Fire protection activity design

In May 2017, standard NAPB B.01.012-2007 “Fire protection rules” was abolished. This standard stipulated principal requirements to fire protection design and works. According to NAPB requirements, fire protection activities were to be carried out based on the design documents developed for the purpose. Today, there are no documents in Ukraine to clearly specify the scope of fire protection design documents. Nevertheless, most of fire protection experts and inspection authorities believe that correctly developed fire protection design documents are prerequisite elements for any fire protection measures implemented in a construction object.

Principal stages of fire protection design

Fire protection design for engineering structures implies development of design documents for buildings and structures. These documents are developed by stages:

• development of terms of reference and feasibility study for fire protection measures, specifying principal parameters of fire protection activities: required fire resistance class of structures (group of fire protection efficiency for wooden structures or other fire hazard parameters of substances and materials), fire protection system specifying primer and coating materials, descriptions of fire protection materials and thickness of reactive or passive fire protection coating according to the required fire safety parameters; conditions (temperature, moisture) for material application and use;
• development of preliminary technical design document and cost estimates for fire protection activities;
• development of design documents for performing fire protection activities.

Fire protection activity design document.

1. Explanatory note.

This section of the design document shall cover the following:

• general provisions on fire protection, building fire resistance classification, adopted fire resistance classes for engineering structures and fire protection efficiency groups (in case of wooden structures);
• justification for using definite fire protection material specifying manufacturer’s technical documents (name of the regulatory document used for manufacturing the fire protection means), certificate of conformity for the applied fire protection material and (or), as required, fire test protocol;
• principal physical and chemical properties of the designed fire protection material, terms and conditions for its use; description of fire protection activities and method statements with references to the regulations on fire protection work methods and techniques: preparation of surfaces of the structures, definitions, as required, of admissible primer and coating types, detailed description and instructions for application covering specific occupational safety issues;
• calculation section providing data on the area of the surfaces of the structures subject to fire protection and calculated consumption figures for fire protection materials. Scope of fire protection activities is calculated in square meters of the covered surface according to the drawings and specifications for structural elements taking into account shaped manufactured items.

2. Drawings of protected structures and objects, buildings (structures, premises) where the protected objects are located (if relevant design document is not included in the scope of design and estimate documents for the object in general).

3. Mandatory annexes:

• copy of certificate of conformity for the designed fire protection material;
• copy of the certificate issued by sanitary and hygiene expert commission for the designed fire protection material;
• copy of work regulations for the designed fire protection material;
• copy of designer’s (economic entity) license.

The Kovlar Group company designs fire protection of metal structures, wooden structures and reinforced concrete structures using Ammokote materials, calculates the cost and timing of fire protection work, performs a comparative analysis of fire prevention measures (fire protection work) on fire protection materials present on the Ukrainian market (Phoenix, Promapaint, Promat, Promatect, Defender, Defense, Endotherm, Nullifire) draws up projects for fire protection work, and, if necessary, passes an examination of project documentation.