Section 785.1  Policy

 

The purpose of this Part is the practical, affordable safeguarding of the facilities of telephone companies and telecommunications carriers from major interruptions in service principally due to fire and to assure proper emergency response and recovery mechanisms are available should protective measures fail.

 

Section 785.5  Definitions

 

As used in this Part, the following terms shall have these meanings.

 

            "Act" shall mean the Telecommunications Facility Fire and Emergency Act (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1991, ch. 111⅔, par. 1550 et seq.).

 

            "Agencies" shall mean the Illinois Commerce Commission, the Office of the State Fire Marshal, and the Illinois Emergency Management Agency.

 

            "ASTM" shall mean the American Society For Testing and Materials, 1916 Race Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 19103-1187, publisher of the "Annual Book of ASTM standards."

 

            "Carriers" shall mean "telecommunications carriers" as defined in Section 13-202 of the Public Utilities Act (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1991, ch. 111⅔, par. 13-202) and such other entities as described in Section 1 of the Telephone Company Act (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1991, ch. 134, par. 17) authorized to provide switched local exchange service.

 

            "Critical functions" shall mean those functions, the failure of which would lead to a major service outage.

 

            "Facilities" shall mean those buildings of the carriers that house local or network switching equipment, but does not include ground or pole mounted cabinets.

 

            "Lock box" shall mean a secured box mounted on the outside of a building for which the only available key is held by the fire department and which contains a key for access into the building by the fire department personnel.

 

            "Major service outage" shall mean a complete central office exchange failure, or the isolation of an exchange due to toll circuit(s) failure.

 

            "NESC" shall mean the National Electric Safety Code as published by the Institute of Electric and Electronic Engineers, 445 Hols Lane, P.O. Box 1331, Piscataway, New Jersey, 08855-1331.

 

            "NFPA" shall mean the National Fire Protection Association, One Batterymarch Park, Publications Department, P.O. Box 9101, Quincy, Massachusetts, 02269-9101.

 

            "Signage" shall mean the placement of functional signs bearing information of value to emergency personnel in times of fire or other emergency condition.

 

Section 785.10  Intent

 

Statements in this Part that are to be regarded as mandatory are characterized by the use of the word "shall."  Statements in this Part which are advisory in nature are indicated by the word "should."  Statements in the NESC or NFPA that are advisory in nature are indicated as "RECOMMENDATIONS."

 

Section 785.15  Application of Part

 

This Part shall apply to the switching facilities of all carriers, as defined in Section 785.5 of this Part, in the State of Illinois that are subject to the jurisdiction of the Commission.

 

Section 785.20  Incorporation of National Codes and Standards

 

a)         The Agencies adopt as their rules the following portions of the NESC (1990 edition, approved June 26, 1989):

 

1)         Section 2 (Definitions of Special Terms).

 

2)         Section 9 (Grounding Methods of Electric Supply and Communications Facilities).

 

b)         The Agencies adopt as their rules the following portions of the NFPA Fire Codes (1991) edition:

 

1)         Code 70, National Electric Code (effective Feb. 21, 1991).

 

2)         Code 72, Standard for the Installation, Maintenance, and Use of Protective Signaling Systems (effective 8-17-90).

 

3)         Code 72E, Standard on Automatic Fire Detectors (effective 8-17-90).

 

4)         Code 10, Portable Fire Extinguishers (effective 8-17-90).

 

5)         Code 12A, Halon 1301 Systems (effective 3-8-89).

 

6)         Code 12B, Halon 1211 Systems (effective 8-17-90).

 

7)         Code 13, Standard on Sprinkler System Installation (effective 2-6-91).

 

8)         Code 13A, Standard on Sprinkler System Maintenance (effective 12-30-86).

 

c)         The Agencies adopt as their rules the following ASTM standards (1991 edition):   D2863-87, Standard Test Method for Measuring the Minimum Oxygen Concentration to Support Candle-like Combustion of Plastics (Oxygen Index) (effective 3-27-87).

 

d)         Footnotes and notes which reference provisions of the NESC, NFPA or ASTM which have not been expressly adopted by the Agencies shall not be construed to incorporate such provisions into this Part.

 

e)         This incorporation does not include any later amendments or editions.

 

Section 785.25  Interchange Data

 

To assist in promoting conformity with these rules, a procedure or plan should be instituted between all carriers whose facilities may occupy the same territory so that it will provide for the exchange of pertinent data and information, including data relative to proposed and existing construction, and changes in operating conditions which affect or are likely to affect adequacy of the telecommunications infrastructure in times of emergency.

 

Section 785.30  Safety Program

 

a)         Each carrier shall adopt and execute a safety program, fitted to the size and type of its operations.  As a minimum, the safety program shall:

 

1)         Stress reasonable procedures designed to reduce the hazards to which its employees, its customers, and the general public may be subjected by its operations;

 

2)         Require employees to use suitable tools and equipment in order that they may perform their work in a safe manner;

 

3)         Instruct employees in safe methods of performing their work;

 

4)         Instruct employees who, in the course of their work, are subject to the hazard of electrical shock, asphyxiation or drowning, in accepted methods of cardiopulmonary resuscitation.

 

b)         Each carrier shall give assistance to the Agencies in the investigation of the cause of accidents or service interruptions and in the determination of suitable means of preventing such occurrences.

 

Section 785.35  Physical Security and Emergency Access

 

a)         Each carrier's facility housing switching equipment shall have physical security, which may be, by way of example and not of limitation, in the form of door lock, card control entry or security guard, to guard against unauthorized entry or malicious disruption of service.

 

b)         Each carrier's facility in Illinois shall utilize a lock box system to facilitate access to the telecommunications building during an emergency situation, unless prohibited by ordinance or local fire department policy.  Details of the lock box system shall be made a part of the facility pre-emergency plan.

 

Section 785.40  Disaster Procedures

 

a)         Each carrier shall develop procedures providing for the continued operation of its services in the event that critical services are partially or totally disabled due to natural or manmade disasters.  Procedures shall include, but not be limited to, practices for the continuation or priority restoration of critical services such as police, fire department, hospital, 9-1-1, etc. and methods of alternate alerting of city, county and State disaster agencies, and appropriate fire districts.  Such procedures need not be submitted to the Agencies for approval, but shall be available for Agency review upon request.

 

b)         Each carrier shall notify the Illinois Emergency Management Agency of any major service outage expected to last 12 hours or more.

 

c)         The Agencies shall work with carriers to assist in developing alternate methods of alerting fire departments in instances in which the primary methods have failed.

 

Section 785.45  Remote Alarm Monitoring

 

Each telecommunications facility shall provide for a direct alarm monitoring communication channel to a fire department or fire protection district unless a local ordinance is adopted to the contrary, or there is an agreement from the local fire department that such alarming is not necessary or desirable.  This alarm system monitoring by the fire department or fire district may be in addition to other remote monitoring systems of the carrier.

 

Section 785.50  Pre-Emergency Planning

 

a)         Carriers shall, for each telecommunications facility in Illinois, work with the local fire department or fire protection district to develop a pre-emergency plan. This plan shall include, but not be limited to:  signage, location of the de-energizing switches, emergency procedures, copies of maps or floor diagrams, information about the location of the manual power cut-off switch(s) within the building, primary and alternative reporting, direct alarm monitoring, type of lock box and other issues as locally required.  A copy of the plan shall be maintained at each facility location.  A copy shall also be included in the lock box or in a suitable box located immediately inside of the facility for use during an emergency.  The plan shall be signed by the facility manager and the fire chief of that area.

 

b)         Carriers shall, for each telecommunications facility, provide prior notice, in writing, to the fire department or fire protection district when construction or modifications are to be performed on an existing building that would impact the plan.  The fire department and the facility shall review, update and approve the pre-emergency plan as required.

 

c)         The pre-emergency plan shall be reviewed, dated and signed on an annual basis.

 

Section 785.55  Technical Requirements

 

a)         Power and Communications Systems

 

1)         All direct current (DC) power supply service feeds shall be fused at a level not to exceed the rated capacity of the smallest conductor used in the feed, or 200% of the maximal operational consumption of the feed, whichever is smaller.

 

2)         The use of equalizing center design, the practice of tapping smaller power cables to larger power cables, is only permitted when fused at the tap, or fused in accordance with subsection 785.55(a)(1) above.

 

3)         Main power supply systems, both AC and DC, shall be designed to enable a practical, safe disconnection of all interior feed circuits using a master or zoned master switches or fuses.  Multiple locations for zoned master switches or fuses may be utilized, but no more than three locations per floor shall be permitted except that existing telecommunications switch facilities with multiple power supply systems exceeding three locations per floor shall develop and utilize a coded layout plan for effective zoned disconnections subject to individual approval by the Office of the State Fire Marshal.  Details of such disconnect plan shall be made a part of the pre-emergency plan.

 

4)         Carriers should consider the incorporation of surge protective devices for use on AC service to mitigate the potential impact of equipment damage due to transient or overvoltage surges.

 

5)         Armored cable, rigid or flexible metal conduit, or any other cable with an exterior metallic or conductive external surface shall not be placed in cable trays containing AC, DC or communications cables.

 

6)         Wherever possible, existing AC and DC power cables should be physically separated from communications cables.  New construction shall have AC and DC power cables physically separated from communications cables.

 

7)         Use of cables employing polyvinyl chloride (PVC) insulation for any new or expansion of facilities shall be allowed only if the cable has an oxygen index rating of 28 or higher, unless monitored by a system designed to sense chloride emissions.

 

8)         Removal of old cable shall be monitored by each telephone company or telecommunications carrier to guard against damage to remaining cable.

 

b)         Detection Systems

 

1)         Design and installation shall comply with fire protection standards as published in the NFPA's Code 72 and 72E.

 

2)         Types of fire detectors include heat, smoke, flame, laser, photo-electric, aspiration, ionization and fire-gas types.  Detection systems shall utilize a minimum of two (2) types of devices monitoring each alarm zone within a facility for buildings exceeding 1,600 square feet.  Buildings of less than 1,600 square feet will require one (1) single detector-type capability.  Single detector-type systems shall not utilize heat only sensors.

 

3)         Each facility with multiple alarm zones within a building exceeding 1,600 square feet shall have a local interior zone annunciator panel immediately inside of an entrance door as designated in the pre-plan.  The facility may also have remote monitoring by a company operated central station.  Upon receipt of fire signal at such remote station, the station operator shall immediately notify the appropriate Fire Department.

 

4)         Each carrier should develop a facility inspection program utilizing thermographic infrared scanning technology or equivalent as an aid to identify abnormal heat buildup.

 

c)         Ventilation

 

1)         All facilities shall provide ventilation access for removal of smoke and toxic gases from the facility as follows:

 

A)        Single level telephone facilities consisting of no more than 1,600 square feet shall provide no less than two separate physical openings of sixteen (16) square feet each or greater on separate sides of the facility unless the local fire agency agrees to accept a single opening.

 

B)        All facilities exceeding 1,600 square feet (including multi-story buildings) shall provide at least two (2) vent access openings per floor.  The minimum size of each opening shall be sixteen (16) square feet for each 10,000 square feet of floor area, except that multiple vent openings per floor shall not be required where mechanical smoke evacuation systems are present and are acceptable to the local fire agency.

 

d)         Suppression

 

1)         Automatic discharge systems containing water, dry chemical, foam or other suppression agents shall not be required in rooms housing switching, toll, main distribution frame, power, auxiliary power and AC switchboard equipment.

 

2)         Suppression systems utilizing sprinklers or Halon shall be provided in cable vault areas and other areas not excluded by subsection 785.55(d)(1) above, except that no suppression systems are required for telecommunications buildings less than 1,600 square feet.

 

e)         Inspections

 

1)         The Agencies shall be permitted to inspect all facility locations for compliance.

 

2)         Each carrier shall permit the fire department or fire protection district to conduct an annual inspection of each telecommunications facility.  The local fire department shall have the option of inspecting more than once a year if it so requests. Fire departments with full-time staff shall be allowed to conduct an inspection for each of the three shifts, if requested.

 

Section 785.60  Training

 

The carriers shall work with the Office of the State Fire Marshal to develop a training program to be made available to local fire departments statewide.  The training program shall include, but not be limited to, development of printed materials, signage, zoned power shut-off guidelines, model emergency plans, and videotapes that describe the risks posed at telecommunications facilities.  The ramifications of loss of service, the special features and unique hazards posed by facilities, and recommended emergency actions to be taken shall be addressed.

 

Section 785.65  Compliance

 

a)         Existing carriers shall have one (1) year after the effective date of this Part to comply with all Sections excluding 785.55.  Carriers having more than 40 switching sites shall be allowed two (2) years to complete all work other than that which is specified in Section 785.55, except that in no event shall a carrier bring into compliance each year fewer than forty (40) facilities or 50% of its total facilities, whichever is greater.

 

b)         Existing carriers have four (4) years after the effective date of this Part to achieve 100% compliance with Section 785.55.  By the end of two (2) years after the effective date of this Part, the companies and carriers shall have no less than forty (40) facilities or 50% of their total facilities, whichever is greater, in compliance.

 

c)         Within ninety (90) days after the effective date of this Part, all carriers shall submit an implementation schedule indicating the name, address, and date of scheduled compliance as required in subsections 785.65(a) and (b).  Thereafter, until facilities of a carrier are in compliance, each carrier shall submit, at six (6) month intervals, an updated implementation schedule showing location-name, address, completions and projected completions.  Schedules and interval updates shall be filed with the Chief Clerk of the Illinois Commerce Commission.

 

d)         If waiver from any of the requirements herein is desired in any particular case, the Agencies will consider the application for such waiver when accompanied by a full statement setting forth the conditions existing and the reasons why such waiver is desired.  In considering such requests for waivers, factors that the Agencies shall consider include economic impacts of compliance, costs and rate consequences, and service interruption potential. It is understood that any waiver so granted shall apply only to the particular case covered by the application, and waiver shall not be extended to other cases unless specifically granted by the Agencies.

 

e)         Application for waiver shall be made to the Illinois Commerce Commission pursuant to 83 Ill. Adm. Code Part 200.  The Illinois Commerce Commission shall coordinate the waiver review process with the Agencies.