Safety

Safety is at the top of every resident's mind. Everyone wants the children to come in, go out and play in the building without any danger, wants elderly guests not to trip or be exposed to hazards, and wants the professionals and maintenance workers who enter the technical areas or the roof to work safely too.

These are a few examples of what is inspected in the building:

1. Railings: the railings in the stairwells, on the roof and in the outdoor area must meet Israeli Standard (SI) 1142. The requirements of the standard are binding down to the last centimeter, and they are based on many years of experience and on international standards. One example among many: it must not be possible to climb the railing up to a height of 90 cm from the floor, and sometimes this is not met. Another example: every flight of stairs must have two handrails, one on each side. Details on the page SI 1142: a standard handrail for stairs.

   

2. Stairs: a residential building has many stairs: in the stairwells, in the outdoor areas, at the entrance to the building and sometimes in other places too. The Planning and Building Regulations, especially since the 2008 changes, set out in detail how a flight of stairs must be built. One example among many: the ratio between the height of a step and its depth (riser and tread) does not meet the formula twice the riser plus the tread = 61 to 63 cm.

   

3. Ramp for people with disabilities: the Planning and Building Regulations set out how the ramp must be built: the maximum slope, the width of the ramp, the handrails, the roughness of the walking surface and more.

   

4. Fire-fighting systems: you can read about the fire-fighting systems on the page life-saving systems.

5. Escape routes: the regulations require the escape route to be of a suitable width, with a door that opens in the direction of escape, at a certain distance from the exits and more.

6. Entrance from the underground parking garage to the building: the entrances must be accessible, with a standard ramp for people with disabilities where needed. There must be enough entrances, so that the distance from any parking space to the nearest entrance does not exceed 25 meters.