June 2024 - Minerva Group

Fire safety roles: a fire safety engineer, fire protection services designer and passive fire installer.

The might all sound similar – and they certainly all play with fire (the safe way of course).

But these three important fire safety roles are all critical to ensuring fire safety is achieved.

These three distinct roles work together closely to contribute to the fire safety of a project – but they often get confused.

We’ve put together a summary of what each does, along with some tidbits about how they create value and how you can get the most out of each in your next building project.

As is so often the case – the earlier the better is always true!

Fire Safety Engineer

A fire safety engineer:

Develops Performance Based Solutions to provide value to the project (deviating from the restrictive Deemed to Satisfy Provisions of the Building Code of Australia).
Demonstrates safety through showing that the building meets the performance requirements of the BCA.
Looks for opportunities to proactively provide value (an experienced fire engineer should do this even before Development Application is submitted and even when not asked to, it’s about achieving the best possible outcome for the project and our clients).

How they deliver value

They create value through:

Efficiency – being value for money (hitting budgets!) to support the project program.
Future proofing – Championing great design that works now and into the future.
Architectural – Supporting creative architectural design to help in leaving a legacy we can be proud of.

Fire Protection Services Designer:

A Fire Protection Services Designer designs the following systems in bespoke software and produces drawings through design stages and for construction e.g. Dwg and Revit:

Fire hose reels
Fire extinguishers
Fire hydrant system
Fire sprinkler system
Foam suppression
Gas suppression
Fire detection system – smoke, heat, flame etc.

They possess a sound understanding of all of the Australian Standards associated with the fire safety systems they design.

Where there are opportunities, they often propose Performance Based Solutions for the ‘fire safety engineer’ to consider for the project to achieve an efficient design outcome.

TIP: Communication matters

Open lines of communication between fire protection services designers and fire safety engineers is key to achieve a practical and economic outcome. They need to work hand in hand so that the fire safety engineer can understand and endorse their design proposals (where it stacks up of course, it needs to be safe).

Passive Fire Installer:

A Passive Fire Installer:

Installs specific fire rated elements on your project (e.g. light weight fire rated walls, fire rated ceilings, treats fire rated penetrations, fire rating to steel beams and columns etc.).
Has specialist knowledge in fire rated systems from various manufacturers in the market (helps you find the right product for the job that is compliant).
Determines the available passive fire rating systems that can be installed to achieve the FRLs.

Where there is no tested system available, the passive fire installer may propose for the manufacturer to get more testing done or for a deviation to be proposed to the fire engineer for their assessment.

Often for existing buildings, it is key that the passive fire installer is brought on early to provide advice regarding achieving fire rating and also where finding the right tested system might be challenging.

TIP: Earlier the better

Passive fire installer involvement early is often key for existing building, heritage and adaptive reuse projects.

How do you structure the agenda for a Fire Engineering Brief (FEB) meeting with Queensland Fire & Emergency Services (QFES)?

Your application with the Queensland Fire and Emergency Services is in.

You’ve figured out who you should invite to the Fire Engineering Brief (FEB) meeting.

There’s just one thing left to do – figure out what you’re actually going to talk about!

Structuring an agenda that’s actually going to work for you is a skill. Luckily it’s one our team of experienced fire engineers has has a lot of practice doing.

We’ve put together a complete draft agenda for you to use as a cheat sheet, along with our top pieces of advice for how run your next Fire Engineering Brief meeting so that you’re a lot more likely to get the result you’re after.

Before we dive in, a quick recap on who will be there:

Let’s look at an example of a standard Fire Engineering Brief meeting – because of course, different projects will call for different specialists.

For a typical project, the guest list would generally include the following stakeholders:

Building Certifier
Architect
Fire Engineer
Client Representative

It could potentially also include

Fire Protection Services Designer
Mechanical or Structural Engineer

Your draft Agenda for a Fire Engineering Brief Meeting

1. Introduction

To kick things off, the Architect gives a high-level overview of the building and any significant features.

2. Key Building Characteristics

Next, the Building certifier provides the key building characteristics such as:

effective height
rise in storeys
number of storeys contained
large isolated building (if applicable)
required fire safety systems under the BCA etc.

At this point, the team fields any questions that QFES have with respect to the building design and BCA parameters.

4. Fire Strategy Presentation

Te fire engineer then presents the fire strategy for the development:

Systematically works through the fire engineered Performance Solutions and supporting fire design requirements, proposed assessment methodologies and acceptance criteria.
Seeks feedback and endorsement of the Performance Solutions proposed.
Resolves any feedback during the meeting, if possible (otherwise feedback may require further consultation with the design team post meeting).

Once again, the team fields any questions that the QFES may have.

Often there are queries with respect to the fire safety systems in the building and their design.

This is where a fire protection services designer being present in the meeting can also assist, particularly for complex developments.

5. Fire protection services

Should the fire protection services designer be attending the meeting, it is often advisable to provide an overview of the fire safety system design. For example:

booster locations
what standards the fire sprinklers and detection system will be designed to
etc.

This can occur between the building certifier giving an overview of BCA compliance and the fire engineer presenting the fire strategy.

This can help set the scene and provide QFES with a better understanding of the building in terms of safety provisions before getting into the fire engineering detail.

6. Mechanical Engineering

Should the mechanical or structural engineers be attending the meeting, it is often advisable for them to support the fire engineer when the relevant Performance Solutions applicable to their specialised field are raised.

The QFES may ask questions pertaining to the mechanical design or structural design to understand cause and effect or other ambiguities.

Meeting Minutes

The building certifier typically takes meeting minutes and distributes these post Fire Engineering Brief meeting.

All attendees need to read the meeting minutes and provide applicable comments to ensure that everything is captured.

The meeting minutes play a key role in ensuring that feedback and discussions are recorded to enable project stakeholders to take appropriate action – whether this is to resolve any outstanding feedback items or to proceed to the Fire Engineering Report based on endorsement of the fire strategy presented.

Remember - it's a team effort!

Whilst the building certifier and fire engineer drive the meeting, everyone is working towards the same goal of demonstrating that the design proposals makes sense, meets the Performance Requirements of the BCA and is safe.

It’s a team effort to arrive at the best possible outcome for our clients.

Month: June 2024

Which is which? Understanding the different fire safety roles