Passive fire protection is a vital component of any fire safety strategy. It is built into the structure of a building to safeguard people’s lives and limit the financial impact of damage to buildings and their contents.

 

It does this by:

• Limiting the spread of fire and smoke by containing it in a single compartment

• Protecting escape routes for essential means of escape

• Protecting the building structure thereby ensuring it’s sustainability

• Protecting a building’s assets

 

 

Passive Fire Protection is built into the structure to provide stability and into walls and floors to separate the building into areas of manageable risk - compartments. These areas are designed to restrict the growth and spread of fire allowing occupants to escape and offering protection for firefighters. Such protection is either provided by the materials from which the building is constructed, or is added to the building to enhance its fire resistance.

 

Passive Fire Protection is built into the structure to provide stability and into walls and floors to separate the building into areas of manageable risk - compartments. These areas are designed to restrict the growth and spread of fire allowing occupants to escape and offering protection for firefighters. Such protection is either provided by the materials from which the building is constructed, or is added to the building to enhance its fire resistance.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Responsibility
In the UK, passive fire protection must meet Building Regulations that ensure people can escape safely from a building that will itself not collapse in the event of fire. Legislation places responsibility on building owners, managers, occupiers, and designers, to carry out regular fire risk assessments, which should include evaluation of the PFP provided.

 

 

PFP products
The demands placed on passive fire protection have become increasingly complex in recent years, partly because of pressures to improve thermal insulation and reduce energy costs.

 

PFP products that are installed in a building to improve its fire safety include:

• Fire doors

• Fire-resisting walls, floors, ceilings, and ducts

• Fire stopping and fire protection for structural members

• Fire-resistant epoxy coatings that can be spray applied

• PFP sheet

• Fire-protective boxes or wardrobes

• Protection for vital equipment such as first-aid boxes, oil or gas tanks, or other volatile sites to prevent the risk of explosion.

 

PFP may be part of the fabric of a building, or added after it is constructed. PFP products should be fit for purpose and properly maintained. They must have been tested, assessed, and certified by third party certification, to independently verify the competency and quality of the workmanship of companies manufacturing, installing, and maintaining them.

 

Passive Fire Protection  

Many construction materials have some natural resistance to fire and as such already have built-in fire protection. An example of such a material would be clay bricks, which, when constructed to form a wall is fire-resisting in its own right. Other materials e.g. timber used in the construction of a timber floor may have little such built-in fire protection and may require additional protection e.g. in the form of fire resisting boards fixed to the underside of the ceiling below.

Fire resistance may be enhanced by the use of added materials or components that are known by the collective term passive fire protection (PFP).

 

PFP products also include:

• Fire protection to the structural frame of the building

• Fire-resisting doors and fire door furniture

• Fire shutters

• Compartment walls and floors

• Fire-resisting walls and partitions

• Suspended ceilings

• Fire-resisting glazing

• Fire doors and hardware

• Industrial fire shutters and curtains

• Fire fighting shafts and stairwells

• Fire-resisting dampers (mechanical or intumescent) used in horizontal or vertical air distribution ducts

• Fire-resisting ductwork  

• Fire-resisting service ducts and shafts  

• Linear gap seals

• Penetration seals for pipes, cables and other services

• Cavity barriers

• Fire-resisting air transfer grilles (mechanical or intumescent)  

• The building envelope, e.g. fire-resisting external walls, curtain walls etc.

• Reaction to fire coatings

• Hydrocarbon structural fire protection systems