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## Improving Initial Safety Occupancy, improving initial safety and allowing greater flexibility for interior layouts as the floors were altered later during their occupancy. A win for all! On the other hand, if builders object to installing so-called temporary sprinkler systems, there is an alter...

## Improving Initial Safety Occupancy, improving initial safety and allowing greater flexibility for interior layouts as the floors were altered later during their occupancy. A win for all! On the other hand, if builders object to installing so-called temporary sprinkler systems, there is an alternative: Forbid the use of any floor above the levels where all fire protection systems are not fully operational. This may sound like a severe restriction, especially to the real estate industry, but it is the only way to ensure the safety of the occupants above. Remember that the spread of fire is unusually rapid in buildings where work in progress. This is so even in partially occupied buildings where all of the doors and windows are in place. Stairwell doors and doors between occupancies are often blocked open to facilitate the passage of material from one area to another. The result may be that a fire contaminates all of the stairways in the building, trapping any and all occupants who happen to be caught above it.