“Why not try to find the balance?” Sawsan Dahham examines the intersection of fire safety and sustainability
Iain Hoey
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By Sawsan Dahham, CEO of SIENA
If we investigate the history of the modern world construction industry, we can clearly identify two important engineering specialties that preceded the list of building priorities in many countries, Fire safety and sustainability.
The growing interest in Building Green has increased significantly with environmental initiatives aiming to reduce the carbon footprint and reach a Net-Zero economy.
This concern has led to the wide adoption of eco-friendly materials, systems, and equipment not only in the built environment but also in our daily routines.
Despite the undeniable benefits of those products in preserving the environment, they may have irrefutable fire risk implications, by being the source of fire ignition or by contributing to the rapid fire spread and smoke propagation and might even trigger an explosion.
Not to forget the possibility of hindering firefighting operations due to the great hazard created or simply by obstructing site access.
Additionally, a green building destroyed or damaged by fire will have a heavy impact on the environment.
While Sustainability focuses on designing buildings that protect the environmentthroughout their lifespan, Fire Safety emphasises on designing buildings that ensure people’s safetyand preserve properties in case of fire and similar dangers.
Instead of choosing between them, why not try to find the balance that guarantees the safety of the environment and the people?
So, what are the challenges of the Safety/Sustainability equation in the built environment?
In comparison with traditional construction, trendy mixed-use buildings and mega structures decrease the safety standard due to the multitude of objectives that they are expected to achieve throughout their life span, and the only possible way to overcome this risk is by introducing additional safety measures.
On the other hand, International and Country code prescriptive requirements are mainly written for regular design objectives.
To accommodate for a modern living mindset where green is a must, fire and life safety strategies should be based on a detailed analytical approach and not only on prescriptive requirements.
Another challenge is due to emerging technologies.
With construction growth, the extent of new productsis constantly rising.
The testing standards may not be accurate in defining the fire risk in actual scenarios due to the limitation in the size of materials tested or methods of testing, the lack of performance understanding or the incomplete and proper assessment.
Therefore, it is always essential to be careful when specifying or approving any new technology making sure it properly aligns with the relevant testing standards.
Defined studies reporting on the direct contribution of green building products in real-life fires are still insufficient.
This affects the invested attempts to set some effective mitigation criteria at early design stages.
Fire experts need to relentlessly strive to achieve an adequate balance in the Safety/Sustainability equation, to ensure that the minimum safety-to-life requirements are properly maintained.
Our mission is to keep the environment safe by ensuring fire safety.
After all, a tree is not green anymore if it catches fire.
About the IFSJ Influencer
Sawsan is the CEO of SIENA, a specialist engineering consultancy.
She has 18 years of fire safety expertise in mega projects across the MENA region and Africa.
She is proficient in international and local fire codes and is an NFPA instructor and actively shares her knowledge through articles and public speaking, contributing to advancing fire safety practices.
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