Being a sprinkler guy, I don't know that many pharmaceuticals that aren't sprinklered since we only hang around ones that are!
However, I can relay that back about 25 years ago we retrofit a 100,000 sf existing mfg building on a large pharmaceutical campus that had a 30,000 SF clean room area (DIPA) for a rather phenomenal amount of money. The largest hazard was the plastic containers, but the decision to sprinkler the building came after a small plant renovation project erupted into a fireball when some flammables deposited (inadvertently)as a coating caught from a welder. I don't recall there being fatalities, but certainly dirty underwear for anyone within a 100 feet of it. Management realized the risk to life in addition to the experienced (and what could have been much worse potentially) BI. Once they decided to do it, there was no pushback on cost, suggestions to omit AS in any areas, etc. believe me, retrofitting operating sterile mfg operation ain't cheap. 3 levels of gowning, so you lost almost an hour for a p. All material washed down with alcohol in an airlock, washdown the scissors, power machine, pretty much everything but the blueprints. Pull the tape measure out completely and swab it down as it retracts. In this same building a few years later, a change in the machinery had us installing a head with exposed piping, SS316, maybe 10' with a couple 90's, and our NTE price was $5k. Brought it in for $3500 and they were happy. So while this isn't exactly what you asked for, here's a drugmaker that originally elected to NOT sprinkler in I think the 1960's, had an OOPS that could have been a lot worse, and when they realized the exposure, they didn't hesitate to do all it took to bring it up to the level of safety that should have been in place originally- at a much lower price. The cleaning crew that followed our weekend shift in the sterile area missed a little bit and they had to dump the first shift following's production; I believe it was $250,000 of drugs down the drain. Expensive cleaning crew QC, eh? They're smart if they learn from the mistakes of others, and save some money and do it right the first time. George Church Rowe Sprinkler -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Frans Stoop Sent: Wednesday, May 13, 2009 8:27 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Reasons to not sprinkler a pharmaceutical plant Dear colleagues, Here is a peculiar question: A pharmaceutical company is planning to build a new plant with laboratories for production and quality control, offices and an underground parking level. The top floor is for HVAC. The main process is waterbased, although, like any other laboratory, there small quantities of flammable liquids present. The flammable liquids will be stored in fire cabinets. We already convinced the company's management that sprinkler is the way to go for the obvious reasons: life safety, preservation of property, continuity of operations, etc. Maybe we advised them too good: Now the management wonders why not all pharmaceutical plants are sprinklered throughout. I'm composing a list of unsprinklered pharmaceutical facilities with the reason why the decision makers in concern have chosen not to sprinkler. Can you help me with examples of such sites, (parts of) plants or rooms and the reasoning? By the way, this question from our client is not as peculiar as it looks like at first sight. It is just a known method of decision making. It might lead to the decision to protect some rooms or parts of the building otherwise (with gas, pre-action sprinkler e.g.). Frans Stoop TOS architecture & fire protection Netherlands <[email protected]> Tel. +31-24-324 0112 _______________________________________________ Sprinklerforum mailing list http://lists.firesprinkler.org/mailman/listinfo/sprinklerforum For Technical Assistance, send an email to: [email protected] To Unsubscribe, send an email to:[email protected] (Put the word unsubscribe in the subject field) _______________________________________________ Sprinklerforum mailing list http://lists.firesprinkler.org/mailman/listinfo/sprinklerforum For Technical Assistance, send an email to: [email protected] To Unsubscribe, send an email to:[email protected] (Put the word unsubscribe in the subject field)
