Major Risks Involved with Buildings that Neglect Regulations and Fire Safety Protocols

12 March 2021

One aspect of constructing buildings and structures that must be considered thoroughly is their fire safety. Fire typically starts whenever a combustible or flammable material comes into contact with enough quantity of an oxidiser and heat. And if the construction materials and all the included appliances, products, and other elements in the building will be exposed to these elements, then they can easily trigger fire incidents and can cause other harmful effects to both properties and human lives.

Some aspects of fire that can affect the surrounding properties and occupants include smoke and low oxygen level. Moreover, once the heat from the fire weakens the structure of a building, the weakened materials are expected to block the escape route of the people. They can likewise cause some parts of the property to fall or collapse, which can all injure people and damage other parts of the structure.

All these fire-related issues can be mitigated by buildings that follow fire safety protocols. Without compliance with these protocols, building owners can expect to attain the following major risks.

Rapid Surface Propagation

The cladding systems used for constructing a building typically have fire characteristics that can determine the rate of fire spread. Without the use of high-quality materials for these parts, then one could expect to have a property that can easily be damaged by fire.

Aside from the use of low-quality cladding systems, outdoor elements can also affect the way fire spreads on a property. External surfaces of the property can be easily affected by fire since they can be exposed to strong winds. The stronger the wind, the faster the fire can spread on a specific building or structure as it can add more supply of air to the fire

Cavities

The presence of cavities on cladding systems can likewise put buildings into dangers once a major fire starts. Cavities are normally integrated into the cladding system designs for them to have proper insulation. However, they can likewise be formed by the structural movement that is caused by a fire. 

Once the fire infiltrates and enters the cavities of the cladding systems, it can easily stretch to find oxygen for its needed combustion. The materials used for the cladding systems, at this point, will not have a drastic effect on extinguishing the fire. Instead, the fire can spread rapidly within the cladding systems, which ultimately poses fire hazards to all the people inside the property as well as firefighters.

Fire Re-entry

Another major risk that building owners might want to thoroughly consider is the re-entry of fire into windows and other building openings. Fire re-entry can easily re-enter the vicinity of buildings through the existing openings and subsequently spread inside. One problem that can be generated by fire fire-entry is that it can cause secondary fires on multiple floors. The presence of fire re-entry can, unfortunately, trap building residents and occupants as the fire might have already spread between two or more levels. To avoid encountering these major fire risks, just give us a call at Split Ezy Pro.

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