§ 279 — Fire alarm signal systems and fire drills

§ 279. Fire alarm signal systems and fire drills. 1. Fire alarm signal\nsystems. Except as may otherwise be provided by the board in its rules,\nevery factory building over two stories in height in which more than\ntwenty-five persons are employed above the ground floor shall be\nequipped by the owner thereof with a fire alarm signal system having a\nsufficient number of signals clearly audible to all occupants of the\nbuilding, and so arranged as to permit the sounding of all the alarms\nwithin the building whenever the alarm is sounded in any portion\nthereof. Such system shall be maintained in good working order and no\nperson shall tamper with same or render ineffective any portion thereof\nexcept to repair it. A person discovering a fire shall cause an alarm to\nbe sounded immediately. The board of standards and appeals in the city\nof New York and elsewhere the board may make rules and regulations\nrelating to the installation of fire alarm signals and prescribing the\nnumber, character and location of the signals and the method and\ncharacter of the installation including that of all appliances in\nconnection therewith.\n 2. Fire drills. Except as may otherwise be provided by the board in\nits rules, in every factory building over two stories in height in which\nmore than twenty-five persons are employed above the ground floor, a\nfire drill shall be conducted at least once a month in which all of the\noccupants of the building shall participate simultaneously and which\nshall conduct all such occupants to a place of safety. In New York city\nthe fire commissioner and elsewhere the board shall make rules,\nregulations and special orders necessary or suitable to each situation\nand to secure the personal co-operation of all the tenants of the\nbuilding in a fire drill of all the occupants thereof. Such rules,\nregulations and orders may require the posting of the same or an\nabstract thereof and may prescribe upon whom shall rest the duty of\ncarrying them out.\n 3. Exceptions. Subdivisions one and two of this section shall not\napply to a building in which every square foot of the floor area on all\nstories is protected with an automatic sprinkler system having two\nadequate sources of water supply and approved by the public authorities\nhaving jurisdiction thereof and in which also the maximum number of\noccupants of any one floor does not exceed by more than fifty per centum\nthe capacity of the exits, as determined by subdivisions one, two, three\nand four of section two hundred and seventy-eight. If the commissioner\nafter investigation determines that the spirit of this chapter is\nobserved and public safety secured he may permit in place of the\nautomatic sprinkler system before specified an automatic sprinkler\nsystem having one adequate source of water supply and approved by the\npublic authorities having jurisdiction thereof.\n 4. The provisions of this section shall be enforced in the city of New\nYork by the fire commissioner of said city and elsewhere by the\ncommissioner.\n