All commercial buildings or spaces have various safety measures to protect the occupants when accidents happen. The most common scenario is that commercial areas face fire within a room with so much wiring required for its operation, such as laundry facilities. Most fire safety features ensure the site’s safety and let assigned personnel extinguish the fire as quickly as possible.

Laundry rooms are primarily overlooked in fire safety hazards designs, especially when it comes to cost savings interest. Designing an efficient laundry room needs careful consideration for its electrical connections by incorporating adequate fire safety features such as fire-rated laundry access panels to conceal those valuable electrical connections properly. Its safety requires appropriate planning as it deals with many electrical connections and water, which is very hazardous when accidentally coming in contact.

Here are some reasons why fire-rated access panels are essential in laundry facilities:

1.Safety Conceal Electrical Cables

It is essential to install fire-rated access panels in the laundry area to safely and adequately organize all the electrical connections. Leaving this electrical cable exposed can lead to severe hazards such as electrocution and can potentially cause a fire. Incorporating fire-rated access panels will prevent this from happening as it will safely conceal all electrical connections and other valuable components from moisture and water contact.

2.Provide Enough Time to Evacuate or Extinguish the Fire

The design of every fire-rated access panel can withstand flame and heat at a specific time before failing. When a fire incident occurs, this time frame will allow all workers or occupants in the laundry area to evacuate the space. Some fire-rated access panels feature 60 minutes of fire rating, giving enough time to evacuate the area and call for a firefighter to control or extinguish the fire. It also provides easy and quick access during emergencies, like if any equipment is on fire and you need to shut off the primary electrical control immediately.

3.Protect the Equipment

Fire-rated access panels can help protect the equipment in the laundry facility. Without the panels, the essential equipment and assets in the facility, such as dryers, washing machines, etc., can get damaged during a fire. They can conceal the equipment at a specific time, preventing the fire from spreading to the whole area, thus saving essential assets from getting damaged.

4.Enable Efficient Operation in the Laundry Facility

Incorporating safety features in the laundry area, such as fire-rated access doors and panels, can help with the efficient operation of the facility. It helps ensure the adequate supply of all the power requirements to its operation activities without interruptions due to electrical connection issues.

While laundry spaces often overlook their fire-safety measure, some local government building codes require the installation of fire-rated access doors and any additional features in the laundry spaces. Because of its dryer operation, laundry shops must have adequate protection due to their high current voltage. Fire-rated access doors can help mitigate all of these potential hazards in the laundry space for everybody’s safety.