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Fire Safety Buildings

The prime objective of fire safety is “to reduce to within acceptable limits the potential for injury or death to the occupants of the building and for others who may become involved” (Stollard, 1991). In order to achieve these objectives, there are 5 fire safety tactics that can be employed.

• Prevention

• Communications

• Escape

• Containment

• Extinguishment

They can be used together for best efficiency.

The traditional approach to fire safety in buildings has been to prescribe certain acceptable levels related to some components of fire safety. These components are (Stollard, 1991):

• Travel distances and routes

• Load bearing elements of the structure

• Roof construction

• Separating walls

• Compartment walls and compartment floors

• Protected shafts

• Concealed spaces and fire stopping

• Internal surfaces

• Stairways.

There is a newer approach that consists of looking at the building as a complex system. Fire engineering goes beyond merely satisfying prescriptive criteria of the building regulations. The building is a complex system where fire safety interacts with all other systems and services.

• Prevention

Fire can only occur if all of the three requirements are present. These requirements are fuel source, oxygen and ignition. The absence of any one is sufficient to avoid a fire. However, it is impossible to exclude oxygen from a building as it is present in the air in more than sufficient proportions. Fire prevention is therefore all about avoiding the occurrence of the fire in the first instance by controlling fuel sources and ignition.

• Communications

Once a fire is started, the response time has a great impact of the effectiveness of that response. Fire growth is exponential. So, the sooner action is taken, the better. The response to a fire depends to a large extent to communications at that time. The location of the fire and the deployment of evacuation and fire fighting all depend on effective communication. There are four facets of communications that are important to fire safety.

• Escape

Perhaps the most important part of fire safety, escape from a building once a fire breaks is the only measure that ensures the safety of the occupants. The occupants must be able to safety reach a place of safety without being hindered by smoke, fire or heat. It is therefore essential that they manage to escape before the fire spreads.

There are three main means of escape:

• Egress - Egress simply means getting out of the building as soon as the alarm is heard.

• Refuge - Sometimes in large buildings, the time to get out is too much or the way out is too complicated. Then, a fire-safe compartment is used to provide a safe place within the building. Evacuation can take place at a slower rate from that compartment.

• Rescue - Rescue should be kept as a last resort but is still important, especially for old and disabled person. In an apartment with only one entrance, a fire at or near the entrance can prevent escape even if the rest of the apartment is not on fire. Rescue via ladders from outside is then crucial.

• Containment

Containment is the ability of a building to contain a fire even in the event of every other tactic failing. It should be a built-in capability of the building. A fire should be contained to its compartment of origin to prevent it from spreading to other parts of the building. Containment is also responsible to preventing spread of smoke. Containment must ultimately limit the fire spread to the building only to prevent fire spread to neighbouring buildings.

• Extinguishment

Even after escape and containment are successful, a fire still needs to be extinguishment to limit the amount of property loss and to prevent spread to adjoining properties. It can be achieved by removing one of the three essential ingredients of fire: fuel, oxygen and ignition. When a fire is already started, it is self igniting and does not need additional ignition. Therefore, extinguishment can be achieved by cutting off the oxygen supply. Alternatively, the temperature can be brought down below that of self-ignition and thus killing the fire.

• Sleeping Risk

Buildings where people sleep are more at risk of a fire than buildings with only day-time occupation. A building where people sleep is likely to be occupied for longer hours, combining day and night occupancy. Also, a fire started while people are sleeping is likely to be detected at a much advanced stage. Once detected, the response of people who are asleep is bound to be much slower than in day time. To understand the extent of the risk, consider the same people in the same building but in day time.

• Fire Precautions Legislations

Fire precautions legislation deals with general fire precautions. These include (HSE, 1999):

• Means of detection and giving warning in case of fire

• The provision of means of escape

• Means of fighting fire

• The training of staff in fire safety

In the unamended 1997 Fire Regulations, exceptions (odpm.gov.uk, 2005) from the application provisions were allowed for premises with fire certificates issued under section 1 of the 1971 Act and for a number of other workplaces where it was considered that domestic legislation (some of it resulting from other European requirements) already made comparable provision for equivalent or higher standards. The 1997 Regulations imposed requirements for risk-based fire precautions in the workplace directly on employers in control of workplaces, other than excepted workplaces.

• Why the 1997 Fire Regulations were amended

(odpm.gov.uk, 2005)

The reason for deciding to amend the application of the 1997 Fire Regulations (in particular, by removing most of the exceptions from Part II) was in response to the European Commissions expression of concern about the adequacy of the text of the Regulations to implement the Directive requirements in full and the need to justify the exceptions made from the application of the Regulations. The Commission were concerned that the text of our existing legislation, which applies to the work places excepted from the 1997 Fire Regulations (among them, premises certificated under section 1 of the Fire Precautions Act 1971), did not implement the requirements of the Directives in full by applying those requirements directly upon all employers.

The Commission were also concerned that the duties placed on employers by the 1997 Fire Regulations should fully reflect the unconditional nature of the responsibilities and obligations imposed on employers by the Framework Directive. That is to say, employers have ultimate responsibility for the safety of their employees in case of fire, even where others have obligations to ensure that the requirements of the Regulations or other legislation are complied with. This responsibility extends to employers whose premises had been excepted from the 1997 Fire Regulations hence the need to apply the Regulations explicitly and in full to those employers by removing the exceptions.

As a result, the risk assessments made by employers, who have control of workplaces no longer excepted from the Regulations, will need, explicitly for the first time, to address the requirements in Part II of the Regulations and record the significant findings where appropriate.

• EMPLOYER

• Requirements

The requirements for the employer from the Fire Regulations and the Management and Safety at Work Regulations 1992 (as amended) are (HSE, 1999):

• Carry out a fire risk assessment of your workplace ( the employer must consider all employees and all other people who may be affected by a fire in the workplace and he is required to make provision for any disabled people with special needs who use or may be present at the premises)

• Identify the significant findings of the risk assessment and the details of anyone who might be especially at risk in case of fire (these must be recorded if more than five employees are employed)

• Provide and maintain such fire precautions as are necessary to safeguard those who use your workplace

• Provide information, instruction and training to employees about the fire precautions in the workplace.

There are some other legal duties that the employer must be aware of (HSE, 1999):

• Where it is necessary to safeguard the safety of the employees, the employer must nominate people to undertake any special roles which are required under his emergency plan.

• The employer must consult his employees (or their elected representatives_ about the nomination of people to carry out particular roles in connection with fire safety and about proposals to improve the fire precautions.

• The employer must inform other employers who have workplaces in the building of any significant risks he found which might affect safety of their employees - and cooperate with them about the measures proposed to reduce / control those risks.

• The employer must establish a suitable means of contacting the emergency services, and ensure that they can be called easily.

• The law requires the employees to cooperate with the employer to ensure the workplace is safe from fire and its effects and not to do anything which will place themselves or other people at risk.

These duties were present even before the amendments, but some workplaces were exempt from these rules, mainly because it was believed that the domestic legislations already had sufficient provisions for these types of workplaces. However, the 1999 amendment removed any such exemption, so that now all employers have to abide by the Fire Precautions Act of 1971 and the 1997 (as amended) Fire Precautions [Workplace] Regulations.

• The Effects of 1999 Amendments

The main effect of these changes (odpm.gov.uk) is that, from 1 December 1999, if you employ people on the premises they will be subject to the certification requirements of the Fire Precautions Act 1971 and the Fire Precautions [Workplace] Regulations 1997, as amended. This means that if you are an employer you must ensure that the requirements of Part II of the Regulations [relating to means of escape etc] are complied with in respect of every workplace consisting [or forming part] of premises requiring a fire certificate, which if to any extent under your control [and every non-certified workplace too]. In order to identify the measures you need to take to comply with the fire safety requirements of Part II you must make a suitable and sufficient risk assessment, if you have not already done so [under regulation 3[1] of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations [1992, as amended in 1999]. An existing fire certificate will assist you considerably and, in most cases, little more may be required other than to keep the risk assessment under review. In addition, under regulation 3[4] of the above Management Regulations, where you employ 5 or more people [whether or not they are at work in the same workplace at any one time or at separate workplaces], you must make a record of the significant findings of the risk assessment [or revised assessment] and any group of your employees identified by it as being especially at risk at each workplace. [The requirement for a record depends on the number of people employed by the employer and not where they work]. The record should be available for inspection by the fire authority when necessary [under section 19 of the Fire Precautions Act 1971 as applied by regulation 17 of the 1997 Fire Regulations, as amended] for the purpose of assessing the level of compliance with the Fire Regulations. Current fire certificates are not a substitute for risk assessment, but they may be accepted as part of the risk assessment record, supplemented as required, eg: by appending the risk assessment findings, to reduce duplication of work.

• Risk Assessment

Ultimately, the most significant change is that the employers now have to do a fire risk assessment, even those employers who previously were exempt from this requirement. Everything else follows as a result of the findings of the risk assessment.

The publication that is regarded at the authority in the subject is the one published by HSE. That publication (HSE, 1999) defines risk assessment as an organised look at what could cause harm to people in a workplace. The risk assessment will allow the employer to weigh up whether he has taken enough precautions or should do more to avoid harm. The important things the employer needs to decide are whether a hazard is significant and whether he has covered it by satisfactory precautions so that the risk is acceptably low.

The guide gives step-by-step instructions on how to carry out a risk assessment. It is beyond the scope of this assignment to go in the details of each step. So the main points will be quickly covered. The purpose of the risk assessment is to help determine the chances of a fire occurring and the dangers from that fire. The approach proposed in the publication is very similar to any general health and safety risk assessment. In fact, it is mentioned that the fire risk assessment can be incorporated as part of a bigger health and safety risk assessment.

Basically, there are five steps to a risk assessment:

• Step 1 - Identify fire hazards: Sources of fuel and sources of ignition and potentially sources of extra oxygen have to be identified.

• Step 2 - Decide who could be harmed: The assessment needs to identify who may be at risk when there is a fire , how they will be warned and how they will escape from the fire

• Step 3 - Evaluate the risks: The employer must assess the existing fire safety measures and see if they are adequate and bring improvements if required. Things to consider are:

• the chance of a fire occurring and whether the sources of ignition can be reduced or the potential fuel for a fire can be minimised

• the fire precautions already in place and whether they are sufficient for the remaining risks and will ensure everyone is warned in case of a fire

• the means people can use to make their escape safely.

• Step 4 - Record findings and action taken: The employer must record the findings of his risk assessment and details of people at risk. There are various ways of keeping the record, ranging from a simple list to detailed layout and escape plans.

• Step 5 - Review and Revise: The assessment should be reviewed periodically and is there are changes to the risks, appropriate revision should be taken.

• ENFORCEMENT

The instruction from the ODPM is that fire enforcement authorities must determine their own enforcement policies. However, in an appendix to the circular 28 published by ODPM (odpm.gov.uk), some guidelines are set to help the enforcement officers. Enforcement officers are advised to continue to regard the Enforcement Concordat, which the Cabinet Office, the Local Government Association and others issued in March 1998. Some of the main requirements on the enforcement officer set in the form of guidance notes in the above-mentioned publication are (odpm.gov.uk):

• Fire authorities must be able to demonstrate that they are carrying out their duty to enforce the Fire Regulations. The Regulation does not specifically impose upon them to inspect workplaces in their area for the purposes of enforcing the Workplace Fire Precautions Legislation. The ODPM says that there is an implied need to inspect workplaces, and that a failure to discharge the duty to enforce (by not exercising such power where appropriate) could result in a liability; and a failure to adopt an inspection policy and programme, to ensure that the authority is complying with this duty, may lead to the same conclusion. In other words, the Regulations do not spell it out but still expects the enforcement officers to use their power to enforce and to adopt an inspection policy.

• Fire authorities must also show that they are doing their duty in enforcing the regulations. They should make sure that there is a violation of the rules before taking any step but then they should act in a timely manner, leaving it to their professional judgement to decide on the appropriate action.

• Except in cases where immediate action is necessary, the Enforcement Officer must send a notice to the employer, after full negotiation with the employer. It is made quite clear that the enforcement officer should get the opinion of the employer before taking any action. They should inform the employers in a written statement of the action they are taking and why they have decided to take that action.

• The Enforcement Officers have been given the power to use all approaches such as persuasion before a notice is sent to the employer, and are expected to use that power to its full extent, leaving the notice for contravention as a last resort.

• Fire authorities are expected to cooperate and consult with other enforcing bodies. This should avoid any instances where a building has met all building regulations but has to be modified only to meet the fire regulations.

• If the employers risk assessment identifies shortcomings in the fire safety provisions at a workplace which clearly concern the safety of the employees, they will be for the fire authority to address under the Fire Regulations

• PRESCRIPTIVE V/S RISK-APPROPRIATE APROACH

Prescriptive approach to fire precautions was welcome at some point in time and, in many cases, still is. However, there are some limitations of that approach. Prescriptive methods give a sort of one-size-fit-all solution to fire precautions. Because buildings vary so much, it is neither always possible nor reasonable to stick strictly to the prescriptive measures. The risk-appropriate approach allows the developers of the building to look at fire precautions solely for the purpose of that building. Hence, the specificities of each building are taken into consideration when developing the fire precautions measures. In that respect, the risk-appropriate method is very commendable. It gives more flexibility to developers and architects to use latest technology such as fire engineering and crowd simulation to predict the development of the fire and the most appropriate precautions to be taken. There are firms such as Buro Happold that have honed their expertise in the field to provide tailor made fire solutions.

But the main strength of the risk-appropriate method also becomes its main weakness. If each building has to be looked at individually in great detail, there needs to be somebody competent enough to be able to do it. Prescriptive measures are in most cases easy to follow and architects and other developers are used to them. It will take an architect much longer to look at fire precautions from scratch for every building. Using technologies like fire engineering and computer simulations are rather expensive and it adds to the cost of the building. It may give employers the impression that the amendments to the regulations are simply to make them spend some more. It makes the running of a small business more difficult.

• REFERENCES

• Fire Safety: An Employer's Guide, HSE, 1999

• http://www.odpm.gov.uk/stellent/groups/odpm_fire/documents/page/odpm_fire_600956.hcsp : Summary of the provisions of the Fire Precautions (Workplace) Regulations 1997, 2005

• http://www.odpm.gov.uk/stellent/groups/odpm_fire/documents/page/odpm_fire_600957.hcsp : Principles and procedures for enforcing the Regulations, 2005

• Malhotra, J.A., Fire Safety in Buildings, Building Research Establishment Ltd, 2001.

• Marchant, E.W., A Complete Guide to Fire and Buildings, Medical and Technical Publishing Co. Ltd, 1973

• Stollard, P. and Abrahams, J., Fire from First Principles, Chapman & Hall, 1991.

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