Fire Engineering Guidelines - Assignment Example

FIRE SAFETY Student’s Name Class Instructor Institution of Affiliation City Date Week 1 Q1 According to ISO (International Standards Organisation), fire safety engineering can be explained as the application of expert judgement, engineering principles and rules based on the effects of fire, people’s reaction and behaviour and the fire phenomena’s scientific appreciation for the purposes of saving lives, protecting property, preserving the environment and heritage, quantifying the fire risks and hazards and its impact, evaluating analytically the necessary preventive and optimum protective measures to restrict, the repercussions of fire, within the specified levels. Q2 Fire safety engineering mainly focuses on the human behaviour and upholding a maintainable environment for evacuation purposes from any occurrence of fire while fire services engineering entails fire detection, mitigation and suppression through activities such as fire containment and extinguishing, search and rescue of endangered building occupants, fire detection equipment installation and maintenance and communication equipment. Q3 Design team members and other stakeholders in a project. Design team members can be explained as a group of individuals with technical expertise in designing of buildings working together with a common goal in a project (designing a new building). Stakeholders in a project are the people who are the individuals from whom the design team or project draws its resources from. Q4 The Victorian fire safety engineering regulatory framework is made up of laws, regulations, building code and other regulatory publications and documents and it what the Victorian fire safety engineering does, how they are supposed to carry out their activities and why they do what they do. It also summarizes what the Victorian fire safety engineering body expects from building owners and stakeholders (Board, 2016). Q5 The New South Wales’s fire safety engineering framework outlines the administrative framework, detailed procedural matters and requirements for building owners and the engineering body, the building codes to be followed and other applicable regulatory publications and documents that sets out the standards for building development that must be adhered to. Q6 According to the NBC (National Building Code of Canada), Division A clause b, an alternative solution is defined as a solution that is different from the acceptable solutions In Division B (code provisions considered to fulfil the codes functional statements and objectives). In other words, an alternative solution is a building solution that is proposed but does not fulfil the codes acceptable solutions. Q7 A relevant building surveyor (RBS) role is to assess applications for building permits and determine if they comply with the Building Regulations 2006, National Construction code and the building act 1993; Issuing permits for building occupancy and final inspection certificates; conducting inspection of buildings at the compulsory notification stages; issuing building orders and notices in accordance with the building act 1993 and lastly, serving directions for fixing building work that is non-compliant. Under regulation 113 clause A1.1, in order for the RBS to assess fire performance alternative solutions he or she must have: either a Performance Based Building and Fire Codes graduate certificate from the Victorian University of Technology or have a qualification considered by the building practitioner’s board as equivalent to a graduate certificate; depends on a certificate by a fire safety engineer who was not involved in designing the building work under the Acts section 238; depends on a certificate by a building surveyor who is registered and was not involved in designing the building work under the Acts section 238; relies on the Building Appeals Board determination of the Act’s section 160A; relies on an issued accreditation certificate by the regulations building advisory committee; relies on an issued conformity certificate by the Building Codes Board of Australia; relies on a chief officers report under regulation 309. Q8 Building Permit in Victoria Process Flowchart Q9 A chief officer according to regulation 1015 (2), is a reporting authority in regard to the applicable building permit application. According to the Building Regulations 2006, regulation 309, if the specified matters of fire safety (such as fire hydrants, fire mains, fire hose reels and booster assemblies) fails to satisfy the deemed-to-satisfy BCA provisions, the chief officer’s approval must be acquired prior to the issuing of the building permit. In order to acquire a regulation 309 approval, an individual must complete the Regulation 1003 and 309 chief officers report and approval application form and then forward it to the necessary CFA region office. Q10 In accordance with regulation 1002, Building Regulations 2006, Building Act 1993, form 5 is a document that contains property details, building practitioners and intended building use information that is used in the application for a permit of building occupancy by the owner or agent of a building to the relevant building surveyor after the building construction has been completed. Q11 According to the Building Act 1993, BAB (Building Appeals Board) is a statutory body established under the Building Act 1993 that is independent. The main role of this body is to listen to disputes and appeals relating to matters of building control where they are empowered to modify and waive the particular regulations provisions based on a particular case. Q12 The BCA (Building Code of Australia) has two volumes each containing different BCA sections. Volume one has nine sections while volume two has three sections. The sections relevant to fire safety are: section C concerned with fire resistance, section D dealing with access and egress, section E dealing with services and equipment and section 2 in volume two dealing with performance provisions. The performance requirements relating to safety include: BP1.1, BP1.2 and BP1.3. Q13 RBP (Registered Building Practitioners) are specialists in designing, carpentry, roofing, external plastering, block and brick layering, site and foundations assessed to be qualified in carrying out activities essential to the structure of residential buildings. They are registered with the building practitioner’s board. The RBP include: building surveyors, engineers, commercial builders, and supervisors, domestic builders, building inspectors, quantity surveyors, demolishers and draftspersons. In order to qualify for an RBP status, an individual must have completed or have an equivalent of CPC50210 Diploma of Building Construction, with at least an experience of seven years in supervising or carrying out building work. Registered training organisations and an initial application of form 05 Building practitioner set 1. Q14 IFEG (International Fire Engineering Guidelines) is a document addressing the processes and fire safety design tasks and other activities aimed at ensuring fire safety in buildings. Being a guideline, it provides fire safety engineers with an insight to issues going beyond real fire engineering and also provides a perspective on fire engineering role within non-regulatory and regulatory systems belonging to a particular country. A trial design on the other hand, is a fire safety system evaluated utilising techniques for fire engineering (Board, 2005). Week 2 Q1 Fire Engineering Brief (FEB) can be explained as a process that is documented and it defines the fire engineering analysis work scope and the analysis basis as consented by stakeholders. Q2 Fire Engineering Report (FER) is a document that contains details of fire safety design solutions formulation and analysis against the objectives of fire safety developed in the process of fire engineering brief (Beck, V. 1997, 23). Q3 The difference between FEB and FER is that the FEB is prepared first and outlines the alternative solutions that were proposed and it documents stakeholders objectives, relevant performance requirements, acceptance criteria, fire scenarios that are to be evaluated, the buildings trial fire safety strategy and the engineering method to be employed while the FER is prepared after the completion of the FEB and it documents the required calculations, fire modelling and test evidence analysis to support the buildings formulated solution for fire safety design recommendation. Q4 The different IFEG Sub-systems include: Sub-system A (SS-A) that is employed in defining the enclosures where fire has spread and design fires in fire origin enclosures and ways in which the development and initiation of fire can be controlled; Sub-system B (SS-B) that is used in analysing smoke, how it has spread in a building, the smoke properties at areas of concern and ways to control its development and spread; Sub-system C (SS-C) which is used in analysing fire spread beyond enclosure, the fires effect on the structure and ways to control the fires effect and spread; Sub-system D (SS-D) that is used in analysing fire warning, detection and suppression, process that makes it possible to estimate the fire suppression effectiveness; Sub-system E (SS-E) that is used in analysing building occupants. This makes it possible to estimate the occupants required time to reach a safe place and Sub-system F (SS-F) that is used in analysing the effects of fire services intervention activities on a fire and the suppression activities effectiveness. Q5 In each of the above mentioned sub-systems, there are various risks and their safety measures which include: Sub-system A-risk of fire initiation and its measures involve ignition sources control or removal, Occupants training and education, fuel items configuration change and separation of the fuel from the ignition source; Sub-system B- risk of smoke development and spreading and its measures involve design of equipment for smoke management for limiting smoke spreading and development and fuel load materials control; Sub-system C- risk of fire spread and the safety measures involve designing of barriers and openings protection to reduce the impact and spread of the fire and fuel load material control; Sub-system D- risk of fire detection and warning failure leading to the spread of fire and the safety measures involve proper installation, testing and regular maintenance of fire detection and warning systems and Sub-system E- risk of lack of defined evacuation procedures leading to confusion and loss of lives. The safety measures involve defining and providing occupants with information regarding emergency evacuation procedures. Q6 There are various types of methodologies used in assessing fire engineering. The main methodologies employed in accordance with clause G4.3 of IFEG involve qualitative and quantitative analysis. Qualitative analysis employs engineering judgement accompanied by documented arguments and reasoning to compare the alternative solution without calculations, against the provisions deemed-to-comply. Quantitative analysis utilises numerical methods in assessing an alternative solution, that can involve probabilistic and data methods (Board, 2005). Q7 Sensitivity studies measures the effect of altering more or one key input values particularly if there is uncertainty about the values quantification on the analysis results. In this case the FEB states the sensitivity studies, extent and nature that should carried be carried out. Redundancy studies and sensitivity studies are identical, however, sensitivity studies critically inspect the trial design redundant measures that naturally achieve similar functions. The FEB states the sensitivity studies, extent and nature that should carried be carried out to. Uncertainty studies ascertains the way uncertainties and input data inherent in the employed methods reflect in the analysis output. Q8 The Australian Standard AS2419 provides guidelines for the design, installation and commissioning of fire hydrants. It applies to all fire hydrant systems installed for the purposes of protecting structures, buildings, marinas, storage yards, and associated plant, moored vessels and wharves. The fire hydrants are used by the fire brigade in suppressing and extinguishing fires to prevent loss of life and property destruction. Week 3 Q1 A fire triangle is a simple model that helps individuals in understanding the required mix of ingredients for starting most fires. It illustrates the three elements that when combined ignites a fire (oxygen (oxidizing agent), heat and fuel). In the fire triangle, when you remove one of the three, the fire is extinguished. For example, if an individual is trapped inside a burning house and unfortunately his clothes catch fire, upon rescuing the victim, covering the victim with a blanket helps in extinguishing the fire since the blanket removes oxygen which is an essential element in the fire triangle. When water is poured using pressure on the burning house, it helps in removing the heat (cooling agent) and partly dampening the fuel thereby making it possible to extinguish the fire (Cohen, J. 2010, 56). Q2 When fire catches solid timber, it introduces charring which reduces the effectiveness of the solid timbers load-bearing ability. Charring can be explained as a chemical process caused by an incomplete combustion of a solid (wood) when the solid is exposed to high levels of heat. Charring increases the combustion process by providing more heat. According to Australian Standard AS 1720.4 (SA, 1990) Laminated timber when subjected to fire behaves differently than normal timber since the charring rate is controlled by the timber structure. Q3 According to the Australian Standard AS4214 (AS 1995), the available automatic systems for fire suppression include: gaseous fire suppression that use waterless chemical agents that deploy quickly in extinguishing fires in places where assets of high value or irreplaceable assets are kept usually in banks and server rooms; fire sprinkler systems designed to prevent buildings fire outbreaks by sprinkling water over the room or building (usually in homes and offices) and condensed aerosol fire suppression which is particle-based and when deployed acts as a flooding agent in buildings (usually facilities dealing with chemicals) where they effectively distinguish the fire regardless of the height of the fire. Week 4 Q1 According to the Australian Standard for the Standard Fire Test (AS 1530.4) (2014), a standard fire test is a test used in determining a building elements fire-resistance level in terms of insulation, structural adequacy and integrity. The specimens being tested for FRL are exposed to temperatures in a test furnace that correspond nearly to the standard time-temperature curve. A buildings FRL is determined by carrying out, on a prototype, the standard fire test coinciding with AS 1530.4 on a pre- established insulation, structural adequacy and integrity criterion. Q2 ASET (available safe egress time) can be explained as the total time that passes by between the ignition of fire and untenable conditions development. RSET (required safe egress time) is also the total time (measured from the time the fire was ignited) required for occupants to leave a space or building and reach the exterior of the building or exit enclosure. The two terms differ in that, ASET is concerned with smoke and heat detection while RSET is concerned with occupant’s fire safety. ASET is computed by the application of fire modelling or empirical correlations. RSET is calculated by summing up the movement time, alarm time and evacuation delay-time. ASET can be calculated using different ways such as: establishing the history of heat release (design fire) and then using the design fire as input to a calculating tool in order to determine the time it takes before untenable conditions develop. ASET is determined when the smoke or heat released first exceeds the tenability criteria that was pre-established. Week 5 Q1 When carrying out a buildings fire safety hazard review, an individual adopts a risk assessment management tool. The first thing to do is to ask yourself the why, what and how questions. The risk assessment tool outlines various steps that an individual must follow and they include: identifying the fire hazards; identifying the people who are at risk; evaluating, removing or identifying ways of mitigating the fire hazards and lastly, recording findings, providing training to the people at risk and preparing an emergency plan to be followed by building occupants in case a fire hazard occurs. The building features that an individual should pay attention to when carrying out a fire safety hazard review include: emergency exits and routes, occupants training on fire safety, fire systems for detection and warning, available fire fighting equipment, emergency evacuation plan and the vulnerable people fire safety requirements. Q2 In a 20-storey office building, the possible fire hazards include: fire ignition and spread due to overloading of electric systems and unarranged office papers, storage areas that are combustible covered with insufficient protection, leaking Uninterruptable power supply batteries, poor or faulty electrical wiring, flammable liquids and equipment’s generating a lot of heat and using materials that are combustible. In a 20-storey residential building, the most likely fire hazards involve: smoke development and spreading, fire ignition and initiation due to kitchen fires and overloaded electrical systems, candles, kitchen fires, flammable aerosols and liquids, smoking, flammable solvents, cooking appliances, fireplace chimneys that are not regularly maintained and heating appliances. In a 3-storey aged care building, the potential fire hazards include: heating appliances, personal ignition sources, smoking, candles and equipment’s generating a lot of heat and using materials that are combustible. In a 2-storey shopping centre, the possible fire hazards include: flammable aerosols and liquids, electric wiring that is in a poor condition, electrical and electronic equipment’s, equipment’s generating a lot of heat and using materials that are combustible, overloaded electrical systems and storage areas that are combustible covered with insufficient protection. References Beck, V.R., 1997. Performance-based fire engineering design and its application in Australia. Fire Safety Science, 5, pp.23-40. Board, A.B.C. (2016) National construction codes. Available at: http://www.abcb.gov.au (Accessed: 11 October 2016). Board, A.B.C., 2003. Building code of Australia. CCH Australia. Board, A.B.C., 2005. International fire engineering guidelines. Canberra: Australian Building Codes Board Cohen, J., 2010. The wildland-urban interface fire problem. Read More