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Sustainable Fire Safety Engineering for Architects

Tay Hao Giang FIFireE PKP

B.Sc.(Hons), M.Sc. Fire Safety Engineering

International President

The Institution of Fire Engineers

Sustainable Fire Engineering for Architects

Saturday, 13 August 2011

Abstract

Fire Safety Engineering is an essential part of the construction industry. With

the increase in surface Earth temperature, the world is now entrenched in

saving Mother Earth through preservation of environment. Green Construction

concept and Sustainable Building design have been the trend for construction

industry. While some of Green building materials are carbon neutral and

recyclable, fire safety factor needs to be considered during design stage to

avoid catastrophe to life safety and property damage.

With the rapid changes in construction industry, legislative requirements,

development of Malaysia Standards, Professional Submitting Person needs to

keep abreast with the latest development in order to discharge their duties

diligently and stay competitive at the same time.

Building a habitat for community is a profession, but building a habitat that is

Green and incorporates fire safety for sustainable community will be a

challenge.

This paper highlights the importance of sustainable fire safety engineering for

Professional Submitting Person towards Built-environment.

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Introduction

The 21st century has seen many changes in terms of global warming; weather

changes, environmental impacts, modern construction trend of mega size

projects and increasing major fire disasters around the globe. These

environmental changes have spurred scientists to embark on a journey and a

campaign To Save Mother World.

This has led to establish a Green Index for construction materials as an

incentive to encourage developers, builders architects and engineers to move

from conventional approach to using Green construction materials for

conservation of energy and for preservation of environment. If the world could

adopt this approach, with concerted efforts, we would achieve the goal of Save

Mother Earth for the next generations.

It has been highlighted by the environmental scientist that if human continue

their way of mining minerals which utilize huge amount of energy without due

consideration for carbon emission and environmental destruction, Mother Earth

will no longer be sustainable in years to come. As the record shows, i in Artic

and Antarctica, iceberg is melting; glaciers have shrunk at an alarming speed

and frequency. The result is increase in water level, change in weather patterns

and less fresh water supply in densely populated basins.

United Nation Environmental Program has highlighted that 100 places in the

world will disappear as a result of extreme weather or rising sea water or

melting of ice or ecological devastation; Maldives, Venice, Rotterdam, Thames

Valley, Bangkok, Beijing, Great Barrier Reef, Amazon forest, Antartica, Tokyo,

to name a few.

While scientists, environmentalists, professionals and everyone who care and

concern about the issues are racing to reduce global warming and deteriorating

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environment, these changes are deemed to move too fast without factoring in

fire safety engineering.

The World Trend Sustainable Built-environment

With the data established and compiled by top scientists in the world and

presented through Ex-USA Deputy President Senator Al Gore (that eventually

won him a Nobel Prize), the Western countries have been spearing ahead with

Greening the Earth campaign. Through the conserted efforts and consensus,

the Green Building has been defined as:-

Green Construction or Sustainable Building basically refers to a structure

and utilising process that is environmentally responsible and resource-efficient

throughout a building's life-cycle: from siting to design, construction, operation,

maintenance, renovation, and demolition. This practice expands and

complements the classical building design concerns of economy, utility,

durability, and comfort. [1] [2]

Although new technologies are constantly being developed to complement

current practices in creating greener structures, the common objective is that

green buildings are designed to reduce the overall impact of the built

environment on human health and the natural environment by:

1. Reducing Environmental Impact

- Do not build in sprawl

- Rampant land development resulting in soil erosion; change of

environment and ecology

- Large development together with infra-structure accounts for large

energy consumption and high carbon dioxide emission

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2. Green Construction

- Environmental friendly construction practices

- Achieving environmental, economic and social benefits

- Adopt sustainable design that integrates the building life-cycle

with green practices to create a synergy amongst the practices used

- Ultimately eliminates the impacts of buildings on environment and

human health

- Take advantage of natural and renewable resources e.g. solar power,

rain water, wind and wave energy.

- Philosophy of designing a building that is in harmony with the natural

features and resources surrounding the site

3. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA)

- Avoid a narrow outlook on environment, social and economic

- Through assessing a full range of impacts associated with all the

stages of a process from cradle-to-grave (from extraction of raw

materials through materials processing, manufacture, distribution, use,

repair and maintenance, and disposal or recycling).

- Impacts taken into account include (among others) embodied energy,

global warming potential, resource use, air pollution, water pollution,

and waste.

4. Siting and Structure Design Efficiency

- objective is to minimize the total environmental impact associated

with all life-cycle stages of the building project

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5. Energy Efficient

- Reduction in energy consumption

o embodied energy required to extract, process, transport and

install building materials and

o operating energy to provide services such as cooling and

power for equipment.

6. Water Efficient

- Key objective in reducing water consumption and protecting water quality for sustainable building.

- The protection and conservation of water throughout the life of the building through dual plumbing system

- Facilitates increase usage of water that is collected, used, purified, and reused on-site

- Eliminate usage of toilet paper and sewerage traffic

7. Material Efficiency

- Products that are non-toxic, reusable, renewable, and/or recyclable

- Timber, bamboo, recycled stone, recycled metal, sheep wool,

vermiculite, wood fibre, coconut, panels make from paper flake, flax

linen, clay, concrete, etc

8. Indoor Environmental Quality Enhancement

- Indoor air quality

o Reduction of volatile organic compounds and microbial

contaminants

o Select building materials that emits zero or low VOC e.g.

formaldehyde

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o Improve IAQ to reduce detrimental impact on occupants' health

and productivity

o Control of moisture accumulation (dampness) to prevent mold

growth; the presence of bacteria and viruses; dust mites and

other organisms and microbiological concerns

- Thermal Quality

o Appropriate temperature control with improve productivity,

comfort and prevent waste of energy

- Lighting Quality

o Create high performance luminous environment through the

careful integration of natural daylight and electrical light

sources will improve on the lighting quality, life style and

energy performance of the building

9. Operation and Maintenance Optimization

- The objective of a sustainable building can only be materialized if it

operates responsively and is well maintained

- All Green criteria designed at the onset of the project shall be

integrated into the O&M phase of the building

- Waste reduction may be applied during the design and construction

stage, but recycling, IAQ and TQ are part of O&M phase

10. Waste Reduction

- Construction site generates lots of waste for landfill

- Prefabrication and modular construction increase the efficiency of

production and waste control

- Deconstruction can be an alternate method of harvesting waste and

reclaiming it into useful building material.

- Extending the useful life of a structure also reduces waste

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Having read and understood the Green Construction definition above, I notice

that the fire safety engineering has been not been factored in. One may argue

that it could have covered under Human Health definition, but emphasis on

fire safety engineering is on life safety not occupants health. This is an essential

factor that should be taken into consideration together with others for preserved

and sustainable built-environment.

To fulfill the Green Construction philosophy, the key word is Sustainability.

Fire safety engineering professionals truly believe the entire Green

Construction concept should be read and practised in total and not in isolation

if the goal of Sustainability is to be achieved.

To gauge the effect of Green Construction, The Institution of Fire Engineers

featured in its 2010 annual Conference and Exhibition in London with the theme

Fire Engineering to Improve Sustainability of Communities. Many International

renowned fire professionals were invited to provide valuable feedbacks and

comments based on case studies of Green Constructions.

Sir Ken Knight (formal Commissioner of London Fire Brigade) opened the

Conference with a message from Prince Charles to promote sheep wool as a

Green and Sustainable insulation material. The Wool Project research on fire

resistant tests was carried out under Prince Charles Foundation for evaluation

of the fire properties of sheep wool when compared with conventional insulation

materials. The result is very convincing [3].

Professor Jose Torero of University of Edinburgh pointed out during the

Conference that the construction market has been taking an easy route in the

past by utilising construction materials impregnated with fire retardant

chemicals to achieve certain fire rating. With half of the fire retardant chemicals

in the approved list being outlawed by European Union for being not Green,

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Industry is expected to face limited fire rated construction materials in the future.

Consequently, this predicament will pose a problem for the designers due to

increase of fuel load content of built-environment [4].

Under the Green Construction concept, The Life Cycle Tower is a research

project in Austria to build a 20-storey building using timber structure. Timber is

hailed as carbon neutral and 100% recyclable, hence sustainable [5]. New

Zealand and Canada have been cited as best examples for multi-storey timber

structure construction for decades.

Ron Dobson, the Commissioner of London Fire Brigade cited increased cases

of fire incidents within London city where timber structure buildings or building

with Green but combustible content were burnt. Timber-frame construction often

result in rapid fire spread, producing enormous radiant heat, and large spread of

embers frequently causing secondary fire in adjacent buildings. [6]

He revealed one major timber structure incident was burnt while under

construction causing damages to all surrounding buildings (including a heritage

building) and vehicles. This fire incident displaces 300 families. The ferocity and

speed of the fire incident completely consume the entire building before the

arrival of the local fire brigade [7].

London fire brigade also caution the use of modern artificial tiling facade or

ceiling using timber framing for support as dangerous since fire can spread

within the cavity making rescue attempt and fire extinguishment extremely

difficult.

Martin Shipp the Technical Development Director of BRE (British Research

Establishment) shared with the Conference the Innovation Park at BRE. BRE

Innovation Park was open in 2007 where four houses were built for the

launching of the BS Code for Sustainable Homes. The EcoTECH Organic

Swedish closed panel timber frame home; the Hanson factory-assembled

panelised masonry EcoHouse; the Stewart Milner Groups closed panel timber

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frame Sigma Home and the Kingspan Offsite SIPs panel Lighthouse employed

innovative Green Construction concept and design. Since then more show

houses were built. Other than showcasing the Green innovative Building, new

ideas were also tested within the Innovation Park. For example, pedestrian

crossings within the Park are paved with bricks of different colours. Light

coloured bricks forming the edge of the road for crossings create an illusion that

the road looks narrower at that section. The idea is to slow the traffic, making it

safe for pedestrians to cross without use of humps.

According to Martin Shipp and other fire professionals who have visited the

Innovation Park, all these innovative Green Home are ideal when they were

ticked off against the Green Construction criteria. But on a closer observation,

many of them are found to have highly combustible building materials. Use of

abundant timber structures (e.g. flooring, staircase, wood panelling, etc) can be

user friendly yet they present a fire risk at the same time. Another fire hazard

lies in the sandwiched chip board dry wall construction that is in-filled with

polystyrene foam. This is a prominent feature in most of the green home due to

light weight construction that provides high insulation value [7].

Is Green Equates Sustainable?

Unfortunately environment-friendly materials may not be Sustainable if it

threatens human life during fire; high heat flux generated will inhibit safe egress

and impede effective fire fighting while corrosive and toxic fumes produced by

polystyrene foam will kill occupants mere seconds.

I still remember a comment by a fire professional who is visiting the Innovation

Park with me Some of these homes looks more like match box, it will go up

in flame with smoke propagation that there is no chance of safe egress.I do

not fancy living in one of these with my children

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Even though the Innovation Park only show cases domestic dwelling, the same

fundamental is now applied to commercial buildings as well.

To be lighting and thermal efficient, Green Building opts for open concept

which encompasses the aesthetic value of the built-environment. This creates a

modern looking majestic spaciousness atmosphere. Still care should be taken

to incorporate smoke extraction and management system to ensure ASET

(Available Safe Egress Time) will not be compromised. For public assembly

occupancies, minimum clear smoke height should be maintained for safe

egress taking into consideration the transition turbulence layers at the base of

the smoke layer.

For Sustainable Green Building, the built-environment should have an average

life cycle of 20 years. If the Green design and the construction introduce

unacceptable fire hazards and fire risks resulting in the destruction or partial

destruction of the built-environment, the original objective of Preservation of

Built-environment will not prevail. Not to mention life loss (should there be any)

during the fire incident.

Changes in the construction method and material mean changes in the

behaviour, characteristic and intensity of fire. This will affect the duration to

attain a flash-over; increase in smoke index; increase in heat flux; increase in

speed of fire propagation; the response of local fire authority; the RSET

(Required Safe Egress Time), etc.

From the architects perspective, applying Green Construction or Sustainable

Building concept without factoring in Fire Safety Engineering is an incomplete

design that may lead to a disaster many of us not able to comprehend later.

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Up-to-date with Fire Related Legislative Documentations

Area of Jurisdiction

Following the introduction of Certificate of Compliance and Completion, the

onus is for the PSP (professional submitting persons) to forward their design to

the Fire and Rescue Department Malaysia (FRDM)s record. They are required

to provide all fire-related legislative requirements in their submitted plans. The

fire related legislative requirements must cover UBBL1984; all published

Malaysian Standards on active and passive fire protection system concepts and

designs, test methodologies, fire protection product specification and design,

etc.

PSP are responsible for their own designs but should adhere to the

fundamentals of fire safety concept in accordance to UBBL 1984; Malaysian

Standards or any other recognized National, Regional or International

Standards. Fire and Rescue Department Malaysia will only monitor the

legislative requirements and upkeep the By-law requirements.

The introduction of CCC years ago and the decision by Malaysian Government

to fast track plan applications, the approving duration by the Fire and Rescue

Department Malaysia is now cut to 7 days.

Professional Submitting Person must realize that Fire and Rescue Department

Malaysia will not be commenting on the architectural drawings like what they did

pre-CCC. Practicing architects should equip themselves with knowledge and full

understanding of all fire-related legislative requirements and latest fire

regulations ensure smooth plan submission.

According to the Fire and Rescue Department Malaysia, rejection rate of the

PSP plan submission in Selangor in June 2011 is a high 47%.

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Specification and Malaysian Standards

For small projects which do not render M & E consultancy services, architects

will often oversee the entire project including M & E portion. To achieve

comprehensive protection, proper evaluation, assessment and selection

process of active fire protection systems should be in place.

To ensure correct and appropriate type fire protection products and systems are

supplied according to specification, the tender documents should be well

prepared detailing all technical data and criteria in clear definition. Loosely

worded specification or details omitted in the drawing will create grey could lead

to contractual disputes, project delays or escalation of cost beyond budget.

PPP can find in Malaysian Standards many norms in system/product design,

testing, installation, servicing and maintenance which can be listed as part of

the specification. The inclusion of Malaysian Standards (being supplementary

documents that are listed in UBBL 1984 or developed to replace British

Standards) will surely enhance prescriptive specification and appropriate

requirements essential to the operational of fire protection products or systems

As Malaysian Standard development is a dynamic process, all professional

submitting person must keep abreast with latest and updated Malaysian

Standards in Fire Safety and Prevention. All Malaysian Standards under Fire

and Safety and Prevention are developed by Industrial Standards Committee

ISC M. They can be purchased at SIRIM library in Block 1, SIRIIM Berhad,

Shah Alam, Selangor. Keeping a complete volume published fire product/

system related Malaysian Standards in the office will be handy to practicing

architects for referencing. For those who wish to preserve the environment and

go Green softcopy can be obtained from SIRM website.

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As a developing country, Malaysia is not in the position to develop all

ingenuous Standards fulfil needs of the construction industry. A fast track

process to build nation standards will be for the technical committees to adopt

foreign Standards, improvise or localise them. SIRIMs policy for selecting and

adopting foreign Standards is the descending order of International, Regional,

National and lastly Industrial Standards.

Specifications for design and testing and Code of Practice for servicing and

maintenance as well as installation are critical by virtue of the fact that fire

protection systems must fully functional during a fire emergency.

Sustainable fire protection system, passive compartmentation and egress path

are vital to business continuity and preserving built-environment.

The common denominator for built-environment is human; hence life safety

should form an integral part of Sustainable Built-environment.

BOMBA Approved What Does It Mean?

In fire protection products, the frequent question an architect ask will be Is your

product BOMBA approved? If the answer is Yes, the product will basically be

accepted without further queries. But there is more to this than meets the eyes.

Let us go through the approval process. All fire protection products and

systems sold on the domestic market must carry Surat Perakuaan (Approval

Letter) from BOMBA or Fire and Rescue Department Malaysia (FRDM). Fire

and Rescue Department Malaysia has made it very clear that FRDM Approval

Letter is based on the Test Report from SIRIM or a recognized laboratory.

The approval is given on the condition the product/system is tested in the

laboratory in accordance to each relevant Standard, e.g. fire resistant doorset

that passed the fire resistant test of 75 minutes is approved to have a fire

resistant rating of 60 minutes [9].

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In some instances, conditions can be added as attachment to the approval letter

whereby they limit the application of certain products/systems. These

attachments must be read in whole with the Approval Letter to avoid any

ambiguity or misconception.

PSP should also pay attention to certain areas in regards to Approval Letter-

details listed in the letter, changes in approval process and approval conditions

so as to avoid problems during construction stage. Other points include of the

Approval Letters expiry date, new conditions stated in Fire and Rescue

Department Malaysias latest circular and new conditions introduced through

publication and adoption of latest Malaysian Standards.

Specification library should regularly update and record any changes so that a

updated tender document can be produced when required. This will in turn

ensure zero problem during FRDM inspection before handing over the project.

Proper Laboratory Testing of Passive Fire Protection Products

There are two types of tests that can be conducted in a laboratory. To apply for

product/system approval, a prototype test must be conducted and it shall fulfil

all the testing criteria as stipulated in the respective Standard. For example,

there are altogether 18 tests under MS 1601: Part 4: 2009 [10] for a mortise

lockset[9]. Ad-hoc test or research and development test where product/system

is tested to selected tests is not admissible for product approval application.

Hence not all fire protection product/system that come with a test report is

acceptable.

Talking about test report brings back one of my memories when I was working

as a fire safety years ago. We were required to use gate valves imported from

Great Britain in a fire protection system project. A sales person came tried

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to persuade me to take a look at his new gate valve, stressing that his product

was made to British Standard in a third world country. When asked if the gate

valves also tested to British Standard, he replied no but will request his

company to do so. About 5 months later, he came back to see me and said

good news, now my gate valve are tested and handed me a thick test report.

The report looked alright until I read the conclusion which stated the gate valve

did not comply with the test requirement of the British Standard.

Some may have taken the test report and agreed to use his product without

further investigation of the test result. There may be others who just take his

word for it. But verifying the documentation is imperative to ensure integrity and

quality of fire protection products/systems.

Quality Assurance

When active and passive fire protection products/systems - hose-reel, fire

hydrant, fire resistant partitions, fire resistant doorsets, fire extinguishers - are

tested in the laboratory, special attention is given and careful preparations are

made to ensure product pass the test.

After passing the test and obtaining approval, the products will be mass

produced and rolled out to the market. Even if the products are listed with

Quality Certification Agency which adopts Quality Control program and

undergoing yearly monitoring process, variances still exist compared with the

prototype that is tested in the laboratory.

Care should be taken to ensure that the variance is within tolerance limit; failing

which the fire protection product /system may not be able to function as per the

benchmark tested in the laboratory. If the variance falls outside tolerance range,

the product may not serve the same function as what it was intended because

of its lower quality.

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To ensure quality assurance, Professional Submitting Person can adopt the

measures below:-

1. Product verification through paper audit

2. Relevant Continuing Professional Development program for junior

Architects and Clerk-of-work

3. Work with authorities having jurisdiction to conduct open market

sampling

4. Seek external assistance

Continuing Professional Development

Development in the construction industry is marked by rapid changes in

construction technology, fire prevention concept and new developments in

National and International Standards. Therefore, architects need to keep

abreast with current trend in order to discharge ones duty diligently. One of the

avenues is to participate in continuing professional development program, be it

in your own professional or co-related CPD program.

The Institution of Fire Engineers Malaysia Branch (IFEM) conducts regular CPD

program on fire related topics including an annual weekend CPD camp at Fire

and Rescue Academy for practical understanding of fire behaviour. All IFE

Malaysia Branch CPD programs carry CPD points awarded by Board of

Architects.

IFE Malaysia also publishes Guide to Fire Protection in Malaysia, a

supplementary guide to UBBL 1984. The Guidebook interprets UBBL By-laws

with 3D illustrations, will be useful reference for architects and clerk-of works.

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Conclusion

Professional Submitting Person, whether an architect or an engineer should

always put fire safety engineering on the agenda when adopting the Green

Construction concept and design if he wants to achieve the objective of

Sustainable Built-environment.

The fundamentals of Sustainable Built-environment in terms of life safety should

go beyond Green Construction as principles for fire safety engineering is

universal for all categories of buildings. To stay competitive, professionals of the

21st Century must be innovative-knowledge based.

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References

1. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. (October 28, 2009).

2. Green Building Basic Information. Retrieved December 10, 2009

3. The Wool Project - Sir Ken Knight (Chief Fire & Rescue Service Adviser)

The Institution of Fire Engineers 2010 AGM Conference and Exhibition,

London, July 2010.

4. Environmental Considerations and Fire Retardants Professor Jose

Torero PhD MSc MEng University of Edinburgh. The Institution of Fire

Engineers 2010 AGM Conference and Exhibition, London, July 2010.

5. Life Cycle Tower Martin Unger , Carsten Hein and Tim Gockel Arup

Consultant, July 2010 Fire Risk Management Journal

6. Timber-frame Concerns Wilf Butcher Association of Specialist Fire

Protection, April 2010 Fire Risk Management Journal

7. Fire Safety and Fire Fighting in Sustainable Construction Ron

Dobson QFSM Commissioner, London Fire Brigade.

8. Keeping Fire Safety on the Sustainable Agenda Martin Shipp

Technical Development Director, BRE Global Limited. The Institution of

Fire Engineers 2011 AGM Conference and Exhibition, Cardiff, Wales

9. Fire and Rescue Department Circular Technical Requirement for

Fire Resistant Doorset Change November 2010

10. MS 1601: Part 4: 2009 Specification for Fire Resistant Doorsets

Part 4: Requirements and Method of Determining the Performance of

Mortise Lockset.

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