Steel Buildings in Europe

Part 6: Fire Engineering 6 - 11 alternative premises without serious disruption; in other cases, business may stop until the building is reinstated. Many businesses that experience fires in their premises go bankrupt before resuming business following a fire. A large conflagration which releases hazardous materials into the environment may have a significant impact on the environment. The pollution may be air borne or water borne, as a result of the large volumes of water required for fire fighting operations. Identification of fire hazards and possible consequences A review of potential fire hazards may include consideration of ignition sources, the volume and distribution of combustible materials, activities undertaken in the building and any unusual factors. When evaluating the significance of these hazards, consideration needs to be given to the likely consequences and their impact on achieving the fire safety objectives. Possible fire safety strategies In order to quantify the level of fire safety achieved, one or more possible safety strategies should be proposed for the building. These will normally be the most cost-effective strategies that satisfy the fire safety objectives. The fire safety strategy is an integrated package of measures in the design of multi-storey buildings. The following should be considered when developing a fire safety strategy:  Automatic suppression measures (e.g. sprinkler systems) to limit the likelihood of the spread of fire and smoke  Automatic detection systems, which provide an early warning of fire  Compartmentation of the building with fire resisting construction and the provision of fire resisting structural elements, to ensure structural stability  Means of escape-provision of adequate numbers of escape routes (of reasonable travel distances and widths) considering the number of people likely to occupy the building at any time  Automatic systems, such as self-closing fire doors or shutters, to control the spread of smoke and flames  Automatic smoke control systems, to ensure smoke free escape routes  Alarm and warning systems, to alert the building occupants  Evacuation strategy  First aid fire fighting equipment  Fire service facilities  Management of fire safety. Establishing acceptance criteria and methods of analysis The acceptable performance criteria for performance-based design will be based on the global analysis of a given fire strategy. The criteria have to be established and evaluated following a discussion between designers and clients, using comparative, deterministic or probabilistic approaches.