38 SAFETY AND SECURITY – RECENT TRENDS IN HUMAN MACHINE INTERFACES (HMI), CONCEPT OF BUILDING AUTOMATION

S. Visalakshi Rajeswari

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Introduction

 

Housing is not merely provision of a shelter. Type, adequacy and design of house help protect health status and also the psychological well being and social vigor of the inmates. WHO expert committee had outlined six major health needs to be met in human dwellings as guiding principles, among which five are greatly significant. The housing aspects planned have to focus on these issues and facilitate their provision and implementation to protect and preserve the health of the residents

 

Objectives

 

Gain knowledge on:

  •  The five major health needs
  •  Appreciable housing environments
  •  Safe and secured living provisions
  •  Prevention of home accidents
  •  Building Automation Systems (BAS)
  1. 1. Protection against infectious diseases: Inhabitants of a house need to be protected from infections and the consequent bouts of communicable diseases. Due attention to housing environment and facilities provided are crucial for achieving this objective. It can easily be achieved by efficient planning of the following spaces and services and building the structure accommodating them. They are provision for potable and safe water supply, amenities for appropriate sewage and sullage disposal, safe and hygienic solid waste disposal facilities, proper drainage facilities, spaces for personal and domestic hygiene, ergonomically designed kitchen and structural safeguards like ventilation.
  2. Protection against injuries and toxic substances: Residents of a house also need to be protected from possible injuries and poisoning. Protection should be ensured by incorporating admissible features on structural aspects and furnishings, indoor air quality, chemical safety and the activities carried out
  3. Structural features and furnishings: To protect the health of the inmates and to reduce hazards, primarily one should exercise caution in the selection of the building site, structure or type of housing to be raised, number of floors and the furnishings preferred.
  4. Type of housing: Irrespective of one’s socio – economic status, within the means, one should plan for an appreciable design (plan) of a house, select durable materials and stable construction techniques and ensure the necessary comfort zones of safe, dry and comfortable dwelling units. Factors considered influence greatly the satisfaction derived.
  1. Pros and cons of high rise buildings: Living in multi storied apartments has become the trend of recent years. Though they are much preferred for space constraint reasons, compactness, safety/ security aspects, urban neighbourhood etc., they pose a lot of special hazards to residents. Ensuring safety and security in these structures would depend on type of residents, gender, age, preferences and limitations To ensure safety in such places, ample thought and planning should be given (especially to the design of staircases) to:
  • build proper, safe staircases and fire exits accessible during emergencies
  • build stair treads of non slippery material to reduce falls
  • prefer non slippery (less polished, waxed) flooring
  • build stair treads and rise adopting standard regulations
  • include handrails for balance and support
  • marking of isolated steps
  • avoid high rise ramps
  • avoid laying uneven floors and sudden changes in level of flooring
  • gaps between rails (in the horizontal) should not be larger than a child’s head
  • design windows high enough to prevents falls from upper floors
  • avoid winding and spiral staircases where ever possible
  • exclude open risers (with gaps behind) – causes of accidents as well as unsecured feeling
  • provide services at accessible places for any repair / maintenance work
  • provide services at places not accessible to children
  • provide child proof sockets
  • provide adequate exits for smoke, fumes and obnoxious gases

Safety in the kitchen: Kitchen, the nerve centre of the house is where residents are most susceptible to accidents. Building safe and secure kitchens hence gains priority.

  1. Selection of furniture/ furnishings: Though this aspect is not accorded the needed importance, it is highly essential that residents practice caution in the selection and use of them. Safety considerations have to be vested on the selection and use of furniture and furnishings like upholstered seating arrangements, mattresses, pillows, cushions, curtains, draperies, rugs and carpets. Similarly the pressed wood mostly found in modular units also gives out fumes in the long run. From safety point of view great care should be taken when using metal fixtures, furniture ends with sharp corners, glass products and the like, especially in families with elderly members and children. Other aspects to be considered include discarding defective ladders, use of fire retardant materials, and provision of insets for laying door mats.
  2. Indoor air quality: Materials used for constructing the building, finishes used, flooring and roofing materials, insulation provided, plumbing and wiring materials – all may at times act as pollutants in an interior. Exposure of individuals to known toxic materials like lead paints (high VOC), asbestos, certain plastics, polymers and synthetics occur only because of their presence in some form, rendering the space toxic and irritating to the user.

Many air pollutants are also found in houses like oxides of carbon, nitrogen and sulphur, radon gas, formaldehyde, ozone, creosote, mineral fibers, organic compounds

 

Human habits like regular breathing (inhalation and exhalation) and use of tobacco for chewing or smoking, especially in crowded places (rooms) will affect the safety component in a house. Studies prove passive smokers are more affected than active smokers.

 

Pollution due to fuel combustion is the next most important point of concern. Inefficient cooking devices, method of cooking and heating using wood, charcoal, crop residue or agricultural wastes in open hearth are typical of rural households which subjects people who inhale in the vicinity to air pollution in the interior.

 

Unless proper ventilation is provided, such polluted air gets re-circulated, especially in forced air heating systems and tightly insulated buildings. Pollutants from outside in higher concentrations also may get trapped within. Such buildings cause a condition called sick building syndrome in residents.

 

Shared accommodation (common practice in metro cities) and slum dwellers should be ever cautious about impending emergencies like fire, open flames and fumes from disposal of wastes, as they would have provided only minimum ventilation and air circulation facilities in their humble dwellings

 

Prospects for stagnation of water, high humidity, water logging, and seepage in floors, walls and ceilings also render the places unfit for human habitation, because they can nurture microbial growth which in turn pollutes the environment.

 

Selection and use of quality building materials, proper planning for ventilation and circulation and avoiding use of products that are not recommended for use in building like asbestos (which has been banned) and overcrowding can greatly help to maintain appreciable air quality in an interior.

 

c.  Chemical safety: This is an aspect about which even urban population are ignorant of. Components in cleaning agents (utensils, flooring, bath and toilets), room fresheners, air borne agricultural or garden chemicals (including their residues) polluting surface and groundwater, clothing and footwear are factors very often ignored. Chemicals used in repellents to eliminate nuisance from mosquitoes, flies, rodents, cockroaches etc highly affect many people health wise. Educating people on the ill effects of using such chemical agents and creating awareness on safe use of such products have to be taken up as a social endeavour to help people ensure safety in their houses despite using them for practical purposes.

 

d.  Use of home as workplace: Many entrepreneurs, contract labourers and self employed people use their home environment itself as their workplace. If so, proper conversion factors have to be practiced in such ways that homemaking and vocational activities do not interfere with each other. The same situation in rural areas should envisage control of health hazards from agricultural activities and tasks related to animal husbandry.

 

Congested living facilities combined with occupational requirements have to be under constant vigil for unexpected outbreaks of fire, explosions, and collapse of buildings.

 

3. Minimal psychological and social stress: Home is considered as the abode where the family seeks rest, relaxation and peace of mind from all external influences. Providing the right ambience for them to endure the least stress of both psychological and social origin receives priority. It is often said that a poor household environment perpetuating psychological stress is the origin of people who emerge as social elements. Measures to curtail such depressing situations have to be thought of.

 

4.Appreciable housing environment: Often if this aspect is satisfied, everything needed to ensure safety and security in the house automatically gets gratified. How?

  •  Eliminate problems related to typical urban and rural poor housing
  • Facilitate easy access to places of work, essential services and amenities
  •  Design aesthetically pleasing house environments
  •  Ensure space for all round development of the family members
  • Make access to commercial and cultural facilities accessible
  •  Plan houses which promise security and emergency services (fire exits, medical services)
  • Design houses which promote necessary health and social services (management of solid/ liquid wastes, social interaction spots, safety features)
  • Practicing efficient town planning to control congestion and smooth traffic patterns (wide streets, accessibility for ambulance, fire fighters etc)
  •   Raising public/ community gardens (use sullage, recycled water)
  •   Enforce strict adherence to housing standards and stipulations (zoning restrictions, set back standards)
  •   Educate residents on civic sense and responsibilities
  •  Strengthening vigilance to curtail production and use of consumer goods unsafe for human use (which can cause fire, accidents, injuries, poisoning etc)
  •  Monitor use of safe/ eco friendly building materials, electrical and plumbing materials
  •  Draft plans to ensure safety of children, elderly, sick and physically/ visually challenged inmates
  •  Frame economic and social policies related to housing to ensure safety and security of every resident in the house
  • Incorporate health requirements into legislation and housing codes/ standards (construction, maintenance and use of houses)
  •   Encourage community cooperation and self help to maintain safety and security

5.    Safe and secured living provisions

 

Apart from ensuring security (from thefts, natural calamities) there are certain aspects that require incorporation in the plan itself to ensure safety in the house. They are essentially aspects that help in fire safety and prevention of accidents and loss of property

 

I.   Fire safety: This is a unique issue warranting special attention in all processes – planning and designing, construction and in maintenance. Measures should focus on both prevention and control. Episodes of fire can be prevented by installation of correct fire protection system and safe structural design. There are five principles that can help prevent and control fire. They are:

  •  Prevent outbreak of fire (be cautious/ careful in actions)
  •    Provide for early detection (have alarm mechanisms)
  •   Prevent spread of fire (proper insulation, quick action etc)
  • Provide for prompt extinguishing (easy access to extinguishers with contents, reflex action)
  • Provide for immediate evacuation of people (provision for easy exits and action on war footing
  • Control use of defective wiring systems

Apart from these are three aspects that involve voluntary action from all individuals.

 

They are:

  •  Leadership building in residents (staff in other buildings) to react spontaneously to the emergency
  •  Safe and well maintained firefighting equipment ready at hand
  • Safe practices of work by individuals so as to prevent a fire prima facie

   A.  Causes of fire: Major causes of fire in houses happen due to carelessness of the family members or use of unsafe materials in construction, insulation, wiring and plumbing. For this one needs to identify the causes of fire which can be numerous and the possible ways of preventing an event

 

B. Prevention of fire: Envisaging episodes of fire and taking preventive measures is the most intelligent way. Later in an emergency, people have to depend on presence of mind and prompt action to curtail further spread and reduce damages to individuals and property.

 

1.   Structural safety measures:

  • Include barriers (fire walls, baffles, dampers, shutters, stair wells, and ventilating ducts) to limit/ curtail spread of fire
  •  Design fire resistant structures (fire proofing of building, use of fire proof materials in construction/ finish)
  •  Selection and use of materials seeing to their ignitability (flammable, non flammable and hardly flammable)
  • Proper access to building and fire fighters (open space/ setback around buildings and wider roads)
  •  Spacious parking with ample clearance between parked vehicles
  • Properly built and exclusive staircases which will not be a hindrance during emergency evacuation
  • Glass doors of non – splinter safety glass with adequate marking
  • Two way switches for stairs and entrances

2.   Emergency exit provisions

  •   Well maintained exits
  • Broad exits without narrow sections, sharp corners, ill lit passageways, narrow landings and inadequate space at foot of stairs
  •   Enclosing staircase in fire resisting walls
  •   Openings or egress through fire doors
  •   Clearly indicated exits
  •    Well lighted exits along with emergency lamps
  •   Use of exits as store rooms cluttered with all trash
  •   Avoidance of wooden stairs, spiral staircases and ladders, unsuitable for exit purposes

3. Provision of Services: Three important aspects are of concern here : provision of lifts/elevators, additional distribution systems and handy personnel

  • Provide lifts of adequate capacity, speed and number
  •  Provide for an alternate electric circuit or generators especially for lifts, fire hydrants, passages and staircases
  • Envisage and facilitate emergency power supply for lighting the passages of egress. An emergency light should automatically illuminate the exit floor in the event of an episode and consequent power failur
  •  Reliable personnel; young, smart, prompt reflex and fire trained

4. Exclusive fire safety provisions: They include fire lifts, fire water tanks, fire detectors (smoke detectors, heat detectors and flame detectors), fire alarms, sprinklers, fire extinguishers, fire bucket, fire bell and other accessory items: swinging hose reel, hose box

 

II.     Prevention of Accidents

 

Accidents happen due to careless human behavior and/or environmental factors. An accident is an unplanned act or event causing injury or death to living beings and damage to property. They are known only after they have happened; hence the causes are established later. Accidents can occur due to slips, falls, fractures, fire, poisoning, burning and scalding, drowning, fireworks, firearms, choking, cuts, suffocation, asphyxiation, and electric shocks. Therefore accidents just do not happen, but are caused. Foresight and carefulness can definitely help prevent them.

  •  Lack of knowledge/ intelligence, shirking personal responsibility, inadequate skill, poor work habits, lack of desirable sight, hearing and health, coordination impairment
  •  Unsafe behavior, lack of supervision and unsafe environments
  • Human error – physiological (fatigue, sleeplessness, alcohol or drug reactions, ignorance, inexperience); emotional (anger, worry, excitement, aggression, carelessness)
  • Defective equipment – faulty designs,
  • Accessories- pharmaceutical products, toxic paints, household products (polishes, cleaning agents of all sorts, cosmetics, repellents, agro protective agents, plastic curtains and accessories (cause choking) dangling items like telephone wire or toys (cause strangling)
  • Obstructions/ easy access – poor housing structure, ill designed window grills and balcony balustrades with large gaps, poor housekeeping practices, uncovered plug points accessible to children, loose wires, swimming pools, bath tubs, broken glass door panes, extension cords,
  • Unforeseen changes in the work area – loud noise, machine breakdown, ringing of a bell, sudden distractions, power failure (darkness), unidentified impending danger, aspirating fragments, open drains/ garbage chutes
  • Unexpected agents of change – gas leakage, spilt liquids (oil or grease) on the floor, mix of flammable gases, damaged rug, misplaced items (brooms, toys, knives, tools),glass pieces,
  •  Lack of safety awareness, auto controls, preventive provisions (handrails, grip handles, catches), safety consciousness

III. Building Automation System (BAS)

 

BAS is a system that manages in an automated mode the various equipments and sensors incorporated in buildings (e.g., heating, cooling and ventilating) for improving residents’ comfort, reduction of energy consumption and automatic responses in case of failure and emergency plus above all the safety and security of the inmates. For instance, BAS can sense the temperature of a room, control the HVAC system automatically to maintain the temperature level and minimize the energy consumption.

 

Building Automation Devices Employed in Buildings

 

  1. Human Machine Interface (HMI)

These depict common computing platforms operated by users or those entrusted with the job like a watchman. Generally they include monitoring, controlling and configuring devices. The part of the machine that handles the human–machine interaction is referred to as the user interface or human–machine interface. Membrane switches, rubber keypads and touch screens are examples of the physical part of the Human Machine Interface which users can see or touch and operate.

 

Schedules for operation are stored in BAS. Hence these two, HMI and BAS work hand in hand during operations. They communicate through local controllers via an IP based communication protocol. Local controllers sense the device’s status and convey information to HMI or BAS. The devices under their control can be fans, lighting, HVAC, doors and other specialty sensors (temperature, humidity, illuminance and the like). They are put to multiple uses like monitoring of the environmental conditions, detection of smoke, fire or gas leakages and feedback control. Sensor faucets and hand driers are recent inclusions in many public places.

 

Summary and Conclusion

 

Housing provides shelter and fosters all round development of individuals. It is expected to ensure safety, security, comfort, convenience, socio – psycho satisfaction plus opportunities for self expression. It is in the last aspect that builders and house owners should focus attention to ensure that all the other factors are taken care of in the planning and building processes itself. Once built making changes will prove risky and exorbitant. Always remember prevention is better than cure.

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Web links

  • http://tools.ietf.org/html/draft-bas-usecase-detnet-00

 

Reference

 

  • Gandotra,V and Patel, S (2006), Housing for Family Living, Delhi: Dominant Publishers and Distributors, Pp: 16.1 – 17.5
  • Kaneko   Toshiba,   Y   and   Das,   S    (2016)   Building    Automation    Use   Cases    andRequirements   for   Deterministic   Networking;           https://tools.ietf.org/html/draft-bas- usecase-detnet-00 (accessed on 15.5.2017)