MBR_ISSUE 43_LOWRES

Malta Business Review
COVER STORY INTERVIEW
INTEGRITY, ETHICS AND RESILIENCE
Andre' Muscat from SHIELD Consultants Ltd. has recently finished his studies in Fire
Engineering at the University of Central Lancashire. We discuss with him what this
interesting field, what it means in practice and how it is impacting on the contemporary
business, commercial and residential environments.
CORPORATE BRIEF: SHIELD Consultants Ltd specialise in providing operational risk
management and consultancy training services, focusing mainly on high-risk market
segments in the Mediterranean, Middle East, Gulf Region and Africa. The company
also specialises in maritime security; critical national infrastructures and Oil &
Gas. SHIELD combines operational with technology In bringing innovation into all
functional elements of operational risk management – Security; Maritime Security;
HSE; Business Continuity Management; Fire & Safety; Crisis Management and
Emergency Response, as well as Quality Risk Management.
MBR: What is Fire
Engineering and how does
it differ from traditional
methods?
AM: Good question to start with. Fire
Engineering refers to the application of
scientific and engineering principles to the
design of a building. The purpose is to protect
people, property and the environment from
the effects of fire and smoke. In short, FE is
about prevention and controlling the effects
of fire to mitigate damages.
MBR: How does fire
engineering defer from
standard approaches and
what are the benefits of such
solutions?
AM: Standard approaches normally rely on
prescriptive codes and guidelines that specify
solutions to a particular type of building.
This might be very well applicable in most
cases, but in some situations these standards
might prove to be constraining or simply
not applicable. In these cases an engineered
solution allows for a level of fire safety to be
maintained, even if conventional standards
cannot be meet.
This would require a tailored solution for the
particular building type, size, and function
and would not force the application of any set
standard but would rather focus on achieving
the final required result. We at SHIELD
specialise in this proactive approach to fire
prevention and control.
MBR: Can fire engineering
be applicable only for new
constructions or can some
principles be applied to
existent buildings?
AM: No. Fire Engineering solutions can also
be applied to existing buildings in order to
improve or maintain the fire safety of the
building, especially if the use of the building
is going to change from what it was originally
designed for, or if the age of the building is
such that no prescriptive methods can be
applied to it.
MBR: In your studies you
focused on the effects of
ageing and wear of fire
protection in buildings. What
where your main findings?
AM: Yes, my final study regarded a particular
aspect of fire safety within buildings that
is very often overlooked. This is the part
called Passive Fire Protection (PFP). These
include techniques and applications such
as compartmentation walls and fire doors,
amongst others. To an observer who is not
well versed in fire engineering solutions,
these parts of a building might not appear to
serve an important role in the fire safety of the
building. This could lead to certain changes
being made to the building, resulting in
deterioration in structures, without essential
fire mitigation and control.
The studies focused on the primary
documented reasons for failure in PFP
and through experiments in a fire testing
laboratory and also by using a specialised
computer simulation programme, it was
observed that small gaps around doors did
not have severely impact safety conditions of
the escape route. However, as soon as these
gaps are widened slightly, environmental
conditions in terms of smoke and heat start to
pose a threat to life quite quickly.
MBR: What are the most
common damages sustained
by Passive Fire Protection
systems within buildings?
"We at SHIELD specialise
in this proactive
approach to fire
prevention and control
AM: Some of these damages simply occur
due to the passage of time and the wear and
tear that components sustain. These include
fire doors sagging and not being able to close
well into their frame, or intumescent strips
(material that expands when heat is applied)
that are fitted around fire doors that become
damaged due to abrasion over time.
Other damages are sustained to the changes
in the building that the occupants carry out on
them. These would not normally be carried
out while knowingly damaging the building,
but simply because the building users would
not recognise the problem in effecting such
changes. These can include, drilling holes
through walls to facilitate the passage of
services, changing fire doors to a non-fire
rated door, or removing a door altogether.
Sometimes spaces that are normally unseen,
such as above soffits or through ventilation
ducting, might be left unprotected simply
because they are forgotten and are left free
to allow the passage of smoke and heat.
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