Steel Buildings in Europe

Part 6: Fire Engineering 6 - 1 1 INTRODUCTION Fire safety is one of the most critical issues in the design of modern multi- storey buildings. The term fire safety describes the precautions to minimise the likelihood and effect of a fire that may result in injury, death and loss of property. Figure 1.1 shows examples of fires in multi-storey buildings. The general objectives of fire design are to protect life, including building occupants and fire fighters, and to minimise business disruption, damage to building property, building contents and the surrounding environment. Figure 1.1 Fires in multi-storey buildings To achieve the above objectives, the Construction Products Directive 89/106/EEC [1] states in Annex I – Essential requirements , that for Safety in case of fire: “The construction works must be designed and built in such a way that in the event of an outbreak of fire:  the load bearing capacity of the construction can be assumed for a specified period of time,  the generation and spread of fire and smoke within the works are limited,  the spread of fire to neighbouring construction works is limited,  the occupants can leave the works or can be rescued by other means,  the safety of rescue teams is taken into consideration.” To meet the regulatory requirements, engineers have to work closely with architects, contractors, manufacturers and suppliers in the design of multi- storey buildings for the fire scenario. Although many issues are primarily covered in the architectural design, engineers need to be aware of fire safety with particular reference to structural fire engineering. In some circumstances, engineers may have to use a wide range of fire safety strategies and design