Fire Safety Science Digital Archive

Fire safety engineering provides one of the major ways of obtaining the benefits of performance-based codes and conversely, performance-based codes allow the much wider application of fire safety engineering and greater involvement in the design process. However, the practice of fire safety engineering is hindered by the lack of agreed principles and methodologies. This is reflected in the reluctance of some approval authorities to accept fire engineered designs and the difficulties encountered in accrediting fire engineers. Various organisations have written or are writing documents to provide a basis for fire safety engineering assessments. The most comprehensive published document is the Fire Engineering Guidelines which has been prepared by the Australian Fire Code Reform Centre. It provides guidance for both design engineers and those approving the designs for compliance with the performance-based codes. This paper discusses the current situation with respect to the benefits of performance-based codes, the use of fire safety engineering to meet the objectives of such regulations and guidelines for fire safety engineering.