Carrying Out Construction Work

Posted on: 20 March 2018

People who are planning to build need to design fire protection into the building from the onset. Such forms of fire protection are called passive fire protection. This article discusses some of the forms of passive fire protection that you can consider for your building.

Structural Fire Protection

Structural fire protection refers to the interventions that can be implemented to shield important structural components, such as steel columns, from the impact of fires. These measures include the application of intumescent sprays on the structural members so that heat will take longer to have a negative effect upon those structures. Insulation and mineral-wool wraps can also achieve the same passive fire protection effect.

Compartmentalisation

Compartmentalisation refers to the measures that can be taken when constructing a building so that a fire will be contained within the area where it has broken out. Fire partitions, firewalls and fire barriers all fall in this category. Concrete and gypsum are examples of materials that can be used to create fire-rated floors, ceilings and walls. Fire will be unable to spread to other sections of the building if the building is designed using this passive fire prevention technique.

Opening Protection

Another way to implement passive fire protection entails looking at the mechanisms of gaining access to the compartments created in a building. The doors and windows that are installed as openings in fire barrier systems need to be fire-rated so that they can prevent the fire from spreading as the building is evacuated. Special attention needs to be paid to the glazing, frames and the related hardware which is used to attach the doors and windows to the building.

Fire-stopping Materials

Fire-stopping materials are the special materials that one should use to seal any small openings which are created in a building during the installation of building systems, such as air conditioning and electrical wiring. Fire-stopping materials should have a higher fire rating than the fire rating of the walls or floors where penetrations have been created. The higher fire rating keeps the penetration from being the weak link in the passive fire protection system.

The best passive fire protection system usually has a combination of the techniques discussed above. Ask the building designer or builder to explain the different fire protection products available in your area so that you can select the most appropriate ones for your building. Add an active fire protection system, such as smoke detectors and fire sprinklers, so that you can limit the chance that fire will destroy your building.