[HISTORY: Adopted by the Town Board of the
Town of Colonie 11-15-2001 by L.L. No. 17-2001. Amendments noted
where applicable.]
This chapter shall be known as the "Emergency
Access Systems Local Law of the Town of Colonie."
The Town of Colonie has recognized the importance
of providing the Town's emergency services rapid entry into locked
buildings. 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 Colonie adopts an emergency access systems local
law.
As used in this chapter, the following terms
shall have the meanings indicated:
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.
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.
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 Colonie Police 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, 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.
A high-security key vault of UL type approved by the Town
of Colonie Office of Fire Prevention and Investigation, master keyed
with a Medco Biaxial Level 7 or equivalent lock. Locks shall be keyed
to the key configuration provided by the Town of Colonie. Such vaults
shall have weatherproof gaskets, shall have a covered lock opening
and shall be highly resistant to drilling or vandalism.
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.
Town of Colonie Department of Fire Prevention and Investigation,
347 Old Niskayuna Road, Latham, NY 12110.[1]
This chapter shall be applicable to:
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.
A.
The key box shall be installed on the front of the
building, near the main entry door and between six and eight feet
above the ground, unless approved for another location or at a higher
or lower level by the Office of Fire Prevention and Investigation.
That office must approve all installations.
B.
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.
C.
The key box shall contain the following:
(1)
Unless otherwise agreed upon with the local fire chief, key(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 or magnet cards to locked mechanical equipment
and sprinkler control rooms.
(3)
Keys or magnet cards to locked electrical rooms or
panels or fire alarm control panels.
(4)
Keys or magnet cards to locked elevator rooms or controls,
and elevator keys, if required.
(5)
Keys or magnet cards to other areas as directed by
the Office of Fire Prevention and Investigation.
(6)
Access codes to digital fire alarm keypads.
D.
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 Office of Fire Prevention and Investigation.
A.
All existing buildings covered by this chapter shall
comply within 18 months of the effective date of this chapter.
B.
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.
A.
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 Office of Fire Prevention
and Investigation or of the Town of Colonie Building Department made
hereunder, shall be punishable by a fine of $250. Each month that
a violation continues shall be deemed a separate offense.
B.
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 Office
of Fire Prevention and Investigation.
C.
It shall be unlawful for any person to tamper, meddle,
deface, vandalize or interfere in any way with an emergency access
system.
D.
Except as provided otherwise by law, such a violation
shall not be a crime, and the penalty or punishment imposed therefor
shall not be deemed for any purpose a penal or criminal penalty or
punishment.
The Office of Fire Prevention and Investigation[1] and the Town of Colonie Building Department shall administer
the provisions of this chapter. The Office of Fire Prevention and
Investigation and the Town of Colonie Police Department shall enforce
the provisions.
