New Fire Safety Engineering Guide for Building Managers

A new guide to fire safety engineering has been published by the Building Research Establishment (BRE), with the aim of providing simple guidance to this complex topic. Commissioned by Government, the guide is aimed at meeting the needs of those designing, constructing or managing buildings, who are not experts in fire safety engineering but encounter it in the course of their work.

Fire safety engineering is a diverse and complex discipline. It can involve physics (heat transfer, movement of smoke, and so on), chemistry (for example, behaviour of materials), civil, electrical and mechanical engineering, psychology (behaviour of people), as well as procedures used by fire fighters and issues relating to management of large complex buildings.

It is not easy for someone unfamiliar with fire safety engineering to find, for example, a simple description for some of the terms used. The new BRE publication is aimed at meeting the need for simple guidance at a basic technical level so that fire safety engineering can be made more accessible.

The guide provide basic descriptions for a number of key topics encountered in fire safety engineering and highlights aspects that should be considered by designers, enforcers and other responsible persons.

'Fire Safety Engineering: A Reference Guide'  is available from the BRE as a series of web pages at www.bre.co.uk/frs, or can be purchased (price £27) at www.brebookshop.com, or tel 020 75056622.
This document is for general guidance and research purposes only, and does not purport to give professional advice. Please check the date at the top of the article; the Workplace Law Network retains historic articles for general research.