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nEw Buildings, nEw opportunitiEs why thE Eu must rEmEmBEr FirE
sAFEty
We expect the buildings in which we spend so much of our time to
reflect our desired quality of life. We want our schools to provide
a safe environment for our children, and our hospitals to protect
the vulnerable. We want our offices and apartments to be
comfortable and safe. Increasingly, Europeans also want their
building stock to be energy efficient and not to burden the world
with unnecessary greenhouse gas emissions.
But whilst comfort, security and environmental awareness have
all been given their rightful position high up the list of
priorities for the EU, too often we give an alarming low level of
attention to one of the oldest and most menacing threats to any
building: FIRE.
Bringing Fire safety to the Fore in new BuildingsPoor fire
safety is a problem for the whole EU. Some statistics show that
every year, around 70,0001 people end up in hospital in Europe
because of injuries caused by fire and smoke, while fire damage
eats up about 1% of Europes GDP2. The effect big fires can have on
our society, our environment and our economies needs to be taken
more seriously and tackled with real urgency.
Not only do we still see major impacts from fires in buildings
but arguably the situation is getting worse. The time it takes for
a fire in a building to turn into a full blaze has reduced
substantially; going from 25 minutes in the 1950s to about 3
minutes today3. The main driver behind this is understood to be
the
increased amount of combustible material in our homes and
buildings. That is why it is important to know that safe and
appropriate standards have been used during the construction of a
new building and that these standards are keeping pace with
developments in buildings construction.
In terms of ensuring that safe construction methods are used,
the situation across Europe is far from acceptable. There is
currently a patchwork of regulations across Europe, with major
differences in the level of fire safety given building occupants.
At the same time, standards that were developed for earlier
construction methods have not been adequately updated to maintain
equal levels of safety.
A decision not to act today, is a decision to continue putting
lives at risk.
www.firesafeeurope.eu1 NIBRA2 Geneva Association3 SRSA
ISSUES BRIEF #1
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cAsE in point: FiEry EuropEAn pAtchwork
Fire safety - very much a European issueWhen we travel, study,
work or live abroad, as Europeans we find ourselves using the local
built environment. Students on exchange study in local schools,
travellers stay in hotels. Workers find themselves in high rise
buildings, and more and more of those constructing buildings are
themselves
migrant workers. It seems therefore appropriate, that, as with
energy efficiency, Europe ensures that all countries strive for a
common level of ambition in terms of fire safety in buildings. It
is only correct that a parent in one country can expect that their
child is as safe when taking part in European supported exchange
programmes as they are at home. Unfortunately today that
expectation is not being met.
Europe can take pride in the diversity of its national cuisines,
its music, or its landscape. However, when it comes to fire safety
regulations, the differences between national definitions of
building types, escape routes and building heights are a real
challenge to establishing a harmonised level of fire safety across
the EU.
In Germany, for instance, buildings fall into one of six
categories, whilst in Switzerland there are just two categories.
Spain and Germany have five classifications of escape routes, but
Belgium has only one. Spain has two building height
classifications, and Finland has none. In some areas, diversity is
nothing to celebrate...
Dave Berry, Former Advisor to UK
Government on Fire Safety Engineering and
the Fire Service
www.firesafeeurope.eu
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cAsE study: whEn Building plAns ForgEt ABout FirE
On 23 September 2012 in Portugal, a fire which started in a
corner of a retail park destroyed all the shops on the site in a
matter of hours.
153 firemen and 60 fire trucks were needed to put out the blaze.
Luckily, the fire began at 2.30h in the morning, meaning that staff
and shoppers were not exposed to the flames, but elderly people
were moved from a nearby home due to the risk of smoke inhalation.
300 workers were left wondering if they could keep their jobs.
The District Commander for fire relief perations reported that
the structure of the modern site, as well as the type of goods
being sold in the shops, encouraged the fire to spread. A major
operational difficulty faced by the fire brigade was that the metal
structure of the building collapsed. This trapped the fire and made
it difficult for fire workers to reach the inferno underneath,
blocking off the water sprayed by the fire services. One witness
said that once the buildings collapsed, only a pile of metal rubble
could be seen.
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cAsE in point: sAmE product, diFFErEnt plAcE
Sandwich panels have been used for many years to insulate
warehouses and other industrial buildings: buildings that typically
have few occupants. These panels consist of thin steel sheets
around a layer of insulating material. They are easy to install and
provide a good level of insulation in many cases.
Current European testing methods, unfortunately, are not able to
adequately differentiate between the fire performance of different
panels, leading to a situation where the market has poor guidance
on which panels to use to ensure a high level of fire safety. With
these panels now becoming a popular choice not just for warehouses
but also for schools, hospitals and apartments: it is critical that
new testing methods are adopted to provide the right guidance.
www.firesafeeurope.eu
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Asking EuropE to protEct its citizEns
Fire Safe Europe is calling for a new EU Fire Safety in
Buildings Strategy to be launched without delay.
This action programme would ensure that harmonized EU-wide rules
are put in place to make sure that construction products and
practices consistently meet appropriate, higher and more rigorously
enforced fire safety standards.
The strategys development should be led by the European
Commission and based on an analysis of fire safety data collected
from all across Europe.
A model for action already exists in the form of the EUs Road
Safety Strategy. This is a European Commission initiative, which
aims to cut EU road deaths and accidents by 50 percent by 2020,
compared with 2003 levels. By 2010 a 33 percent reduction had
already been achieved. Fire safety deserves the same priority
attention from EU policy makers today.
It must ensure that:
1. Appropriate performance standards are developed for composite
materials and building systems so that construction materials can
reach high levels of performance even when faced with a big fire in
a modern building.
The European Commission should lead the development of these
standards, mandating their revision by CEN, the European Committee
for Standardisation.
2. Tighter controls on the installation and use of combustible
products are put in place across the EU and rules on the use of
these materials in EU buildings are reviewed and tightened.
3. Working practices during construction are reviewed and
tightened to protect onsite workers.
4. All future energy efficiency and sustainable construction
policies explicitly to take account of the need for fire safety
planning in their texts.
We also urgently need to gather, analyse and share data and
lessons from across the EU, to improve our understanding of fire
safety trends in modern construction. National authorities,
industry, builders and fire fighters all possess knowledge and
experience which, if shared and acted on, can help to spread best
practices in this field and save lives.
Creating a new building is an exciting event - by building
sustainably, its benefits can be enjoyed for years to come.
www.firesafeeurope.eu