Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH) project honored for safety in construction practices with a IFMA Boston Excellence Award for Best Practices in Sustainability, according to an article on the Insurance News Net website.

The award honors a new approach that "sets a new benchmark" and establishes a "model of best practices" for the improvement of fire and life safety compliance during and after construction of healthcare facilities.

The new approach to fire stopping and life safety management, designed by environmental and engineering consultant EH&E and BWH, shows hospitals how to cost effectively resolve these deficiencies and how to set the foundation for maintaining life safety and firewall barrier systems throughout the life of their buildings.

EH&E and BWH collaborated on a program to address root causes of firewall breaches and permit proactive identification and resolution of fire and life safety deficiencies during construction. The program ensures issues are addressed during construction so the hospital starts with a safe and compliant building at the time it is occupied.

The hospital saves costs because they are not inheriting fire safety deficiencies — responsibility for repairs is put back on the contractor. The program also includes implementation of a "continuous compliance" program to insure proper procedures are followed during renovation and maintenance activities throughout the life of the building.

This new fire stopping and life safety management program was implemented on new construction and renovation projects at BWH. The result is greater than 96 percent compliance with The Joint Commission and an estimated savings of more than $10,000 per each 10,000 square feet of floor area through the repair of firewall deficiencies prior to occupancy.

Read the article.