Tyco Fire & Security provides all types of fire protection, security & access and safety, communication & control systems to offshore, marine, onshore, power generation, chemicals, petrochemicals, and highly hazardous industrial markets, as well as the commercial market. Ross Broadstock, Branch Manager, Tyco Fire & Security said: "Tyco Qatar Fire & Security are world leaders in fire protection and detection and the 2nd Civil Defence Exhibition and Conference is an ideal platform for showcasing the latest developments and technology. Qatar continues to grow in scale and technical requirements and events like this are a great opportunity to showcase the advances being made by us and our strategic business partners here."
A joint venture between between Al Fahad Projects and Tyco Fire & Suwaidi Engineering (incl. Tyco Fire & Security UAE), the company undertakes the design and supply of fire and gas detection systems, emergency shutdown, data gathering, graphic display, safety and control, process control, power and information systems, CCTV, access control, security, structured cabling/I.T., integrated systems, emergency voice evacuation, public address, audio visual systems and fire extinguishing systems using water, foam, gas and dry powder.
"Strong local authorities working in close cooperation with the private sector is the key to achieving the highest standards of public safety. This is certainly the case in Qatar where the Civil Defence Authority is doing an excellent job of insisting on the highest possible standards of products, systems, competence, staff training and company performance," says Broadstock.
"This approach," he adds, "encourages high quality international companies such as Tyco to keep increasing their investment and presence in the Qatar market with the result that public safety is continuously being improved."
As well as the above mentioned systems, Tyco's mechanical product range allows Tyco to offer quality and professional services to clients throughout the Middle East for all of the following systems: Inergen, Vesda, sprinkler, foam, water mist, CO2, FM200, water spray, dry chemicals, fire alarm, CCTV, security and access controls, voice alarm, intercom and fire telephone systems, building automation systems, I.T./structured cabling systems and audio visual systems.
Economic growth throughout the world has brought new industrial technology, increased competition and hazardous working environments. This, in turn, has resulted in tighter regulations and new worldwide legislation being brought into force to protect lives, environment and property. The objective of the Tyco group is to recommend, provide and maintain optimal fire protection and safety & control systems for all risks.
The operation units of Tyco are structured into divisions which serve specific market sectors both for on and offshore systems. These range from small commercial projects and systems through to sophisticated 'state of the art' fire and gas emergency shutdown detection and control systems. All projects are managed and executed in line with the Quality Assurance Procedures of Tyco's ISO 9001 Quality System.
According to Broadstock, to ensure that Tyco stays at the forefront of technology, its product research and development is going on at major research centres in the US and Europe, which employ over 300 dedicated engineers. Manufacturing, technical and development resources are available to resolve all technical challenges and stand behind the performance of the Tyco group.
Tyco Qatar is also able to offer products and services from outside the Tyco range and this verstatility combined with the weight of Tyco research and development creates a constant stream of new products and techniques.
Some of the latest innovations available now can be seen in action at the Tyco Qatar stand (25C) at the exhibition, says Broadstock.
"This will be Tyco's first Qatar Civil Defence Exhibition but hopefully the first of many to come," he remarks.
Tyco is moving more resources into the Qatar market and is looking to have a much larger presence in the commercial market.
Outlining the plans of the company, Broadstock says: "Tyco Qatar Fire & Security is already growing rapidly and there is a long term plan in place to greatly increase presence and profile in this rapidly expanding market."
New, much larger offices have already been taken to deal with both the current influx of new employees and the continued recruitment planned to take place.
Tyco already offers the Qatar market the best and latest products and services in the fields of oil & gas, power generation, industrial and commercial markets and the plan is to keep increasing the local contribution to this process, adds Broadstock.
Door fan testing
One service required by the market that stands out in particular is room integrity testing. The Civil Defense Authority is quite rightly insisting that all rooms protected by fire suppression systems such as FM 200 to be tested for leakage levels. The system works by creating a high enough pressure of agent to starve the fire of oxygen -- One arm of the well known "fire triangle".
This level needs to be maintained for a given amount of time to ensure that the fire will be properly dealt with. The usual method is for a "door fan" test to be carried out. A powerful fan is used to create pressure within the room being protected with sensitive measuring devices comparing the pressures achieved with optimum levels. Some calculations are then made bearing in mind the volume of the room, the quantity of agent being used and the scale of the leakage.
The time that the agent will be maintained at an operative level is then calculated. This generally needs to be above 10 minutes.
The great advantage of these suppression systems is that, as can be seen on the Tyco stand, the agents being used do not damage any of the sensitive electronics in the room. This is why they are very popular with IT rooms in particular and appear across many business developments.
Tyco has being carrying out these tests across the Oil, Gas, industrial and commercial markets for years and are one of the few companies with the expertise and equipment necessary to provide the required reports. Tyco are already working with facility mangers, building owners and fit-out contractors to carry out this testing on new builds and retrospectively. The Civil Defense Authority are also starting to more closely regulate this area as without a high enough room integrity the fire fighting suppression systems employed are little more than decoration.
© The Peninsula 2009
