The Need for Fire Safety Standards

• Proeksa Meas
• 31 December 2015
• Construction Focus
• 1620 Views

Paul Hurford, Managing Director, Azisafe

Cambodia is advancing very quickly in the way we construct buildings, the size of these building and the materials used in this construction. However, are we looking at the effect these advancements have on the safety of those that occupy these buildings?

You don’t have to be an expert to know that the bigger the buildings are, the more people they will hold. This also means the more lives that are at risk in the event of a fire or disaster.

Although there is now a strong focus on fire safety within Cambodia, there is still no legislation, code or even guideline that provides a clear direction for what mitigating measures should be installed to ensure fire safety. Many investors and developers actively try to use different international standards as a basis for ensuring their development is fire safe, however this can lead to installation of inappropriate or inoperable equipment.

Fire Codes and Standards are written with many influential factors in mind such as climate, construction materials, fire service response procedures and capability, and even cultural behaviour. European Standards for instance focus on building compartmentalisation which is common in building design due to weather and climate. This means that construction alone has a huge impact on fire behaviour, particularly fire spread and fire intensity. Construction in Cambodia is very different to this with traditional buildings being very well ventilated which will generally lead to faster spread of fire, but potentially less intensity.

Many buildings in Cambodia have also been fitted with dry riser hydrant systems or external boost points, which are as good as useless at the moment as there are no fire appliances capable of boosting these systems, and no personnel trained in there operation. These buildings are therefore reliant on protection systems that won’t protect them when they need it. International embassies and corporate buildings are some of the worst examples of this, and yet they believe that they are safer than anyone else because they have 100% compliance to their countries code or standard.

Another major issue is with compatibility of equipment. In my experience here, I have come across more than 8 different types of fire hose couplings, all of which meet some form of standard; however they don’t work when brought together.

There are many more examples of common issues here in Cambodia, but they all lead back to the same thing; a need for a Cambodian Code or Standard in Fire Safety.

A Fire Protection Association of Cambodian (FPAC) is currently being formed as an independent body that hopes to set up an industry code of practice for its members to follow, which may lead to government backed standards. This will only happen with the support of the construction industry, investors, insurers, and developers. More Information will shortly be available on FPAC and how to get involved.

I hope to write regularly on the topics of fire and safety and am welcoming of any questions or discussion topics you may have and believe others would be interested in hearing about.