Optimal fire safety for the Afsluitdijk

Fire safety is an important issue for the Afsluitdijk. To properly monitor the risk of fire, Unica Fire Safety was asked to provide the fire alarm and evacuation systems and the aspiration system. In addition, the locations were fireproof sealed for maximum fire safety. 

At Unica Fire Safety, they are used to challenging projects. Yet the Afsluitdijk is of an entirely different order. "Especially the safety, the different disciplines that come together in the project as well as the different locations that are connected to each other, gave the necessary technical and organizational challenges," explains project manager Waeel Al Modhiji. "For example, the buildings housing the installations are not constantly occupied. Also, there are specific areas like server rooms full of equipment and data, these have to be secured and monitored up and down. Fire must not only be detected, but immediate action must be taken to control any fire. After all, everything must remain operational. The latter was perhaps the biggest challenge: how do we ensure that in the event of a fire alarm, all functions remain intact?"

Alignment between systems

The various locations for which Unica Fire Safety provided fire safety solutions include the procurement station, the control building of the floodgate, the Vismigratierivier and the floodgates at Den Oever and Kornwerderzand. "In the control building, we additionally hung a fire alarm panel. Each location has its own user function, depending on that function we made a plan of action based on the program of requirements from construction consortium Levvel, which performs the work and maintenance on behalf of Rijkswaterstaat. The control building of the floodgate, to give an example, is an industrial space with a lot of equipment that controls the locks. It is also a relatively small space with multiple pieces of equipment that must communicate with the equipment at the other locations. That makes it a complex whole."

Extinguishing with gas

Extinguisher gas systems have been installed at the mentioned locations. These contain a certain type of gas which displaces oxygen from the room and thus extinguishes the fire to prevent material damage. "We apply this type of installation particularly in spaces such as machine rooms and server rooms to control, or extinguish, an incipient fire without affecting all the objects present in the space."

Additional fire protection measures

But more has happened in the area of fire safety. For example, the specialist team at Gerco Fire Prevention, one of the companies within the Unica Fire Safety cluster, has fireproofed all penetrations relating to cables, gutters, architectural seams, fire dampers at the Vismigration River culvert, the buying station and the floodgate. Folkert van der Leest, foreman at Gerco says, "We are carrying out all the work in phases. At the pumping station and the sluice gates at Den Oever, for example, we are going to seal all fire-resistant penetrations at the pump groups, scupper groups, valves and slide houses. Because the locations where we work are scattered from each other, we have paid extra attention to working safely. For example, according to construction site guidelines, our work buses are equipped with flashing lights and work traffic signs. We also had special orange reflection vests made with a zipper for performing work between installation parts. All in all, it is a unique project to be able to work on. Given the enormous scope of the project in all facets, we are proud to also be able to contribute to the construction of the fire safety of the Afsluitdijk." 

Trust

Waeel also looks back on the cooperation with Levvel and other partners with satisfaction: "We were able to contribute our expertise to a special project. It is a great responsibility to ensure that all locations are fire-safe. We are grateful that Unica was given that trust."