FIRE LIFE SAFETY REQUIREMENTS – SYNOPSIS

This is a synopsis of some of the key Starwood Fire Life Safety Requirements which the hotel owners,
designers, architects and engineers have to incorporate into the design of the hotel. It should be
reiterated that it is the responsibility of the Owner to ensure that, apart from the Starwood Fire Life
Safety Requirements, all local fire life safety codes are fully complied with.

General Introduction

Fire and life safety standards have been developed by many countries, states and provinces throughout
the world. Many of these standards vary in content, some establishing detailed requirements, others
specifying more generalized, non-specific requirements. Starwood has developed Fire and Life Safety
Requirements for all Starwood properties worldwide so as to provide Starwood’s employees, owners,
architects, engineers, etc. with a consistent reference to consult when fire and life safety issues arise.

The Starwood Fire and Life Safety Requirements have been developed for utilization by two different
user groups – (1) the general user, which includes hotel owners, managers, employees, etc, and (2) the
technical user, which includes designers, architects, engineers, etc.

The Starwood Fire and Life Safety Requirements are supplemented by applicable NFPA requirements.
Overall, the most restrictive requirements (including Starwood, national or local regulations) should be
adopted.

Starwood Fire and Life Safety Philosophy

Starwood has developed fire and life safety requirements for all of its hotel properties. The focus of
these standards is to ensure a reasonable level of safety for all building occupants, including hotel guests
and staff. Starwood’s philosophy is that a guest should not have to wonder as to which code or quality
standard a Starwood hotel has been built. Starwood guests should be reasonably assured that, regardless
of the hotel’s size, height or its location in the world, a reasonable level of fire safety, in accordance with
Starwood standards has been established. As a result when national or local regulations differ from the
Starwood Fire and Life Safety Requirements, the most restrictive requirements should be enforced.
Fire and Life Safety Requirements

The Starwood Fire and Life Safety Requirements have been divided into five major components,
which include the following:

• Fire Prevention – It addresses the fire safety precautions, intended to prevent fires or keep
fires from rapidly developing. Additional topics include the control of ignition sources and
limitations on interior finish materials.
• Building Construction – It addresses the building features (i.e., compartmentation), designed
to limit fire and smoke spread. The various types of construction and limitations on building
height and area (based on occupancy) are also addressed in this section.
• Fire Detection and Alarm – It covers the requirements for the detection systems installed to
provide advanced warning of potentially hazardous conditions. Alarm systems requirements
designed to alert building occupants, including staff and guests, are also addressed in this
component. Early detection and notification are essential as many occupants are not familiar
with the layout of the hotel.
• Fire Suppression – It addresses the design of fire protection systems provided to extinguish
fires. Topics covered include automatic and manual fire suppression, and fire department
access. It should be noted that all new hotels are required to be provided with automatic
suppression systems installed throughout the hotel.
• Life Safety – It addresses exit systems provided for the purpose of allowing building
occupants a safe means of egress from the hotel. Topics covered include exits, exit
discharge, emergency lighting and power, and exit marking.

Important Assumptions

A list of critical assumptions for the protection of Starwood facilities has been developed. These
assumptions are summarized below:

• All new hotels should be provided with an automatic sprinkler protection system installed
throughout the hotel.
• The Authority Having Jurisdiction (AHJ) should be consulted throughout the design process
to ensure compliance with applicable local and national codes. Careful interpretation of these
standards is important and the AHJ should be contacted to ensure agreement with the
interpretations.
• The local fire department should be consulted throughout the design process so they are
aware of the potential hazards. Careful review of the fire detection and alarm system should
also be discussed with the local fire department.
• Deviation from the Starwood Fire and Life Safety Requirements and local or national codes
should be limited, but may be necessary and can be considered providing a full technical
justification discussing the variance is presented and approved by Starwood. The AHJ should
also be consulted whenever a variance from Starwood, local or national codes has been
requested.

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• A registered or licensed professional architect/engineer, to be appointed by the owner, is
primarily responsible for designing/documenting and certifying the fire safety features for the
Starwood property in accordance with the Starwood Fire and Life Safety Requirements. It is
also the architect/engineer’s responsibility to ensure that all local codes requirements are met.
• The property owner has the ultimate responsibility in complying and enforcing all Starwood
Fire and Life Safety Requirements.

Part 1 – Fire Prevention

Topic Summary
External ignition control Exposure protection is required where the nearest building is within 9.1 m of
the facility.
Interior finish Materials are tested in accordance with ASTM E-48, NFPA 225 – Standard
Method of Test of Surface Burning Characteristics of Building Materials or
UL 273, also known as “Steiner Tunnel Test”.
Maximum Flame Spread Ratings permitted for interior finish materials shall
conform to the latest edition o f NFPA 101.
Decorations Decorations such as curtains, fabrics and films must pass an approved test
for flame resistance such as NFPA 701 – Standard Methods of Fire Tests for
Flame Propagation of Textiles and Films, UL 214 – Fire Tests for Flame
Resistant Textiles and Films.
Special Cases Carpeting shall not be used on ceilings or walls. Rubberised hair and felt
padding is the preferred carpet padding. Synthetic rubber padding is
discouraged. Foam padding is strictly prohibited.

Part 2 – Construction

Topic Summary
General In the event of fire, it is important to limit fire and smoke spread throughout
the hotel. This can be accomplished by dividing the hotel into fire resistive
compartments using fire rated barriers such as walls, floors, ceilings, etc.
New hotel facilities are required to be designed to prevent the disbursement
of fire and smoke through the building.
General The integrity of columns, beams and bearing elements is essential if the
building is to withstand fire.
Partitions Partitions shall be continuous from top of floor surface below to the
underside of the floor/roof slab or deck above.
Duct opening shall be provided with fire dampers, if the wall being
penetrated has a fire rating of 2 hours or more.
2 hour partition shall be protected with fire doors having a fire rating of 1.5
hours.
Corridor Walls Guestroom Corridors - 1 hour fire resistance rating, with self-closing
minimum 30 minute fire rated door assemblies. All guestroom doors shall
have automatic closers and shall be positively latching. This requirement
applies to the interconnecting doors between two guestrooms. All corridor
pipe shaft doors should be at least 1 hour fire resistance.
Exit stair Enclosures Serving more than 4 stories – 2 hour fire-rated enclosure required, with 1
hour rated door assemblies.

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 Serving 4 stories or less – 1 hour rated fire-rated enclosure required, with 1.5
hour rated door assemblies.
Penetrations in stairwells are only permitted for exit doorways, piping for
fire suppression, conduit for electrical equipment, ductwork for ventilation,
pressurization.
Elevator Enclosures Elevator enclosures shall be of 2 hour fire resistive construction. Maximum
of four elevators are permitted per elevator shaft or as per local codes.
Other shafts All shafts used for ventilation equipment, electrical wiring, trash chutes,
linen chutes, dumbwaiters, etc. shall be protected by enclosures with fire
rating of 2 hours, with all penetrating openings protected.
Separation of use spaces Major building-use (user group) categories shall be separated from each
other. Separation requirements shall be based on local building codes or
other standard enforced by Authority Having Jurisdiction (AHJ).
Other areas As a minimum, the following areas shall be provided with fire resistant rated
floors and walls:
- 1 hour for kitchens and computer rooms;
- 2-hour for boiler, transformer rooms, switchgear and emergency
switchgear rooms, laundry rooms, fire pump rooms etc.
Smoke Barriers Spaces around penetrations, such as pipes, conduits or pipe ducts, should be
sealed with a non-combustible material.
Other Features Stairwell pressurization is not specifically required by Starwood unless
mandated by Authority Having Jurisdiction (AHJ).

Part 3 – Fire Detection and Alarm

Topic Summary
Human Manual alarm stations shall be located near exits, assembly areas
(restaurants, dining rooms, etc) and at the hotel desk or other continuously
supervised locations.
The travel distance to a manual alarm stations shall not exceed 46m
Heat The automatic sprinkler system serves as the automatic heat detection
system.
Sprinkler systems are heat activated and are required to be installed in all
Starwood hotels.
Generally sprinklers are required throughout the building; however there are
a few locations where sprinklers may be omitted, such as transformer rooms,
elevator machine rooms, etc. In these areas combination heat/smoke
detectors are required.
Smoke Smoke detectors are required in all areas of the building, except kitchen and
car parks, whereby heat detectors should be installed.
Hard-wired and addressable interconnected smoke detectors shall be
installed in every guestroom.
These smoke detectors shall sound a local alarm (minimum 80 dB) inside
the room and shall be annunciated at the Fire Command Center.
In addition, the detectors shall be fully supervised, such that a trouble
indication is activated if the detector is removed or not reporting (faulty).
In rooms designed for accessibility for the hearing impaired, the smoke
detectors shall be equipped with a visual strobe light. Fire alarm bells and
strobe horns should be installed throughout the hotel’s public and back-of-
house areas to alert the guests and staff.
Fire Command Center • Generation Requirements/Information - After the fire has been detected,
the alarm signal is sent to the hotel’s Fire Command Center. At this
point, the signal is analysed and the appropriate actions are determined.

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Supervisory and trouble signals
Emergency Voice Alarm
Communication (EVAC) Systems
Fire Fighter’s Telephone System
Part 4 – Fire Suppression
Topic
General Requirements
Automatic Fire suppression
Sprinkler Systems – General
Requirements
Starwood Asia Pacific Hotels & Resorts Pte Ltd
• Technical Requirements Information
1. Shall be located in a portion of the facility near the main entrance
2. The Command Center is the base of the fire department operations,
and is used to house the communication and fire control panels
3. Information displayed at the Fire Command Center shall also be
displayed at satellite (repeater) panels located in the telephone
operator room, and in the facility engineering office.
4. The fire control panels must be equipped with standby batter power
to allow full operation in the main power fails.
Personnel monitoring the hotel’s Fire Command Center must be able to
differentiate between a fire alarm, a trouble signal (result of systems/device
failure) and a supervisory signal (initiated by a piece of supervised
equipment).
Every Starwood property shall be provided with a complete detection and
emergency voice alarm communication (EVAC) system.
It shall consist of an audio control panel and speaker circuits located
throughout the building, including on the inside of each guestroom.
The EVAC shall be wired to override the public address system.
The entire system is provided with standby battery power to allow full
operation in case the main power fails.
In buildings greater than 3 stories a 2-way fire fighters telephone system
must be provided. It will provide two-way communication between the Fire
Command Center and various designated locations throughout the building.
Summary
All Starwood properties are required to be fully protected by an automatic
sprinkler system, designed and installed in accordance with NFPA 13.
Hotels less than 3 stories require automatic sprinkler systems, but do not
require standpipe systems.
Hotels less than 4 stories may be protected by a sprinkler system meeting the
requirements of NFPA 13 or 13R, if permitted by the local Authority Having
Jurisdiction (AHJ).
Hotels more than 4 stories must meet the requirements of NFPA 13
One or two unit dwellings may be protected by a sprinkler system meeting
the requirements of NFPA 13, 13R or 13D, if permitted by the local
Authority Having Jurisdiction AHJ).
All Starwood hotels are required to be provided with water based fire
suppression systems, designed and installed in accordance with NFPA 13.
Sprinklers are required throughout the hotel, including sauna room, except
main switchgear rooms, transformer rooms and elevator machine rooms and
manufactured walk-in freezers (cold storage rooms are excluded or as per
local codes).
Sprinklers are required inside linen/trash chutes on every other floor and on
the top of the chute.
Systems should be supervised for such functions as water flow, low water
pressure, valve tampering, etc.
Water Supply Requirements – The water supply requirements for a sprinkler
system are 110% of the hydraulically calculated flow demand at 110 % of
the hydraulically calculated pressure.
The minimum duration of the water supply is 60 minutes.
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 Sprinkler Requirements Based On
Hazard
Special Suppression Systems
Manual Fire Suppression
Standpipe and hose systems
Water Supply
Water supplies
Starwood Asia Pacific Hotels & Resorts Pte Ltd
Guestrooms and corridors: The use of Quick Response (QR) sprinkler heads
is mandatory for all new hotels, in areas where these sprinklers are available.
Guestrooms: Sprinklers should be selected to provide the maximum
coverage of the room. Sidewall sprinklers can produce economies and must
be extended throw type. Maximum coverage 6m x 4 m.
Guestrooms: Sprinklers are required in the bathrooms exceeding 5 m2
Guestrooms: Sprinklers are required in the entry vestibule.
Protection of kitchen hoods and duct systems: Shall be designed and
installed per the requirements of NFPA 101, Life Safety code, NFPA 17,
NFPA 17A and all other applicable NFPA codes.
The Starwood preferred automatic extinguishing system for kitchen hoods is
a wet chemical system which is effective for kitchen range line fires and
provides for easy clean-up.
High temperature rated sprinklers are used for kitchen range and duct
systems and are generally rated between 232oC to 316oC
Recommended fire suppression system for Computer and Data Rooms is
FM200 (Heptaflouropropane).
Carbon dioxide is not permitted to be used as an extinguishing agent in total
flooding systems as it can be harmful to humans if high concentrations
develop as the carbon dioxide displaces the oxygen.
Portable Extinguishers shall be selected to match the size and type of fire
expected in the facility.
The recommended fire extinguisher size is a 4 kg ABC dry chemical unit
with a UL rating of 4A-60BC extinguisher, which is suitable for most areas
of the hotel.
Extinguishers shall be uniformly distributed, easily accessible and located
near the normal paths of travel, and near entrance/exit doors. The maximum
distance to reach an extinguisher shall not exceed 23 metres
In kitchen areas a 9.7 kg BC dry chemical extinguisher shall be located
adjacent to the cooking line
In electrical and computer rooms portable CO2 extinguishers may be used.
Travel distance to extinguishers in these areas shall not exceed 15.3 m.
Class III standpipe are required for all Starwood hotels. A Class III
standpipe shall consist of both 38 mm hose outlets for use by building
occupants and 65 mm hose outlets for use by the fire department. Standpipe
systems shall meet the requirement of NFPA 14, Standard for the Installation
of Standpipe and Hose Systems.
The 65mm hose outlets for the fire department shall be located in the fire
resistive staircase enclosures and have threads compatible with those of the
local fire department
The 38 mm diameter hose outlets for use by trained hotel personnel shall be
provided in the corridor/space adjacent to the stairwell enclosure.
The 38 mm hoses shall be 30 m long.
The water supply for a single standpipe riser shall be sufficient to provide at
least 1.89 cu m/min for 60 minutes with a residual pressure of 450 kpa at the
top most point. The pressure at any standpipe outlet shall not exceed 700 kpa
All standpipe systems shall be equipped with flow sensing devices
connected to the Fire Command Center.
All major isolation valves to be fitted with valve tamper switches
The water supply must provide adequate pressure and flow to meet the
demands of the fire protection systems, which may include water used by the
fire department (outside hydrants, interior standpipe systems), water used by
the building occupants (interior standpipe systems), and water used by the
automatic sprinkler system.
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Municipal water supplies
Private water supplies
Fire Department
Fire Hydrants
Siamese connections
Fire command centre
Dedicated elevators
Access
Starwood Asia Pacific Hotels & Resorts Pte Ltd
1. Water supply to hydrants to support fire department pumpers must have
minimum residual pressure of 138 kPa at grrade and a minimum
duration of 2 hours.
2. Water supply to sprinkler system must have minimum residual pressure
equivalent to the hydraulically calculated pressure, plus 10% and a
minimum duration of 60 minute.
3. Water supply to standpipe system must have minimum flow of 1.89 cu
m/min for first riser and 0.95 cu m/min for each additional riser, not
greater than 5.68 cu m/min.
4. The minimum residual pressure shall be 488 kPa at highest remote
outlet with a minimum duration of 60 min.
Water supply may be provided by public suppliers.
There shall be two independent water connections, so if one source is
disconnected, the other source will continue to supply water to the fire
protection system.
Private water supplies shall be provided when municipal supply is not
available, reliable or adequate for system demands.
A second private on-site water supply for the fire protection systems shall be
provided in all areas prone to seismic activity (earthquakes). It shall be
electrically supervised with supervisory signals transmitted to the Fire
Command Center. Its water level, water temperature, power supplies and
pump condition shall be constantly monitored.
Starwood requires the installation of external fire hydrants, supplied by
either municipal water system or private fire service mains.
External fire hydrants are provided for use by fire departments or other
trained in handling heavy fire streams.
Fire hydrants located in streets and supplied by municipal water systems are
used by fire department pumpers, which boost the pressure before pumping
the water into their hoses. For city or town center hotels fronted by one or
more main streets, it is desirable to have two fire hydrants located on
opposite corners of the building, and located at no closer than 15m of the
building.
Fire department siamese connections allow the fire department to
supplement the water supply to the installed fire protection systems,
including the standpipe, sprinkler system or both. It shall be located on the
exterior of the building in a readily accessible location
The Fire Command Center shall be located near the main entry or where
designated by the local fire department.
All elevators shall be connected to the fire alarm system, such that a building
fire alarm will automatically recall all elevators to the main entrance level or
predetermined alternative level, the doors should then stay open.
Fireman’s elevator/s shall be provided with key switch for use by the fire
department.
Emergency power (normally connected to the emergency generator) must be
arranged to recall all elevators and provide power supply to operate at least
one elevator car (or more, if required by local codes) to each building level
for fire department use. The power supply shall be manually switchable to
other elevators.
Provide access roads for the fire department apparatus. Landscaping, fences
and other equipment shall not create obstacles which block fire department
access to the building.
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Part 5 – Life Safety (Emergency Egress)
Topic
General
Separation of exits
Capacity of exit access
Travel distance
Protection of an exit access
Exit capacity
Horizontal exits
Protection of exits
Dimensions of exits
Security of exits
Exit discharge capacity
Exit discharge location
Starwood Asia Pacific Hotels & Resorts Pte Ltd
Summary
An important aspect of fire protection is life safety.
It is Starwood philosophy to ensure building occupants (staff and guests) are
reasonable protected from fire. One of the ways to ensure this, is to provide
a safe, reliable means of egress from the building.
A means of egress system includes:
1. Exit access
2. Exit system
3. Exit discharge and
4. Emergency lighting, power and exit marking.
Where multiple exits are required, the exits should be adequately separated
so occupants can exit the building or space safely.
Where two exits are required, they shall be remote from one another, such
that the distance between the exits is at least half length of the maximum line
of the exits
The total capacity of the exit access (corridors, ramps, aisles, etc.) should be
adequate in width so all occupants can gain access to an exit in a timely
manner.
Minimum clear width of 112 cm is required for the exit access in assembly,
business and residential occupancies.
Handrails shall be provided on both sides of the staircase and shall not
project more than 9 cm inside the measured width.
The maximum travel distance to an exit is 61 m for fully sprinklered hotel,
mercantile, assembly and business occupancies.
The maximum length of dead end corridors should not exceed 15m.
A protected enclosure that leads to exit shall be provided. This enclosure
shall be appropriately rated to resist smoke and fire.
The exit access shall be separated from other parts of the building by fire
resistive wall, floor and ceiling construction. This will prevent products of
combustion from a fire from entering the exit access space.
Corridor walls shall have a fire resistance of at least 1 hour. Guestroom
doors that open into the corridor shall be rated for 30 minutes or shall be 45
mm solid, bonded wood core, equipped with self-closing and latching door
closing devices.
A minimum of two remote exits are needed on each guestroom floors.
Exit capacity is expressed in terms of egress width per occupant, the
minimum exit capacities for fully sprinklered facilities are based on the
requirements of NFPA 101.
A horizontal exit is normally a door through a firewall into an area of refuge
in the building. It can be used to reduce the amount of stairwells in a
building.
Generally 2-hour fire rating required. For buildings 4 stories or less, 1 hour
rating required. All doors must swing in direction of exit.
There are minimum requirements for dimensions of exits.
All exits serving assembly spaces with loads in excess of 100 persons shall
be fitted with manually operated panic hardware or electrically operated
hardware which can be overridden during power failure or fire alarm
condition. Under no circumstances are exit doors allowed to be locked.
The capacity of the exit discharge shall be adequate to serve the number of
occupants in the exit
Exit discharge doors are to be located at grade level unless they lead to an
exterior staircase that leads to grade.
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 At least one exit stairwell in buildings more than 3 stories in height shall
have doors opening onto the roof
Lighting The exit, exit access and exit discharge shall be continually illuminated and
must be connected to emergency power generator.
Provide battery-backed emergency lightings in all public areas, staircases,
escape routes and all BOH areas.
Exit Signs/Marking Adequate marking of exits should be provided so those occupants unfamiliar
with building can find an exit quickly and leave the building in a safe, timely
manner. Emergency power from the generator shall be provided to supply
power to the exit signs.
Provide battery-backed emergency power for all the Exit signs.
Exit signs shall be provided such that no point in the exit access is more than
30 m from a visible exit directional sign.
All doors in the exit shall be marked by readily visible directional signs.
For new construction or major renovations, low-level exit signs shall be
provided on each door to an exit stair from a corridor. The bottom of the
sign shall be 15 to 20 cm above the floor level.
Emergency power The emergency power generator shall be capable of running all critical loads
for 48 hours, including but not limited to the following:
• Exit access corridor emergency lighting
• Exit signs and exit stairwell lighting
• Emergency generator room and main switchgear room lighting
• Front-of-house and back-of-house emergency lighting
• Computer room emergency lighting
• Computer room air-conditioning unit, power to UPS and UPS battery room
lighting and ventilation
• Lighting in telephone operator’s room, First Aid Center and Fire Command
Center and aircraft warning lights
• Smoke exhaust/removal systems where provided
• Exit stairwell pressurization system where provided
• Minimum one elevator (or more as per local codes), with automatic
switching with manual override for all elevators and/or zones
• Complete fire detection, alarm system, including security alarms
• Complete emergency voice/tone communication systems
• Power for magnetic door hold open devices where provided
• Electric fire and jockey pumps
• Flood pumps, sump pumps, sewer ejector pumps, and other essential pumps
(to be identified by the hotel)
• Telephone PABX system
• Kitchen exhaust hoods
• Designated guestroom electric outlet and emergency lighting in rooms
• Property Management System device/terminals at front desk as well as
Point-of-Sales device/terminals at each Food and Beverage outlet
• Designated coldrooms

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