Description of process experience using the Best
Practice:
It is expected that each contractor will work with their
respective site office to take a graded approach to ensure
the protection of workers, protection of government owned
equipment to limits established by the DOE, and protection
against unacceptable DOE program or mission interruption.
Prior to signing any lease agreement, the DOE contractor
should consider:
-
Performing a fire protection assessment on the leased
facility to assess the adequacy of facility life safety
features and fire protection systems to protect
government owned equipment. The contractor should
communicate all actionable fire protection deficiencies
with the facility to the owner for remediation prior to
lease approval.
-
Participating with the local jurisdiction’s fire
fighting service to ensure a pre-fire plan is in place
to limit the loss of government-owned equipment to
limits established by the DOE and potential mission
interruption due to a fire event. The contractor can use
a graded approach for requesting a pre-fire plan such as
if the leased facility will be a hazardous occupancy, or
if a joint tenant is classified as a hazardous
occupancy.
-
Defining who will perform after-occupancy
fire-protection inspections and how deficiencies will be
processed for resolution; e.g., life safety issues
within the facility, such as means of egress, should be
corrected by the owner within 30 days and validated by
the contractor. Whereas, the contractor will provide
funding to address any additional fire protection
systems required for protecting high-value DOE owned
equipment.
-
Working with the local jurisdiction on coordination of
evacuation plans.
-
Defining the periodicity of owner/contractor conducted
fire protection assessments as a check on continued life
safety compliance. A graded approach may be taken to
establish the frequency. In general, the owner would be
responsible for “off-site” leases in accordance with
local jurisdictions and the contractor for “on-site”
leases.
-
Specifying who is responsible (owner or contractor) for
inspecting, testing, and maintenance (ITM) of facility
fire protection systems in accordance with local
jurisdiction building and fire code requirements. In
general, the owner would be responsible for “off-site”
leases and the contractor for “on-site” leases.
-
Where applicable, the lease agreement should specify how
the maximum allowable quantities of hazardous material
defined in the building code will be apportioned to the
DOE contractor and to any other tenants in the building.
Thus, the leased building’s fire safety control areas
should be documented.
-
All fire protection assessments and ITM records of the
leased facility should be accessible to the local
Authority Having Jurisdiction, the owner, and to the DOE
contractor.
Implementation of these recommendations allows Integrated
Safety Management “Clear Roles and Responsibilities” as well
as “Define Scope of Work” for leased facility contracts.
