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Section 8 - Fire Protection
Key Points
The spread of fire and smoke are major causes of damage to property and assets. Fires can occur without warning and can totally destroy buildings within hours. Consequential losses can be as significant as the actual physical damage from fire, smoke, water and collapse.
- Statutory fire protection measures are primarily concerned with the safety of life. Although these provisions may have some beneficial effect on property and contents protection, they will usually be insufficient where the loss potential is high
- Investment decision makers must ensure that risks from fire are identified and managed
- Project owners must ensure that specific and achievable fire safety objectives are developed
Introduction
Directorates General, Agencies and public bodies are responsible for the national assets in their care and for the continuity of the functions and services they deliver. These are all at risk from serious fires. Some assets will be irreplaceable; most risks will be self-insured.
Serious fires should be considered when compiling risk registers. While the likelihood of fires may often be regarded as low the potential extent of loss or disruption will generally be high unless specific control measures have been put in place to limit the development and spread of fire.
Risks of this nature must be considered alongside the legal, financial and reputational consequences of fire related casualties or fatalities and/or failure to comply with relevant legislation.
Responsibilities
Investment decision makers must ensure that risks from fire are identified and managed by clearly establishing the maximum acceptable loss to the organisation in terms of:
- the destruction of whole buildings or individual fire compartments
- the loss of key contents, data, assets or infrastructure (including heritage assets)
- the impact on project or service delivery
- the effects of fire on associated buildings or facilities
- the release of hazardous materials into the environment
Project owners must ensure that specific and achievable fire safety objectives are developed to limit losses to these levels.
Project sponsors and project managers must ensure that design teams understand and plan to meet the fire safety objectives set in addition to complying with the law.
Aspects of fire protection
Statutory fire protection measures are primarily concerned with minimising the risk to person of harm caused by fire. They represent a minimum legal level of protection rather than any optimal or best practice standard. Although these provisions may have some beneficial effect on property and contents protection, they will usually be insufficient where the loss potential is high.
What methods of protection are available?
Control measures can be considered sequentially on a time line. The later the intervention the larger the likely extent of loss. In practical terms a combination of some or all of the following measures will be appropriate:
- reduction of ignition sources
- management of fire load
- segregation or separation of high risk or vulnerable areas
- fire alarm and detection system (category P)
- manual fire fighting equipment
- automatic fire suppression
- smoke containment or removal systems
- fire separation and compartmentation
- structural fire protection
- facilities for use by the fire and rescue service
- contingency planning
- damage limitation measures
- business continuity plans
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