It goes without saying that fires in the workplace leave a devastating impact on businesses. Along with the obvious risk of lost lives, there’s also the danger of damage to the building and it’s contents, plus the loss of critical data.
Where data centres are concerned, the loss of data is naturally a risk that must be prevented at all costs. With the recent news of the devastating OVH data centre fire this week, fire safety is a huge discussion point within the sector.
The fire took 3.6 million websites, on 464,000 distinct domains offline, and destroyed the entire SBG2 data centre, along with four out of 12 rooms in the adjacent SBG1 data centre.
Data centres are at risk of many causes of fire, such as:
- Fires from outside, such as in car parks, or an arson attack on the building
- Wires and power cables, which if faulty, could spark ignition
- HVAC equipment, which poses a risk due to motors and electrical components
- Aeration spaces, such as raised floors and suspended ceilings
- Combustible materials, like cardboard boxes and paperwork
With all the above risk factors (and more), a thorough fire safety strategy must be in place for all data centres.
Included in this should be entrances such as Security Portals – and there’s where our expertise kicks in.
Meesons offer two fire resistant Security Portals, which, along with keeping premises secure from unauthorised personnel, slow down the spread of fire and allow the integrity of a fire line to be maintained.
Both Security Portals offer a high level of resistance against fire attack. They help contain the fire and stop it spreading rapidly, greatly reducing the amount of damage that the fire can cause. The portals provide 60 and 120 minutes of resistance, making sure staff have time to escape and giving more time for fire services to arrive. They can also be linked to fire alarm systems, so that the doors will open automatically to allow staff to exit freely.
An example of a data centre which benefits from these Security Portals is the VIRTUS data centre in London. VIRTUS is one of the UK’s fastest growing data centre operators; their London data centre is a highly secure site and operates six layers of physical security. Meesons installed the FPJ140 2SF fire-rated portal to maintain the integrity of its fire wall.
For a no-obligation chat about fire-rated entrances, please get in touch with us and one of our team will be happy to support you.
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