Fire safety starts here…

David Sugden explains the vital role of passive fire protection in ensuring the safety of building occupants, firefighters and property:

THE STABILITY of a building in a fire depends upon the performance of all the component parts of the structure. Buildings are designed to keep products of combustion away from building occupants, allowing them time to escape safely. Regulations that govern the design of buildings also take into consideration the safety of firefighters who attend an incident. Thus, if a building is adequately protected, it should withstand a fire for a reasonable time, without collapse.

Passive fire protection is the term applied to the components of a building that ensure it offers adequate fire performance. This may apply to the fire performance of the elements themselves or to the improvement in fire performance gained by the addition of specialised materials, products or systems. The level of fire resistance offered, or the reaction of the materials, to fire may have been known for centuries, or may be the result of the application of modern and novel technology but, as with all complex and dynamic structures, any weak links must be spotted if disaster is to be avoided.

Stability and separation

When used within the fire safety design of a building, these materials and products generally offer either structural stability or act as fire-separating elements (or compartmentation). In both cases, the products must provide protection for a specified period of time. Passive protection provides the time necessary for the other parts of the fire strategy to operate. Within this strategy, the way in which the alarm is raised, the occupants react and the fire response systems (including firefighters) operate must therefore be taken into account. Without this time, the rest of the strategy cannot work

Insurers also have an interest in the way in which buildings perform in a fire situation, not least of which is their desire to avoid a total property or business loss. If occupiers can resume operations with minimal business interruption, everyone’s interests are served. For this to happen, the spread of any fire must be restricted, if possible to the compartment of origin. In all cases, the spread of smoke and flames can only be restricted or delayed by sound fireseparating elements, and this requires regular inspection of the structure by those who know what to look for.

The Passive Fire Protection Federation (PFPF) draws together representatives of most sectors of the construction industry who have an interest in the way these component parts are put together, be they manufacturers, installers or regulatory bodies. The PFPF attempts to look at the interfaces between elements, the way the components meet the needs of the regulations and how they are tested to prove their performance.

Providing guidance

This supplement describes the aims of the PFPF’s member organisations (see p.26) and provides guidance in a series of product sector pages (see p.5-21). This guidance is designed to help all users of the products and services that the industry has to offer, including the building occupier. They provide information on what to look for, what to avoid, what to maintain and where more detailed information may be obtained.

The performance in practice of all construction materials is dependent upon the way in which the product is installed. For this reason, the PFPF has always favoured third-party accreditation of both materials and installers; a principle which is also endorsed by the Chief Fire Officers’ Association (CFOA) (see p.22), whose members have to deal with the situations that arise from incomplete or badly maintained fire protection. The article on page 22 explains how these schemes operate. Approved Document B of the Building Regulations in England and Wales recommends that certificated products and third party accredited installers of all fire safety products should be used as a means of ensuring that products achieve the required level of performance. Building owners and regulators alike should follow this advice and follow the lead set by CFOA.

The PFPF’s objective with this publication is to provide designers, regulators, building owners and occupiers with a simple reference document that provides basic guidance on the many forms of passive fire protection found in buildings. The trade associations that specialise in these materials and product sectors also offer their services, should you require further guidance.

Often, it is not realised how much the individual elements of construction contribute to the fire performance of the complete structure, nor how the structural performance is vital to a successful fire strategy. The PFPF hopes that the information provided will help all concerned to understand the ways in which these elements work together to ensure public safety.

David Sugden is chairman of the Passive Fire Protection Federation