The Origin of Fire Engineering and Current Developments - Literature review Example

According to , unlike prescriptive codes, design based on engineering methods use different analytical techniques on fire development and evacuation. For this reason, a design is approved based on the safety level attained or higher that the acceptable criteria rather than specific materials. However, although existing prescriptive approach or consensus-based documents is often criticised, it is difficult to argue that it is not effective particularly when there is no considerable losses found in countries that adopted the code.

The use of performance-based codes today is on limited level and accepted only whenever such performance-based design attain an equivalent level of safety in relation to existing prescriptive codes . 2.1.5 Fire Code Adoption and Periodic Revision Traditional building regulations often specify building fire safety requirement in prescriptive term thus no flexibility in design is possible . The adoption of performance-based concept in building regulations and codes to about 20 years . 2.1.6 Elements of Fire Safety in Buildings and its Relationship with Urban Planning Element of fire safety in buildings include the intensity of fire expected, the level of safety than can be provided, and cost of fire safety measures .

Specifically, since life safety is the main purpose of fire safety in buildings, the building should be constructed in a way that the risk of fire is reduced, provision of measures that would restrict the growth and spread of fire and smoke, and ways for occupants the building unharmed. However, in order to attain these objectives, other elements of fire safety should be present such as fire-resisting materials and other components with performance levels acceptable in building regulation . According to , in terms of fire safety components, fire engineering is more preferable as it view the elements of fire safety as an integrated system.

Moreover, it considers the interaction between these complex systems and aligns building performance from this interaction. However, in urban planning, these elements of fire safety according to is rarely prioritised merely because of the belief that people use buildings to perform a function rather than worry about their safety. For this reason, many fire safety features in building are incorporated because of building code requirements or insurance recommendation rather than safety of occupants from fire.

Owners and developers failed to recognise the fire safety is not just about fire dynamic, egress, smoke control, detection, fire prevention, and risk management but all of these. 2.1.7 PBD and Prescriptive Design Approval Best Practices In the United States, approval of design based on traditional codes such as the Uniform Building Code is consistent on all states. However, approval International Building Code and ICC Building Performance Code, and SFPE Engineering Guide varies and mostly seeking verification of the design.

For this reason, practitioners and clients aware of the approval variation in fire engineering solutions are reluctant to use fire engineering design . Another problem is the domination of prescriptive codes that according to is hindering the approval process because it is ill-equipped to deal with complex projects involving unconventional land-use patterns, building shape and forms, or technologies. However, since the advent of green buildings, approving officials are not more responsive to the environmental element in the plan and progressively looking for flexible codes. 2.1.

8 Technical Difficulties in PBD Implementation Prescriptive codes are often easy to enforce than performance code as aside from being an alternative method, the successful implementation, performance-based design requires proper education and training in both building officials and inspectors . Traditionally, building regulations are often expressed in a manner understandable as prescribed criteria that should be strictly complied or prescriptive. Prescriptive regulation is not popular to designers and developers because it has no flexibility.