Modern industrial facilities and worksites are potentially vulnerable to a variety of dangers.
Toxic leaks, explosions and industrial fires are a few examples of the hazards that protective buildings and shelters must defend against to protect both personnel and vital facility equipment.
When installing a new protective building for employees, choose a multi-hazard resistant building (MRB) that capably protects against multiple threats simultaneously.
Most protective buildings are designed to defend occupants and critical equipment against worksite hazards. However, worksite hazards are not always singular or isolated. In fact, worksite hazards and threats can exacerbate or affect one another, leading to highly dangerous situations that demand more versatile, comprehensive building design.
An industrial facility explosion, for example, may not just result in dangerous blast loads that pose threats to personnel and equipment, but could also lead to a fire that could burn industrial materials and create toxic offgas. Thus, a protective building that only defends against blast loads would not be enough to keep facility workers safe.
The most effective protective shelters and buildings utilize multi-hazard-resistant designs, which use defensive construction and material approaches that offer resilience against several hazards at once. Potential threats are typically determined through a facility siting study or multi-hazard risk assessment, which identifies and addresses site-specific risks.
MRBs are ideal defensive solutions for worksite blast resistance and overall protection in a multi-hazard environment. They offer personnel protection, peace of mind and additional security, and though they provide a superb level of protection against a wide range of hazards, they are just as effective against singular threats as their more specialized protective counterparts.
Multi-hazard-resistant design is a cost-effective solution for facilities and industrial worksites because a single building can protect against several dangers by acting as a holistic defensive solution, negating the need for multiple installations. Multiple buildings increase the likelihood of a misalignment in integration, which could require costly changes in processes and/or operations down the road.
Buildings may only be MRBs if they are designed to protect against several potential threats, not just one. MRB manufacturers, such as FORTRESS, extensively test structures against worksite hazards while keeping versatility in mind. FORTRESS Protective Buildings are tested at full scale multiple times, using the same panels to determine their ability to withstand specific situations and hazards.
A multi-hazard-resistant design doesn’t sacrifice protection in one area to bolster defense in another. Well-designed MRBs offer comprehensive protection for facility workers and vital equipment against most potential worksite threats. That’s why FORTRESS’ MRBs, made of 8-inch-thick reinforced concrete modules, offer simultaneous defense against thermal, blast and fragment hazards. Concrete is inherently resistant to fire damage, for example, while FORTRESS’ reinforced concrete walls are specifically designed to be durable against industrial explosive loads.
In addition, a FORTRESS MRB is designed for gas protection to keep occupants safe against toxic hazards and offer superior resilience to extreme weather hazards such as storm winds, debris and flooding.
Each industrial facility is unique and faces different potential threats. FORTRESS’ reinforced concrete modules are available in customizable layouts, all offering the same high level of protection. Clients can select the layout that works best for their specific needs and security concerns, then benefit from fast turnaround time and turnkey delivery without compromising on hazard-resistant construction principles.
For more information, visit fortressprotectivebuildings.com or call (281) 404-6400.
