Fire safety design is one of the most critical factors in building planning, which impacts the safety and well-being of the occupants. It can avoid loss of life and reduce property damage if designed perfectly. However, some mistakes undermine these safety measures, putting everybody in danger. Be it a homeowner, a developer, or a fire protection engineer – it is necessary to understand and avoid these errors. Here are the biggest mistakes in fire safety design principles to avoid to ensure your building’s safety and compliance.
Failure to Conduct Adequate Fire Risk Assessments
This cardinal error in fire safety design lies in not performing an adequate fire risk assessment. This assessment is the foundation of any fire safety plan and therefore must identify potential hazards and determine the best methods to mitigate them. Unless there is an adequate risk assessment, some vital risks may be left out, and provisions for fire safety could prove to be inadequate. In carrying out these assessments, a fire protection engineer has an important role in ensuring that all possible risks of fire breakouts are covered. If this step is skipped or superficially done, it might result in inherent design flaws in the building, compromising its safety.
Inadequate Compartmentalisation
One of the principles of fire safety design is compartmentalisation, where a building is divided into compartments to contain the fire and smoke. Poor compartmentalisation would allow very fast spreading of fire and smoke, which might hamper the occupant’s escape and create difficulties in fighting the blaze. Common mistakes include not providing fire-rated barriers, poor sealings of openings, and dysfunctional fire doors. These mistakes can be avoided if all fire barriers achieve the required standards and are installed appropriately. It’s not simply slowing down the development of a fire; it gives time—the much-needed time—for evacuation and emergency use.
Forgetting Proper Ventilation Design
One of the critical requirements in the management of smoke caused by a fire is proper ventilation design. Because smoke inhalation accounts for most of the fatalities in fires, smoke control becomes important in any fire safety management. Probably the biggest error in fire safety design is giving less than due importance to the smoke ventilation system. These systems are designed to extract smoke from escape routes, maintain visibility and let the occupants evacuate safely. Without proper ventilation, hallways and stairwells start filling with smoke rather rapidly, thus posing a threat to life.
External Factors Ignored
Fire safety design has to account for external factors as much as those internal, which may affect fire behaviour. One such factor would be the weather with the effects wind-driven rain can have on fire safety measures, especially in buildings with exposed large surface areas. Wind Driven Rain Simulation assists in evaluating how the rain driven through the building envelope by strong winds affects the fire safety systems of a building, like electrical components and fire barriers. Ignoring these factors may precipitate the failure of critical safety systems when required most. It is essential to consider these when developing your fire safety design to ensure the building is protected.
Failure to Include the Aspect of Redundancy of Safety Systems
In fire safety design, duplicity refers to incorporating standby systems that should replace the systems if they fail. Failure to include duplicate systems is an error that can bring about devastating results in case there is a fire breakout. For example, consider a building that solely relies on automatic sprinklers and the system fails; in such a case, there would be no other alternative to controlling the fire. A good fire safety plan incorporates many layers of protection, including sprinklers, fire alarms, and handheld firefighting equipment, to name a few. This way, you can be sure of complete coverage. There will be a difference between an easily contained incident and a devastating loss – ensuring redundancy in your fire safety systems.
Inadequate Emergency Egress Planning
One of the most crucial factors in fire safety design is to provide for safe and rapid egress from the building by its occupants in case of a fire. Inadequate planning for emergency egress is one of the most common mistakes that result in tragic consequences, such as insufficient exits, poorly indicated escape routes, and obstruction of egress paths by stationary objects. Fire safety management should prioritise free, accessible, well-lighted escape routes that are easily navigable even when panicked. Regular drills supplemented by clear signage are also requirements of an effective egress plan.
Underestimating the Importance of Regular Maintenance
Even the best principles of fire safety design are null and void if the systems are not properly maintained. Not scheduling periodic checks for maintenance and inspection can cause equipment failures when they are most needed. Smoke detectors, fire alarms, sprinkler systems, and extinguishers are tested and serviced periodically. Furthermore, the fire safety system must be updated according to the current regulations and standards. Regular maintenance is not only a legal requirement but plays an important role in maintaining your fire safety design effectiveness throughout its lifetime.
Fire safety design is a very intricate and critical portion of building safety that requires careful planning and execution. Avoiding the top mistakes—not performing fire risk assessments or conducting them poorly, poor or no compartmentalization, and lastly, ignoring external factors—tremendously brings safety to your building. With careful planning and execution, engaging the services of a proficient fire protection engineer allows you to have peace of mind in knowing that your building is fitted properly with various features for safeguarding occupants against any breakout of fire.
Ensure your building is safe— engage in a fire safety design and management with SHEVS IFT Consultants today!
