The New York State Office of Fire Prevention and Control (OFPC) performs annual fire safety inspections of all campus buildings. The OFPC inspector identifies violations of fire codes and educates faculty, staff and students about fire safety and prevention.
EHS partners with Physical Plant and Building Coordinators to accompany OFPC during the inspections of academic and administrative buildings, which typically occur in the spring. Student Living and Learning partners with Physical Plant to accompany OFPC during inspections of residential buildings, which typically occur in the fall.
Understanding and complying with fire safety requirements is everyone's responsibility. Your actions can prevent fires on campus. Visit the Fire Prevention webpage for information about common issues identified during building inspections and some of the commonly asked questions.
Building Coordinators play an important role in fire prevention, by maintaining compliance with fire codes and educating building occupants. Following these steps will help keep your areas in compliance with fire codes.
- Walk your building regularly and address any issues. Use our General Building Safety Inspection Checklist to assist you with your walkthroughs. Fire prevention is important every day, not just in advance of an inspection!
- Educate occupants in your building about compliance with fire safety requirements.
- Notify occupants in your building in advance of the scheduled OFPC inspection, so they are aware of when the inspection is expected to take place.
- Ask occupants to inspect their offices, labs and work areas and mitigate any findings prior to the OFPC inspections.
Contact EHS with any questions or concerns about fire safety requirements.
These are the top violations found during OFPC inspections of academic and administrative buildings.
- Items attached or hanging on sprinkler pipes.
- Surge protector plugged into extension cords.
- Surge protector plugged into surge protectors.
- Unprotected multi-tap/multi-plug extension cords.
- Exits blocked by storage.
- Compressed gas tanks unsecured.
- Space heaters not plugged directly into wall outlet and/or no tip over protection.
- Storage blocking sprinkler spray patterns or storage of items within 18 inches of the ceiling.
- Laser curtains blocking sprinkler spray patterns.
- Doors failing to close and latch.
Check your areas for these types of violations. Correct any issues that you find or ask for help from your Building Coordinator, FIXX or EHS.
Visit the Fire Prevention page for more information about fire safety requirements.
If you have any questions about fire code requirements or annual state fire inspections, contact EHS@rpi.edu.
