The Basis for Fire Safety Substantiating Fire Protection in Buildings
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The Basis for Fire Safety Substantiating fire protection in buildings Fire Safety Professorship René Hagen and Louis Witloks VERVALLEN The Basis for Fire Safety Substantiating fire protection in buildings VERVALLEN 1 Publication Details Authors René Hagen and Louis Witloks, Fire Safety professorship of the Instituut Fysieke Veiligheid, in close cooperation with various research groups of Brandweer Nederland, the organisation of Dutch fire services. Photographs Cover photo: Jan Beets Inside photos: René Hagen, Martin de Jongh, Rob Jastrzebski, Jeroen Schokker, Wikimedia and Instituut Fysieke Veiligheid Translation Esperanto WBT Support This publication was also made possible by Underwriters Laboratories and Fire Safety Platform. The knowledge document entitled ‘The Basis for Fire Safety’ was originally written on the basis of the Dutch situation, but in practice, it was soon found to be applicable to situations outside the Netherlands as well. The approach to fire safety as described and elaborated in this document can be applied universally. It describes the backgrounds and provides a substantiation of fire protection measures and facilities. And they also apply internationally, since fire development and fire growth are not specific to just one country. When using this publication for situations outside the Netherlands, please remember that the statistical details stated only concern the Netherlands. Where regulations are referred to, as is specifically the case in chapter 6, this is Dutch legislation. However, the book is definitely suitable for international use as its main focus is on the backgrounds and substantiation of fire safety measures and facilities which are based on fire development, the spread of smoke, the behaviour of constructions and people's behaviour when fleeing a building, instead of on statutory requirements. First edition, first impression, September 2014 © Instituut Fysieke Veiligheid You may copyVERVALLEN information from this publication, provided that you state its source. Whilst every care has been taken in the compilation of the text, the editors cannot accept liability for any damage or loss arising from any inaccuracies or mistakes that might occur in this publication. Instituut Fysieke Veiligheid P.O. Box 7010 6801 HA Arnhem The Netherlands T +31 (0)26 355 24 00 www.ifv.nl ISBN/EAN 9789056434663 Foreword VERVALLEN Foreword 3 The Netherlands Institute for Safety in Arnhem, the Netherlands VERVALLEN Foreword 4 Foreword This publication, The Basis for Fire Safety, is a knowledge document providing substantiation, argumentation and background information about fire prevention. It is intended as a reference book and a practical manual. The publication offers a conceptual framework for and an approach to the fire protection of buildings, based on Dutch statutory schemes such as the Housing Act (Woningwet), Working Conditions Act (Arbowet) and the Safety Regions Act (Wet veiligheidsregio’s) and on scientific knowledge. This is a monodisciplinary document by the Organisation of Dutch Fire Services that connects the individual elements of fire prevention. The publication emphasises an integral approach that is necessary in order to improve the quality of fire prevention. As the series of fire protection concepts published by the former Dutch Ministry of the Interior in the 1990s became obsolete, there was no longer an up-to-date document that provided for this. The current document deals with integral fire safety at the level of buildings. As it is not a summary of methods by which fire prevention is implemented in practice, no attention is given to important aspects of this, such as fire-safe living, supervision and enforcement. Besides being a source of knowledge for the fire service, this knowledge document may also serve as: • background information for the government in its capacity of legislator as regards building regulations • a tool that will help market participants and the government, in its role of licensing authority, to decide on equivalent solutions, FSE solutions and risk approach • a tool that will enable market participants to provide an insight into fire prevention, so that they can fulfil their own responsibilities for this. This document has three parts. Part A is the core of the document. It first describes the systematic approach to fire prevention, the conceptual framework. The rule-based and risk-based approaches and their VERVALLENinterrelationship are then discussed, where it should be noted that this order does not imply any preference for or priority of approaches and methods. Part A produces a summary of the fire protection measures and facilities per risk group and the associated building purposes and functions. Part B sketches the frameworks for fire safety, making it the underlying substantiation of the conceptual framework and the approach from part A. Foreword 5 These frameworks have four parts: • The risks in the event of fire that indicate the frameworks for why fire protection is actually to be implemented and on which basis. • The objectives from statutory regulations that require protection according to the government. • The scientific substantiation of the measures and facilities that are applied in the real world situation. • Fire behaviour to the extent that this is important for fire prevention facilities. Part C contains the annexes: a profile of the various building purposes and functions that have been differentiated in this publication, the escape safety analysis model and a summary of recent and relevant cases where preventative facilities played a role in the fire behaviour and the outcome of the incident. Prior studies and publications have been used for this document. They are listed in the last annex, the bibliography. The Dutch terms for fire prevention (i.e. brandpreventie) and fire protection (i.e. brandbeveiliging) have been subject to regular discussions by professionals. As early as in 1949, the former Dutch Taalcommissie voor de Techniek (Language Committee for Technique) studied these terms, but without any result. The definitions subsequently used in various glossaries have not been unanimously approved of either. That is why this publication uses these two terms in the same, generally recognisable meaning. No additional studies have been carried out for drawing up this document, nor was this part of the assignment. However, it has been noted that scientific substantiation or an evidence base is lacking in many fields. But this does not imply that fire prevention requirements, measures and facilities are not useful, as practical experience has been gained with them for dozens of years, as a result of which scientific substantiation is sometimes no longer necessary. But this is not a general truth. Investing in scientific substantiations in order to fill gaps in knowledge continues to be necessary. If this is not done to a sufficient extent, it will frustrate innovation. An example of this is the Beheersbaarheid van brand (Controllability of Fire) calculation model. This model is based on existing knowledge and has not developed any new knowledge. In real-life practice, this has resulted in many discussions about the model and in increasing resistance to its application, both between the government and advisers to market participants,VERVALLEN and between different advisers. The valuable Brandveilig Leven (Fire-safe Living) process initiated by the Dutch Fire Services also threatens to come to a standstill due to a lack of scientific substantiation. Therefore, it is all the more remarkable that a current scientific research result on human behaviour in the event of fire is not used as the basis to adjust statutory requirements. This knowledge document is the result of developments in the past few Foreword decades. Various sources were consulted and used when compiling this document, including those listed in annex D. So as not to frustrate the 6 legibility of this reference work and manual, no footnotes have been included in the text to identify the sources. This document is ready for the future. This means that it is both in line with current prescriptive regulations, in which thresholds and reducing effects play an important role, and that it will be compatible with a possible future performance system of regulations, based on risks and fire safety engineering. It is also a living document which will have to be updated every now and then to incorporate new knowledge and experience. This knowledge document is composed as follows: A: Conceptual framework and approach to fire safety Chapter 1 Conceptual framework for fire prevention Chapter 2 Fire prevention: from rule-based to risk-based Chapter 3 Risk-based fire prevention (FSE) Chapter 4 Fire safety measures and facilities B: Fire safety frameworks Chapter 5 Risks in the event of a fire Chapter 6 Statutory framework and objectives of fire prevention Chapter 7 Evidence base in a historical framework Chapter 8 Fire and fire development VERVALLENC. Annexes Annex A Building profiles Annex B Escape safety analysis model Annex C Case histories of fires Foreword Annex D Bibliography 7 VERVALLEN Foreword 8 Contents VERVALLEN Contents 9 VERVALLEN High-rise building in Rotterdam 10 Contents Foreword 3 Introduction 17 Chapter 1 Conceptual framework for fire prevention 25 Introduction 27 1. Conceptual framework 27 2. Summary of characteristics 29 2.1 Approach from five disciplines 29 2.2 Interactions of characteristics: an explanation 34 2.2.1 The interaction between fire characteristics and building