Fire Safety Engineering in Building Design and Construction
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Question 1
The construction of a new building in the United Kingdom requires certain rules and regulations to be followed in order to minimize safety concerns. Buildings should be constructed in a way so as to ensure the safety of its residents and provide the best comfortable living experience. According to the B5 compliance of the Schedule 1 to the Building Regulations 2010, a building should be designed in a way to provide enough access to fire appliances in case of an emergency so that property and human lives can be saved. In the case of fire emergencies in a building, the firefighters or trained personnel should dispatch fire brigades in order to rescue people who are stuck and extinguish it as fast as possible. The B5 compliance plan for a new building makes it possible for the firefighters and other trained personnel to easily access the building and mitigate the loss or damage of property from the fire. There are certain professionals involved in the process of fire safety that make it possible to construct the building according to the guidelines of B5 compliance (service.gov.uk, 2022). Their roles and responsibilities in the decision-making process are described below in few words:
Fire engineer: The most important part of the fire safety design of a building is in the hands of a fire engineer, whose job is to design the parts of a building that saves us from a fire emergency. A fire engineer makes sure that the building is well equipped to handle a fire emergency and can reduce the damages to the property. According to the guidelines under B5 compliance of a new building, there should be provisions for the following: firefighting shaft, firefighting lifts, hydrants, firefighting mains, firefighting lobby, firefighting stairways. The job of a fire engineer is to make sure that the building contains all of the required amenities for fire safety and to make sure they’re all functional and can assist the firefighters during an emergency (cite).
Architect: An architect is the person who designs the layout of the building and provides a framework according to the contractor for the best design available. The architect of the building will be responsible for the layout of the firefighting appliances and will integrate it with the main building plan. Their job is to ensure that the internal fire mains systems are integrated within the main plan of the building. The architect should follow all the guidelines listed in the B5 compliance for making the building compliant for fire safety and protection.
Contractor: A contractor is the person who is in charge of the supervision of the construction of the building. The construction workers and the builders are all under the supervision of the contractor when the building is being constructed. They can make sure that the fire safety guidelines and building requirements are being fulfilled and are in compliance with the B5 guidelines. Their responsibility is to make sure that the workers complying with the guidelines are being provided the correct materials for the construction.
Question 2
Introduction
There are certain guidelines regarding the fire safety procedures in a residential apartment or tall apartment buildings where there are separate doors for every flat. In this report, the point of discussion is a new 10 storied-residential building, containing multiple flats and some flats appear to have a single direction travel distance of 20m from the flat entrance door to the protective stairway that is often used for exiting when there is a fire emergency. According to
BS 9991:2015 Fire safety in the design, management and use of residential buildings, the permitted limit for the single direction travel distance is 9m which is measured between the furthest flat entrance to the entrance door to the protective stairway. Anything exceeding that limit should be fitted with proper fire safety equipment so that there is less damage during any emergency (grenfelltowerinquiry.org.uk, 2016).
Discussion of Fire Safety Measures
In this report, it will be discussed how a fire engineer, who has been appointed to solve the issue for exceeding distance from the flat entrance door to the protected stairway, would address the issue. A fire engineer is a trained individual who specializes in fire safety in buildings and is appointed for construction, repair or maintenance of fire safety appliances in a building.
As the building in question is a residential apartment with multiple floors and the construction has already been completed, it should be noted that the construction design cannot be modified to a huge extent. Hence, the fire engineer who has been appointed to look into the issue will try to focus on what can be done without the need to change the internal construction. The fire engineer might try to suggest measures to prevent or detect the fire emergency before it escalates into unavoidable circumstances. The fire engineer can suggest the installation of smoke control and fire detection systems where the limit of the single direction travel distance is exceeded (assets.publishing.service.gov.uk, 2023).
Fire detection systems are appliances that can detect the smoke and sound an alarm for the residents to be aware of the danger and evacuate if necessary. It can also let the security personnel and other staff working for the residential apartment to know of the danger and start the safety protocols (Birajdar, 2020). The United Kingdom has three kinds of fire detector alarms: L1 to L5, which are automated systems for the purpose of protection of life , M systems which are manual and have microphones for calls and announcements and P1 and P2 automates systems which are for the purpose of protection of property. The fire engineer will make an evaluation to understand which of the fire alarm systems will be most effective for the building plan. Ideally, the fire alarms should be fitted between the entrance door of the flats and the protected firefighting stairways, so that the residents have ample warning to evacuate. Along with the fire detection systems, there should be smoke control systems that are designed to reduce the smoke when a fire outbreak happens as sometimes the smoke can be more harmful than the fire. There are many smoke containment systems that can be used for small enclosed spaces and would be ideal for the space being discussed here (nfpa.org, 2021). They are designed to pressurize certain small enclosed areas using mechanical ventilation so that the smoke does not enter other areas of the building and the escape routes are still functional for a period of time.
Design Guidance Code for Fire Safety:
BS 9999: Code of practice for fire safety in the design, management and use of buildings specifies guidelines that are required for fire safety and use of fire safety appliances. In relation to a new building, which we are discussing in the report here, BS 9999 codes can be used. The fire engineer who is responsible for addressing the issue should refer to the guidelines regarding the design and maintenance of fire safety protocols. The fire engineer can suggest some air vents to be added in the enclosed space and should look into the existing systems for maintenance. The engineer can use assessment tools to measure the existing systems like easy access to the exit points, proper ventilation and so on.
Summary
In summary, the building discussed in the report requires extra safety measures due to the exceeding travel distance of 20m. The suggestion of the fire engineer should be to install fire detector systems and smoke management systems to provide extra safety for the occupants while in a fire emergency.
Question 3
There are certain preventative measures that are followed in many commercial buildings so that in case of a fire, the damage is minimized. Firestopping is one such method that controls the spread of fire from one room to another by fireproofing the gaps in the walls. In many floors of a building, there are penetrations on the walls that allow pipes and ducts and electronic wires to pass through to another room. These penetrations allow smoke to enter other rooms in the building in case of any fire. Firestopping is the process through which these penetrations are sealed with fireproofed materials and the ducts and pipes are also protected so that they do not catch fire.
Need for Firestopping of Ductworks
This article is going to discuss the firestopping of ductworks in the walls in a local college building. College buildings use a lot of electronic items for labs and classrooms and the library and they have certain rooms that contain only the wirings and ductworks through the walls. A college building requires the optimal protection from a fire emergency due to the large number of people coming and going through the premises and the college authorities are solely responsible for any kind of risk to the safety of the students. It is a very important task to firestop the exposed ducts in order to control the spread of the fire.
Common options available for compliance
According to the Approved Document B of building regulations, internal linings should be fireproofed and should restrict the spreading of the flames. It also states that the fabric of the building should contribute less to the fire in case of emergency (grenfelltowerinquiry.org.uk, 2016). As ductworks are common parts of any college building, it is essential to fireproof them to control the spread.
Ductworks can be available in many materials, the most common ones being plastic and sheet metal ductwork (PE, et al. 2021). When plastic vent ducts are used, the most common method of firestopping involves covering the exposed area with either intumescent fire collars or fire sleeves. In case of a fire, the intumescent fire collars and sleeves melt with the raised temperatures and cover the exposed area in the wall thus preventing the smoke from escaping into other rooms in the college building. The sheet metal ducts can be firestopped using fire rated ducts, which can prevent fire spreading between two compartments. However, for this method to work properly, all the building materials and elements of construction should have the same fire resistance and classification rating.
Performance criteria needed to maintain the integrity of the fire-resisting wall
A fire-resisting wall has become a very important factor to consider while constructing a building that can be safe from fire hazards. A fire resisting wall, as discussed in the last point, uses materials that reduce the spread of smoke in case of a fire emergency. All the building materials used for the construction of a college come with a fire-resistance rating that evaluates how fire-resistant the materials are. For the fire-resistant wall to be effective, all the materials used in the building process should have a similar fire-resistance rating (Chaturvedi et al., 2022). A fire-resistance rating is usually provided to materials after they have been exposed to fire for a certain amount of time and is usually measured in hours. It denotes how many hours the material can withstand the heat before it starts melting.
Additional considerations if ducts pass into a protected area
Firestopping methods for ducts and a fire-resistant wall give a college building ample protection in case of a fire hazard so that the occupants have time to evacuate. However, these systems do not always prove to be effective and in some cases, smoke might start to spread in protected fire exits (Lugaresi et al., 2022). In these cases, there should be additional things to consider to prevent the smoke from rapidly spreading throughout the college. The college building construction can ensure there is enough ventilation to air out the smoke in case it spreads. Smoke detector alarms and fire detector alarms would be installed in the protected areas just to be on the safe side so that the evacuation process can begin early (Agus Salim et al., 2023). In any case, if the protected stairway or lobby is compromised, the college authorities should have a backup alternative exit that can be used for evacuation. The college authorities should also consider their protected areas to have easier access to the outer area so that firefighting personnel can quickly enter the building.
References
Journals
Agus Salim, N.A., Salleh, N.M., Jaafar, M., Sulieman, M.Z., Ulang, N.M. and Ebekozien, A., 2023. Fire safety management in public health-care buildings: issues and possible solutions. Journal of Facilities Management, 21(1), pp.69-83.
Birajdar, G.S., Singh, R., Gehlot, A. and Thakur, A.K., 2020. Development in building fire detection and evacuation system-a comprehensive review. Int. J. Electr. Comput. Eng.(IJECE), 10, pp.6644-6654.
Chaturvedi, S., Vedrtnam, A., Youssef, M.A., Palou, M.T., Barluenga, G. and Kalauni, K., 2022. Fire-resistance testing procedures for construction elements—A Review. Fire, 6(1), p.5.
Kodur, V., Kumar, P. and Rafi, M.M., 2020. Fire hazard in buildings: review, assessment and strategies for improving fire safety. PSU research review, 4(1), pp.1-23.
Lugaresi, F., Kotsovinos, P., Lenk, P. and Rein, G., 2022. Review of the mechanical failure of non-combustible facade systems in fire. Construction and Building Materials, 361, p.129506.
PE, C.J.S. and Fiori, C.M., 2021. Handbook for Building Construction: Administration, Materials, Systems, and Safety.
