Town of Clifton Park, NY Emergency Access Systems

The Town of Clifton Park has recognized the importance of providing the Town's emergency services personnel rapid entry into locked buildings in the case of an emergency. An emergency access systems local law provides for the placement, in secured locked containers, of keys to important areas within a structure and information that may be vital and necessary to the health, safety, and welfare of the occupants and responding emergency crews. The delay in gaining entry can result in substantial property damage, delays in providing lifesaving or other medical procedures, and increased danger for emergency services personnel and the building occupants. To assist the emergency service providers in gaining rapid entry, the Town of Clifton Park adopts an emergency access systems local law.

§ 99-3 Definitions.

As used in this chapter, the following terms shall have the meanings indicated:

AUTOMATIC FIRE-SUPPRESSION SYSTEM: A system or assembly of piping, valves, controls and sprinklers which are designed and installed to comply with the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) standards, which utilize water, foam, carbon dioxide or other gas to automatically react to and suppress fire.

BUREAU OF FIRE PREVENTION: The Town of Clifton Park Bureau of Fire Prevention, 1 Town Hall Plaza, Clifton Park, NY 12065.

EMERGENCY ALARM: Any device designed to alert police, fire or emergency medical personnel to an emergency condition requiring attention and to which police, fire or emergency medical service units are expected to respond. This definition shall include alarms that terminate at an answering service, as well as those that emit an audible or visible signal.

FALSE ALARM: An alarm signal from an emergency alarm or notification by an emergency alarm answering service which calls for an emergency response from the Town of Clifton Park Building Department, Fire Services or Emergency Medical Services where an emergency situation does not in fact exist. The term "false alarm" shall not include an alarm signal caused by testing or repairing of telephone or electrical lines or equipment outside of the premises, providing the responding agencies have been properly notified, an attempted illegal entry of which there is visible evidence, violent conditions of nature or other extraordinary circumstances not reasonably subject to control by the alarm user or alarm supplier.

KEY BOX: A high-security key vault of UL type approved by the Town of Clifton Park Bureau of Fire Prevention, master keyed with a Medeco Biaxial Level 7 or equivalent lock. Locks shall be keyed to the key configuration provided by the Town of Clifton Park. Such vaults shall have weatherproof gaskets, shall have a covered lock opening and shall be highly resistant to drilling or vandalism.

KEY BOX DOCUMENT VAULT: A high-security steel plate vault, a minimum of 14 inches high by 12 inches wide by two inches deep, constructed to the same standards as the lock box, for the storage of documents.

§ 99-4 Applicability.

This chapter shall apply as follows:

All buildings located within the Town of Clifton Park having an automatic fire alarm system or a fire sprinkler system shall be equipped with a key box or key box document vault.

Any building having three or more false alarms within a six-month period shall be equipped with a key box or key box document vault.

§ 99-5 Exceptions.

One- and two-family dwellings and buildings having a twenty-four hour, seven-day-per-week guard system shall be specifically exempted from the requirements for a key box.

§ 99-6 Installation requirements.

The key box shall be installed on the front of the building, near the main entry door approximately six feet above the ground, unless approved for another location or at a higher or lower level by the Bureau of Fire Prevention. That office must approve all installations.

Keys within the lock box shall be labeled for easy identification either by the tenant name or indexed to a floor plan of the building and shall be kept current.

The key box shall contain the following:

(1)

Unless otherwise agreed upon with the local fire chief, key(s), fob(s) or magnetic cards for the exterior doors, the keys or magnetic cards for all the interior doors identified in Subsection C(2) to (5) below within the building, and a scaled floor plan of the building. Mixed occupancies and strip shopping center keys shall be provided only for occupancies where system control valves or fire alarm system panels exist.

(2)

Keys, fob(s) or magnet cards to locked mechanical equipment and sprinkler control rooms.

(3)

Keys, fob(s) or magnet cards to locked electrical rooms or panels or fire alarm control panels.

(4)

Keys, fob(s) or magnet cards to locked elevator rooms or controls, and elevator keys, if required.

(5)

Keys, fob(s) or magnet cards to other areas as directed by the Bureau of Fire Prevention.

(6)

Access codes to digital fire alarm keypads.

The key box document vault shall contain those items required to be stored in a key box and, unless the local fire chief otherwise agrees, the following additional items:

(1)

A current list of facility personnel knowledgeable about safety procedures of the materials on site, complete with the telephone numbers for each person.

(2)

A current emergency and hazardous chemical inventory form and binder containing the material safety data sheets (MSDS) or, in the event that the volume of MSDS sheets is too great to keep practically in the document vault, the location of on-site MSDS, and those MSDS shall be readily available for use by emergency response personnel.

(3)

A facility site plan showing the location of storage and use of hazardous materials on site, and any other building floor plan deemed necessary by the Bureau of Fire Prevention.

§ 99-7 Time for compliance.

All existing buildings covered by this chapter shall comply within 18 months of the effective date of this chapter.

All new construction covered by this chapter, including buildings currently under construction as of the effective date, for which no certificate of occupancy has been issued, shall comply immediately.

§ 99-8 Tampering.

It shall be unlawful for any person to tamper, meddle, deface, vandalize or interfere in any way with an emergency access system.

§ 99-9 Penalties for offenses.

Any person who shall fail to comply with any of the applicable provisions of this chapter, or any lawful order, notice, directive, permit or certificate of the Bureau of Fire Prevention or of the Town of Clifton Park Building Department made hereunder, shall be punishable by a fine of up to $500. Each week that a violation continues shall be deemed a separate offense.

In lieu of said fine, any person charged with violating the provisions of this chapter shall immediately install and maintain a key box or key box document vault subject to approval of the Bureau of Fire Prevention.

Except as provided otherwise by law, such a violation shall not be a crime, and the penalty or punishment imposed therefore shall not be deemed for any purpose a penal or criminal penalty or punishment.

Any person found to have violated the tampering section of this chapter, vandalized or disabled any key box, key box documents or other equipment installed in compliance with this chapter shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction thereof, shall be subject to a fine not to exceed $1,000 or a term of imprisonment not to exceed 15 days, or both such fine and imprisonment.

§ 99-10 Administration and enforcement.

The Bureau of Fire Prevention and the Town of Clifton Park Building Department shall administer the provisions of this chapter. The Bureau of Fire Prevention and the Town of Clifton Park Building Department shall enforce the provisions.