The purpose of the Life Safety Evaluation (LSE) Ordinance is to provide the building owners with an assessment of a building by determining the level of safety afforded by the existing building features and focuses on improving the life safety attributes of the existing building.
The LSE Ordinance focuses on three (3) major areas of safety as follows:
1. Fire Safety
is a measure of the ability to contain a fire within the place of fire origin by passive means such as fire barriers and to extinguish the fire by active means using fire sprinklers or manual fire department intervention. It is determined by the fire endurance characteristics of the barriers, the structural stability of the building frame, the nature of the fire environment, the ability to detect and alarm a fire condition and the nature of the response to that alarm.
2. Means of Egress
is a measure of the ability of building occupants to escape to a safe location within or outside of the building in case of a fire. It is determined by the ability to detect and announce a fire condition, the character and availability of the emergency escape egress system and/or area of refuge, and the ability to communicate with the building occupants during and after a fire. General Safety is a measure of the overall fire safety level of the building.
Maxima's experinced technical staff have prepared Life Safety Evaluation Reports for Chicago buildings within the ordinances.
Contact Maxima today to discuss how they can assist with your project or
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