By: Roy Little, Senior Associate and Francesca Ravenhill, Senior Engineer and Analyst.

In early 2014 a series of articles written by Mostyn Bullock and Adam Monaghan were published in the International Fire Professional Journal [1] focussing on competency in fire engineering (see copy of the articles below). Re-reading these articles now, you get the feeling that we are still having the same battles, regarding the perception of fire engineering and its very purpose, eight years later.

The points being made go back further still with Margaret Law, and comments made 20 years before in her paper ‘Magic numbers and golden rules’ [2].

The statement ‘The magic numbers embodied in regulations are accepted without question whilst any engineering solution is subject to a disproportionately high standard of proof.’, remains as true today as it was when written all those years ago.

It seems that the fire safety industry and regulators are having the same conversations with regards to the perceived difference between fire engineered and code compliant solutions.

There is a notion that somehow a code compliant solution is safer, or even safe, without question, whilst the fire engineered solution is inferior and involves the designer ‘trying to get away’ with something.

This view appears to be imbedded in the industry and associated regulatory processes.

It is however a neglectful opinion which resembles a lack of understanding, or lack of desire, to consider the issue in the depth required.

All fire safety designs are ‘fire engineered’ as they require the applicant to select whether a code or performance based solution is appropriate. All design solutions, even code based design, requires educated decision making and knowledge of underlying principles to be applied appropriately.

A structural engineer is still doing ‘structural engineering’ when they are following prescribed codes. So too are fire engineers.

For now, we continue to try to educate those with perceived notions, and raise the standard to which we hold ourselves and the industry, so that hopefully one day we don’t need to keep having the same conversations.

(As a side note, if you ever wonder where something has originated from, all roads seem to inevitably lead back to Margaret Law or the Post War Building Studies.)

Journal Articles

Article titles and journal references below. These can be accessed via the online journal archive within MyIFE section of The Institution of Fire Engineers (IFE) website.

The development of competency in fire engineer, International Fire Professional, January 2014, Issue No. 7, Page 14-17.
File: IFE-January-2014-p14-17

Code compliance or fire engineering for lift safety design – have we moved on?, International Fire Professional, April 2014, Issue No. 8, Page 25-28
File: IFE-April-2014-p25-28

Shouldering the responsibility, International Fire Professional, July 2014, Issue No. 9, Page 29-32
File: IFE-July-2014-pg-29-32

Have you got the time?, International Fire Professional, October 2014, Issue No. 10, Page 33-36
File: IFE-October-2014-p-33-36-2

Margaret Law Papers

Some Selected Papers by Margaret Law, is available for download via the Arup website.

Notes;

[1] International Fire Professional, Issue No 7-10, 2014.

[2] Law, M. and Beever, P., ‘Paper 21, Magic numbers and golden rules’, Proceedings of Fourth International Symposium on Fire Safety Science, Ottawa, Canada, 13-17 June 1994, pp 78-84, 1994.