Civil Engineering Assessment: Fire Safety in Buildings Report

Introduction

The Construction industry creates a very important part in the development of the economy of a country. For this to be effectively successful and beneficial to the serving population, various regulations and good codes of practice should be strictly followed. Normally, this will include good construction practices during the design, construction, and occupation phases of buildings, where professionalism is highly confidential.

Safety in buildings, therefore, is expected to be carried out in two categories which include safety during the design and construction of buildings, and during the occupation period. According to the ‘Review of the Building (Scotland) Regulations 2004: Section 2 Fire (Domestic Buildings),’ the construction of buildings should be done in such a way that the possible risks are substantially reduced to manageable levels. For effective assessment of the current safety regulations, and practical situations, detailed comparisons between the existing and intended codes of practice should be done to come up with the perfect safety rules and regulations for the future.

Fire Safety arrangements during the Design and Construction Phase

Fire safety is an objective requirement to the provision of safety to the lives of the people who might be, for any reason, involved closely with the building. The target people may include the workers on-site during construction to the future occupants of the buildings in question. Currently, there are various measures that have been put in place to ensure the safety of people during the design and construction phase of buildings. According to the ‘Review of the Building (Scotland) Regulations 2004: Section 2 Fire (Domestic Buildings),’ fire safety main aims are to ensure the protection of life, achievement of sustainable development, and assist the fire and rescue services. The current arrangements put in place to ensure fire safety, therefore, are as outlined below:

Fire safety standards during the design phase

During the design phase of buildings, fire safety design measures are most important in providing a safe structure and thus, proper design values should be taken into account. This has been taken care of by various codes of practice including the Fire (Scotland) Act of 2005. For structures to be safe in fire emergencies, the design should be done to ensure the structure can withstand the effect of fire for a substantial amount of time to ensure safe escape and effective fire rescue services.

In the current situation, fire has been a major drawback in the development of the Scotland government. According to Section 2 Fire (Domestic Buildings) technical handbook, there are approximately 7000 reported cases of Scottish fire, in which are approximately 60 deaths and 1700 injuries each year. With the proper and professional use of provided codes of practice, these figures can be reduced significantly.

Professional engineers, therefore, have been employed to take care of the situation through the use of provided codes of practice such as the Fire (Scotland) Act of 2005. Using design experience and building standards, engineers provide safety factors for fire in their designs which also includes the architecture of safe design. According to the ‘Five steps to risk assessment’ handbook, the process involves identification of hazards, the possible victims, risk evaluation, implementation, and review of the risk.

For easy movement and escape in cases of a fire tragedy, easily accessible fire escape staircases are designed for and strategically located. This will ensure perfect movement by both the rescue team and the victims of the fire. Sometimes, a separate fire escape lift is provided specifically for the rescue group. This can then be used by this team to easily access any floor they wish to conduct their rescue services from.

Fire safety standards during the construction phase

During the construction phase, the risks of fire may be caused by the processes and services done during the construction. These risks may be due to the temporary power connections, power machinery on-site, and many other sources. In the Construction industry, these risks are prevented by the adherence of contractors to safety management. In the current situation, it is the responsibility of the contractor to take care of the risks and minimize them to a safe level. This involves the process of risk identification and solution as described in the risk handbook, where the contractor has to follow the safety precautions to fire risk management (Health and Safety Executive, pg 1-8).

In Scotland, construction fire risk assessment guides are provided in the ‘Section 2 Fire (Domestic Buildings).’ These guides ensure that safe construction activity are undertaken to prevent and minimize accidental fires during the process of construction of buildings (Scottish Statutory Instruments, pg 2).

Conclusion

The fire risk prevention practices are enforced by the Government Acts to ensure that the construction parties perform as to the stipulated rules and regulations. Lack of adherence to these rules and regulations exposes a party to penalties, which, however, are not tough at the moment. The introduction of tougher rules can effectively increase the adherence to codes of practice, as the parties of construction may not want to be liable to certain charges due to their inefficiency in quality risk prevention.

Fire Safety Maintenance arrangements during the Occupation Phase

The fire safety of a completed building should be perfect at completion. This is to ensure that the safety of the occupants in the immediate and later future is guaranteed. The safety of a building at the occupation phase, however, is mostly determined at the design and construction phase. At this phase very little can be done apart from maintenance of good practices that will ensure maximum safety in the building. The current practices in Scotland that ensure safety at occupancy are as described below:

Fire safety standards during the occupation phase

During this stage, the main safety activity with regards to fire safety involves the maintenance of the fire safety standards that have already been established. These safety measures now mainly depend on the current occupants of the building. The occupants should be able to observe safety and be ready to react positively to fires.

The occupants of a building normally do not perceive themselves as being at risk of fire and moreover, are not aware of the rate at which a fire can spread (Section 2 Fire (Domestic Buildings), pg 12). In residential buildings, therefore, awareness of the risk of fire is created to ensure fire safety. For instance, fire alarms are provided at strategic positions to ensure easy access in case of accidental fires. In addition to this, it is a requirement to provide safe escape mechanisms from a building. This is efficiently done through the provision of standard fire escape staircases and or fire fighting staircases, lifts, and lobbies.

For non-domestic buildings, the causes of fires and fire deaths are minimal as compared to domestic buildings (Section 2 Fire (Non-Domestic Buildings), pg 50). The design stage is when risk assessment is done and at this time various design factors are considered. Evacuation methods, which can either be simultaneous, phased, or progressive horizontal evacuation, are currently in existence and will affect the type of fire alarm systems to be installed in buildings.

Fire safety measures at the occupation stage in both the domestic and non-domestic buildings are to be efficiently taken into account. Proper fire alarm systems should be employed depending on the type of evacuation methods in a building. The right type of alarm system will guarantee the safety of the building to a certain accepted level (Section 2 Fire (Non-Domestic Buildings), pg 12).

Effect of adoption of BS 9999 to Building Parties Liabilities

The adoption of the BS 9999 code of practice for fire safety in the design, management, and use of buildings will be a major pull forward to the government of Scotland. This is due to the well-defined codes that will provide maximum guidance to the construction parties as a team to produce good fire safety results. This is because the government will have a good check on the individual parties where they, individually, will have to face liability for their actions, whether positive or negative.

The BS 9999 critically analyses and touches on every part of the risk assessment and management starting from the implementation and design stages of the building. This, therefore, gives a perfect and clear way of undertaking the process of fire risk prevention. According to the BS 9999 codes of practice, the design of buildings for fire relies upon the sources of fire, materials and systems likely to be involved in a fire, and the likely spread of fire. Knowing this basic information leads one to an understanding of the methods in which to curb the fire risk possibilities. It gives a person the ability to read the risks and find the most appropriate way to counteract them.

BS 9999 gives a perfect solution to this as the processes to fire safety are well illustrated. A keen observation at the design stage will make one solve most of the assessed risk in a bright manner. This is so because most risks are associated and may originate from the design stage of a building. A good example occurs where the building evacuation system is put into consideration. An excellent design can be read from the initial design stage, with perfect positioning of exit and or entry mechanisms in cases of fires. The provision of firefighting staircases, lifts, and lobbies, may just be a solution to easy movement from one level to another by the firefighting team.

For many reasons, therefore, BS 9999 will act as the most satisfying code of practice for fire safety in the design, management, and use of buildings in the Scotland government.

Regulatory Effectiveness Analysis applied to current systems

The current systems of fire safety may be considered to be functionally average and the need to improve the system is paramount. The Fire Safety (Scotland) Act 2005 was provided to ensure that domestic and non-domestic buildings are designed to be fully functional and secure in terms of fire safety. The Act has been in use for a number of years of which the importance had increased dearly.

However, the system has not defined most of the practices for fire safety from the tender design stage of a building in concern. This makes it most important to introduce the BS 9999 codes of practice that are well stated. The use and implementation of the BS 9999 codes of practice in the current system in Scotland will ensure a perfect way for deciding the right practices by the construction parties. Due to the well defined codes of practice, the parties will have direct responsibilities which shall be mandatory and therefore an effective fire safety system can be obtained.

Recommendations to the Minister

In the current system of fire safety in Scotland, there are various improvements that can greatly increase the productivity in terms of designing for fire safety and maintenance of fire safety measures in the occupation phase of buildings. The safety of the possible users of new and existing buildings should be guaranteed to a specific constant. From my effectiveness regulatory analysis applied to the current systems, I therefore have recommendations to put across that will aid in decision processes weather to site the BS 9999, 2008 as a necessary document in codes of practice:

• The current systems provided for as the codes of practice are not sufficiently designed to provide for safety in buildings at all phases of building production. This therefore requires an improvement in the codes of practice or an introduction to new codes of practice to ensure future safety of occupants.
• The BS 9999, 2008 on the other hand appears to be the perfect solution to the current shortfall in the fire safety management systems since it is well designed to achieve reasonable standards of fire safety (Technical Committee FSH/14: Fire precautions in buildings, pg 4).
• The implementation of the BS 9999, 2008 into the current system shall provide the perfect move that will ensure the responsible construction parties to be liable for their decisions and activities. This will ensure all parties maintain high standards of performance just to ensure all the good practices are done right.

Therefore, it is my recommendation to the minister concerned with building regulation matters to employ and implement BS 9999, 2008 into the current system of fire safety regulations for a better fire free environment in the future.

References

Health and Safety Executive. “Five steps to risk assessment” INDG163(rev2) (2006): 1-8. PDF file.

Review of the Building (Scotland) Regulations 2004. “Section 2 Fire (Domestic Buildings)” (2010): 1-55. PDF file.

Review of the Building (Scotland) Regulations 2004. “Section 2 Fire (Non-Domestic Buildings)” (2010): 1-76. PDF file.

Scottish Statutory Instruments. “The Fire (Scotland) Act 2005” 2006 No. 475:1-17. PDF file.

Technical Committee FSH/14, Fire precautions in buildings. BSI British Standards. New York: Random, 2008. Print.