PDF | 9 MB - Australian Building Codes Board

feedback from a number of sources
within the national fire safety
engineering industry regarding their
views on the scope of reforms that
should be considered as part of the
review process.
A key outcome of the Committee’s
deliberations was its conviction that the
current IFEG remains a contemporary
document and that it remains ‘fit for
purpose’. Nevertheless, to ensure that
the IFEG maintains its international
standing the document should be
compared with other contemporary fire
engineering process documents with
an aim to identifying a need for further
development.
Associate Professor Dr Brian Meacham,
an IFEG Editorial Committee member,
academic and a fire safety engineering
practitioner well known to many
Australian practitioners, agreed to
co-ordinate the comparative analysis
of the IFEG with other contemporary
fire engineering process documents,
including -
• Society of Fire Protection Engineering
‘Guide to Performance-Based Fire
Protection’ (2007),
• ISO TR 13387 series (1999 onward),
and
• Current Nordic guidelines (1997)
A review of an existing comparative
analysis between the IFEG and British
Standard 7974 ‘Application of fire safety
engineering principles to the design of
buildings’ will also be undertaken.
The comparative analysis is expected to
be completed by the end of 2012 and is
intended to -
• identify differences between
the various documents, such as
any aspects not covered and/or
alternative approaches to design,
• highlight areas where documents
give conflicting guidance, and
• examine and offer views on whether
the documents reflect an appropriate
framework for addressing fire safety
design issues.
In regard to the last dot point above,
the general framework within which
fire safety engineering is undertaken is
fundamental to the broad acceptance
of the products of fire engineering
processes. Therefore, this component
of the analysis has the potential to
significantly influence the scope of
recommended changes to the IFEG,
within the range of ‘incremental change’
to ‘substantial change’.
A program for development of the next
edition of the IFEG will be considered, in
consultation with the fire engineering
fraternity, once the results of the
comparative analysis become available.
For further information please contact
the ABCB via email:
abcb.office@abcb.gov.au
INTERNATIONAL REGULARTORY DEVELOPMENT
Australian Building Regulation Bulletin
• 29