The LWF Blog
Fire Safety Engineering for Design – Business Resilience – Part 69
February 28, 2022 12:32 pmLWF’s Fire Safety Engineering blog series is written for Architects, building designers and others in the construction industry to highlight and promote discussion on all topics around fire engineering. In part 68, LWF discussed the safety of and risk to firefighters. In part 69, we look at commercial and financial interests when designing fire safe buildings and how losses can be minimised.
In some businesses, the potential for financial loss due to fire can be considerable and the fire safety design for the building in which the business is housed must reflect the potential for a low probability/high loss scenario.
Of course, the necessity to meet the required fire safety standards for life safety remains paramount, as it must be by law, but broader commercial considerations can also be analysed and mitigated to help avoid situations where business integrity is threatened or continuity is impossible.
Analysis is likely to look at worst-case scenarios and may assume that active fire protection measures, such as sprinkler systems, are not functional. The protection offered to business stock, functions, computer systems etc. will then rely on passive fire protection methods such as compartmentation to prevent fire spread.
Compartmentation is the separation of areas into compartments with the use of fire-resistant construction. This is designed to keep the fire contained in the compartment of fire ignition for a given period of time. In order for this type of passive fire protection to work, as well as being constructed correctly and with suitable materials, it must be maintained and checked regularly to ensure there are no penetrations through which fire or smoke may pass. Any services which must penetrate the fire-resistant construction separating one area from the next must be ‘fire-stopped’ at the time of installation.
Because fire-resistant construction is a part of the ‘bones’ of a building, it is important that such decisions are taken at the earliest possible stage of the design process. The analysis might look at the largest potential loss scenario and establish that some areas of the building must be separated from the next, e.g. manufacturing from warehousing.
The decisions made will reflect the client’s preferred risk level, the business impact analysis, business continuity needs and the requirements of the insurer, who may insist on certain levels of fire protection.
In part 70 of LWF’s series on fire engineering, we will begin to look at the potential risk assessment pitfalls. In the meantime, if you have any questions about this blog, or wish to discuss your own project with one of our fire engineers, please contact us.
Lawrence Webster Forrest has been working with their clients for over 25 years to produce innovative and exciting building projects. If you would like further information on how LWF and fire strategies could assist you, please contact the LWF office on 0800 410 1130.
While care has been taken to ensure that information contained in LWF’s publications is true and correct at the time of publication, changes in circumstances after the time of publication may impact on the accuracy of this information.