Passive Fire Protection SEMINAR

INTRODUCTION & OVERVIEW

“ C h e c k m a t e c o n t a i n s f i r e ! ”

The Company

• Formed: 1990

• Offices: Yorkshire, London, Hampshire

& agencies in Dubai & Bahrain

• Core Services Include:

• Intumescent Paint Spraying

• Firestopping

• Installation of Fire Barriers

• Drylining

• Air Sealing & Integrity Testing

• Fire Doors

• Fire Compliance Surveys

Free One Day Seminars

Next Free Seminar

The main issues

Ensuring:

• PUBLIC BUILDINGS ARE FIRE SAFE

• BUILDINGS CAN PROVIDE A SAFE ‘MEANS OF ESCAPE’

• PHASED HORIZONTAL EVACUATION CAN TAKE PLACE

• MINIMUM RISK TO FIRE & RESCUE SERVICES

Protection to:

• VALUABLE & VITAL EQUIPMENT 

• VITAL ACTIVITIES

• AN ORGANISATION’S VIABILITY

• AN ORGANISATION’S STANDING & REPUTATION 

• AN INDIVIDUAL’S STANDING, REPUTATION & LIVELIHOOD

Progressive Horizontal Evacuation

Why it is essential

Hospital Fire

Blaze closes Chesterfield Royal Hospital

A&E ward ‘for foreseeable future’

Derbyshire Fire and Rescue Service battled for three

hours to contain the blaze which spread to the first floor

and broke through the roof.

June 2011

Expensive but Useless!

Better Late Than Never?

What is The True Cost?

Two Important Questions

Why are new buildings not always fire compliant?

Why are fire compartments not always adequately maintained?

Less Resilience To Fire

“It would not be unreasonable to assume that during the

past decade, our commercial building stock has

become less resilient to fire – and this goes some way

to explaining the steep increase in fire losses”.

Roy Watkinson

Technical & Commercial Insurance Director, AXA Insurance

Source: FRM Journal, March 2011

RC12-01 Inspection of Fire Stopping We recommend an

inspection is conducted of all cable penetrations between

floors and walls to ensure that there is adequate fire-

stopping and fire compartmentation. The result on

completion is the risk of fire spread between floors and

adjoining areas will limit widespread damage.

One company who can assist with the completion of this

recommendation is Checkmate Fire Solutions. Contact

details can be provided upon request.

Protection of Property

Building Regulations Requirements

“If a fire separating element is to be effective, every joint and

imperfection of fit, or opening to allow services to pass through

the element, should be adequately protected by sealing or

firestopping so that the fire resistance of the element is not

impaired”

“Every compartment wall and compartment floor should form a

complete barrier to fire between the compartments they

separate and have the appropriate fire resistance” ..... there

should be continuity at the junctions of the fire-resisting

elements enclosing a compartment and any openings from one

compartment to another should not present a weakness”

Building Regulations Approved Document B; B3 section 10

Traditional Build

“Approved Document B was developed for

easy and forgiving masonry construction . .

Modern Build

. . with modern methods of

construction the room for error is

small if not microscopic”.

Dr Jim Glockling,

Technical Director,

Fire Protection Association

Structural movement in a fire

Structural movement in a fire

Typical Process

A LOT OF INVOLVEMENT

CLIENT

FIRE ENGINEER – FIRE STRATEGY

PLANNING / BUILDING CONTROL (FIRE & RESCUE?)

PROJECT CONSULTANT (PROJECT TEAM?)

MAIN CONTRACTOR

ARCHITECT

VARIOUS SUB-CONTRACTORS

PRODUCT MANUFACTURERS?

CLERK OF WORKS?

BUILDING CONTROL

CLIENTS FIRE SAFETY ADVISOR?

CLIENTS RISK ASSESSOR

ESTATES / FACILITIES MANAGER / FM COMPANY

cost

WHO HAS TAKEN RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE

BUILDING’S STRUCTURAL FIRE COMPLIANCE?

compliance

Lack of Monitoring

A ‘competitive tender’ issue?

Grudge Purchase?

Qualified . . . but not in fire stopping

Qualified . . . but not in fire stopping

Qualified . . . but not in fire stopping

Qualified . . . but not in fire stopping

Interface Details

Not Nearly Adequate!

Fire Tested Integrity

Poor Co-ordination

Irresponsibility

An Alternative Process

Client

Fire Engineer / Strategy

3rd party installer with

LPCB Certification

Fire Compliance Co-ordinator?

cost compliance

Passive Fire Protection . . .

designed & specified requires:

•Correct products

•Correct installation

•3rd

Party accreditation

•Compartmentation management

To last the lifetime of a building

Fully Compliant

The BRE Approval process involves a whole series of

rigorous checks which are on-going & it is because of this

assessment process that the LPCB Approval Mark is

recognised worldwide as a badge of quality for Passive Fire

Protection Installation.

3rd

Party Accreditation

Quality Assured

A complete paper trail

3rd

Party Inspection & Certification

Do all Fire Risk Assessments . . .

Newspaper had been used to fill the

gaps around the pipework.

investigate Ceiling Voids . . .

Roof Voids . . .

and Areas of Strategic Importance?

Air Sealing, Testing & Certification

• Compliance with BS ISO 14520 P1

• Computer rooms

• Other areas of strategic importance

• Compliance with BS 5454:2000 - Recommendations for the storage &

exhibition of archival documents

Room Integrity Testing

Fire Doors

“Even the simplest design of fire door can

rarely tolerate error in installation and one

hours fire resistance can easily be reduced to

less than ten minutes, but you won’t

necessarily be able to see the problem unless

there is a fire.”

Peter Barker, Chiltern International Fire

Fire Door Inspection & Remediation

BEFORE

Fire Door Inspection & Remediation

AFTER

Fire Door Inspection Scheme

Achievement of First FDIS

Diploma Improves Service to

Clients

Checkmate Fire Solutions Ltd Compliance

Manager Clive Reilly, seen being presented

with his diploma by Gary Amer, Chief

Executive of the Guild of Architectural

Ironmongers, is the first industry

professional to have successfully passed

the FDIS Diploma in Fire Doors.

The Diploma is a key part of the recently

launched scheme that aims to transform

knowledge and understanding about the

critical role of fire doors and is believed to

be the first of its kind in Europe.

Says Clive:

“Since Checkmate introduced a service for the maintenance and

management of fire doors we have been keen to have a qualification

that proved our competence in this area. Taking the FDIS Diploma

confirmed we knew a lot and also enabled us to rectify gaps in our

knowledge, broadening our expertise, which will benefit our clients.”

The LPCB Certificate states that it only remains valid “providing that

the passive fire protection is checked

on an annual basis & any

damage or defects

rectified by a competent

person in line with the

Regulatory Reform

Order 2005”

On-going Inspection & Re-Certification

POOR MANAGEMENT -

the consequences can be tragic

Six killed in tower block blaze

Three children and three adults have died after a fire swept through a tower block in south-east

London.

July 2009

Owners of fire death Penhallow Hotel to be prosecuted

The owners of a Newquay hotel which caught fire, resulting in three deaths, are to be

prosecuted for fire safety breaches, Cornwall Council says.

Sep 2010

Staying Within The Law

“Where necessary in order to safeguard the safety of relevant

persons the responsible person must ensure that the premises

and any facilities, equipment and devices provided in respect of

the premises under this Order….. are subject to a suitable

system of maintenance and are maintained in an efficient state,

in efficient working order and in good repair.”

Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005

Fires destroy people’s lives

Charges over Warwickshire firefighters' deaths

Three Warwickshire fire service managers

are to face charges of manslaughter by

gross negligence over the deaths of four firefighters.

Feb 2011

Arrests over Warwickshire warehouse fire which

killed four firefighters. Feb 2011

“we need to deliver efficiencies and reduce waste in public

spending, delivering an additional £ 5 billion of efficiency

savings in 2010-11”

John Denham, Secretary of State

“Universities must reduce the administrative burden whilst

maintaining proper accountability for the use of public funds,

ensuring they make efficiency gains where possible”

John Selby, Higher Education Funding Council

Efficiency savings in the Public Sector