{"id":1118,"date":"2025-04-24T12:45:00","date_gmt":"2025-04-24T12:45:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vbtbrandveiligheid.nl\/?p=1118"},"modified":"2025-04-25T06:14:43","modified_gmt":"2025-04-25T06:14:43","slug":"fire-safety-phone-booths","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vbtbrandveiligheid.nl\/en\/brandveiligheid-belcellen\/","title":{"rendered":"Sprinkler protection and detection in call and quiet rooms: what is mandatory and what isn't?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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<\/i>Back to overview<\/span><\/a><\/div>
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Sprinkler protection and detection in call and quiet rooms?<\/h2>\n<\/div><\/div>
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Workpods, call booths, quiet boxes, acoustic cells \u2013 whatever you call them, they are indispensable in modern work environments today. Call and quiet booths offer peace and privacy, but also raise questions about fire safety. Especially in buildings with sprinkler systems or fire alarm and evacuation alarm systems (BMI\/OAI), it is important to know: do they need to be secured separately? This CCV<\/a> offers clear answers to this in the meantime.<\/p>\n

Harmonisation agreements and interpretative decisions<\/h3>\n

In practice, it regularly occurs that rules and standards can be interpreted in different ways. Especially in the absence of frameworks or performance requirements in a standard, regulation, or rule, discussion quickly arises about what exactly is \u2018sufficiently fire-safe\u2019. This not only creates uncertainty for building owners, designers, and installers, but also makes assessment by inspection bodies difficult and sometimes inconsistent.<\/p>\n

To prevent these differences in interpretation, harmonisation agreements<\/strong> produced in the Fire Safety Inspection Harmonisation Consultation of the CCV. This consultation is intended to enable unambiguous assessment of existing situations. These agreements help to treat similar cases in the same way and therefore offer clarity in practice. Harmonisation agreements are aimed at the assessment of existing installations for inspection bodies and are not legally binding for new designs.<\/p>\n

In addition, the CCV's expert panel also provides practical frameworks in the form of a interpretative decision<\/strong>. These are applicable to the design of new buildings and installations until the interpretation decision is incorporated into a standard, provision, or regulation. For us as consultants, these interpretation decisions are indispensable. They provide us with direction in the advisory process, ensure predictability in the inspection process, and prevent unnecessary investments for our clients in facilities that subsequently prove not to be mandatory. They thus form a valuable basis for reliable and future-proof fire safety solutions.<\/p>\n

What does the CCV say about fire safety in call and silence cells?<\/h3>\n
For both<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>Sprinkler installations<\/a>\u00a0<\/span>as for<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>BMI\/OAI systems<\/a>\u00a0<\/span>Have interpretation decisions been drawn up by the CCV expert panel? These provide clarity on when a call or quiet booth must be separately equipped with a sprinkler head, smoke detector, alarm and\/or flashing light.<\/span> At the bottom of this news report, we have included links to download these decisions directly. Below is a summary of the principles.<\/span><\/h5>\n
Sprinkler protection: conditional exception<\/h5>\n

For sprinkler installations, a bell or silent spray booth does not need to be provided separately from a sprinkler head, provided that all the following conditions are met:<\/p>\n

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If one of these conditions is not met, sprinkler protection is still required.<\/p>\n

Detection and alarm (BMI\/OAI): limited obligation<\/h5>\n

Similarly, for fire detection and evacuation alarms, a separate provision in the bell or quiet room is not always necessary. According to the interpretation decision of the BMI-OAI expert panel, the following criteria apply for this:<\/p>\n

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Can a call or quiet room still be placed without any additional measures?<\/h3>\n

It is possible to position and use call or quiet booths in such a way that additional sprinkler protection or signalling is not required. This does, however, demand careful integral assessment beforehand. Assuming a building with sprinkler protection and a fire detection\/evacuation alarm system, this means:<\/p>\n