Fire Safety Risk Research Articles

A green synthesis strategy for liquid microcapsule flame-retardant polyurethane foam: Lowering consumer health risks from flame retardant inhalation and ensuring long-lasting fire safety

Dimethyl methylphosphonate (DMMP), is widely used in the production of commercial flexible polyurethane foam due to its excellent fire-retardant properties and the low addition levels required. However, in daily use, the volatility and migration of this liquid fire retardant reduce its fire safety performance and pose significant health risks. To address this issue, we employed interfacial polymerization facilitated by ultraviolet light-induced triallyl isocyanurate (TAIC) cross-linking at the water-oil interface to rapidly encapsulate DMMP. Incorporating TAIC@DMMP microcapsules into FPUF composites effectively suppressed DMMP emissions, maintaining low health and fire safety risks. These microcapsules act as sprinkler heads within each FPUF cell, rupturing during flame propagation. This release of phosphorus-containing radicals significantly enhances fire safety, reducing the peak heat release rate (PHRR) and total heat release (THR) by approximately 47% and 33%, respectively. The TAIC@DMMP microcapsule FPUF composite material exhibited excellent fire safety performance after 28 years of long-term aging simulated in an oven, passing the vertical burning test. In an environment simulating a 60 °C heat source, the TAIC@DMMP microcapsule FPUF composite material significantly reduced the release of DMMP, lowering the carcinogenic risk and non-carcinogenic risk by approximately 80 times and 100 times, respectively. This study presents a method for preparing FPUF composites that balance fire safety and environmental health, offering a valuable reference for further research on flame-retardant materials in environmental safety.

CROSS Safety Report: The potential impact of scaffolding on fire safety

This month's report discusses the potential fire safety risks of scaffolding when it is present around in-use buildings and the current risk assessment process.

Assessment of Fire Safety Preparedness and Risk Management in Caleb University Hostels

Fire safety in university hostels is a critical concern, particularly in developing countries where resources and awareness may be limited. This study evaluates the effectiveness of fire safety measures in student hostels at Caleb University, Lagos, highlighting the current state of fire safety protocols and identifying areas for improvement. Employing a descriptive research design, the study gathered data from 329 respondents, including students and hostel staff, through structured questionnaires and semi-structured interviews. The findings reveal that while basic fire safety measures such as fire extinguishers are present, awareness and confidence in fire safety protocols among students are alarmingly low. A significant percentage of respondents (61.8%) expressed doubts about the effectiveness of existing measures, and only 6.7% reported participating in fire drills or training sessions. Furthermore, the study identified critical weaknesses in the current fire safety protocols, with 56.8% of students having experienced fire-related incidents during their residence. The research underscores the necessity for regular fire safety training, improved equipment maintenance, and enhanced communication of emergency procedures to ensure the safety and preparedness of hostel occupants. Recommendations include implementing mandatory fire drills, increasing the number of safety equipment, and collaborating with local fire authorities to develop comprehensive fire safety programs. This study contributes to the existing literature on fire safety in university settings and emphasizes the need for effective strategies tailored to the unique challenges faced by educational institutions.

Diphenylphosphoryl Azide as a Multifunctional Flame Retardant Electrolyte Additive for Lithium-Ion Batteries

Graphite anode materials and carbonate electrolyte have been the top choices for commercial lithium-ion batteries (LIBS) for a long time. However, the uneven deposition and stripping of lithium cause irreversible damage to the graphite structure, and the low flash point and high flammability of the carbonate electrolyte pose a significant fire safety risk. Here, we proposed a multifunctional electrolyte additive diphenylphosphoryl azide (DPPA), which can construct a solid electrolyte interphase (SEI) with high ionic conductivity lithium nitride (Li3N) to ensure efficient transport of Li+. This not only protects the artificial graphite (AG) electrode but also inhibits lithium dendrites to achieve excellent electrochemical performance. Meanwhile, the LIBS with DPPA offers satisfactory flame retardancy performance. The AG//Li half cells with DPPA-0.5M can still maintain a specific capacity of about 350 mAh/g after 200 cycles at 0.2 C. Its cycle performance and rate performance were better than commercial electrolyte (EC/DMC). After cycling, the microstructure surface of the AG electrode was complete and flat, and the surface of the lithium metal electrode had fewer lithium dendrites. Importantly, we found that the pouch cell with DPPA-0.5M had low peak heat release rate. When exposed to external conditions of continuous heating, DPPA significantly improved the fire safety of the LIBS. The research of DPPA in lithium electrolyte is a step towards the development of safe and efficient lithium batteries.

Риски безопасности: современное состояние государственного управления

The problem of state management of security risks in the context of a special military operation and conducting a hybrid war against Russia by NATO forces is actualized; an analysis of individual conditions and factors that form a critical possibility of harming life safety and, in general, the national interests of the Russian Federation is carried out.
 The current state of security risk management is revealed through the analysis of such strategic state documents as the Federal Law «On Security» as amended in 2023, «The Concept of Foreign Policy of the Russian Federation» in 2023, «Strategies for the development of civil defense, protection of the population and territories from emergencies, fire safety and human safety on water facilities for the period up to 2030», the state program of the Russian Federation «Protection of the population and territories from emergency situations, ensuring fire safety and human safety at water bodies» 2023, the Federal Law «On Voluntary Fire Protection» of 2011 with amendments and additions made to it in August 2023.
 Attention is focused on the risks of wartime.
 An express analysis of scientific research in recent years has been carried out. The joint opinion of scientists and experts in the field of civil defense on the existence of problems in legislative activity requiring prompt resolution has been revealed.
 Using the example of the Ministry of Emergency Situations of Russia, some practical results of the state's management activities are shown, as well as the importance of changes in the Federal Law «On Voluntary Fire Protection" to activate the volunteer movement and minimize fire safety risks with the participation of the population.

Модель мониторинга охраны опасных производственных объектов от лесных пожаров

The methodological analysis of the requirements for the prevention of forest fire onset and spread has demonstrated that at the design, development, and maintenance of forest sites, it is required to apply various proven methods enabling the assessment of risk of damage to hazardous production facilities protected from forest fires (upper and ground fires) via the selection of fire protection measures in forests, such as forest fire prevention, fire hazard and forest fire monitoring in forests, and forest fire extinguishing. The expert method, the system analysis methods, and the methods of management theory and decision-making were applied in order to solve the problems. The topicality of the study covered in the article is the analysis of fire safety requirements in forests and the development of informational and analytical support for the decision-making when evaluating the probability of the onset of forest fire and the risk of damage to the adjacent hazardous production facilities caused by a forest fire (upper fire, ground fire) in accordance with the calculation methodologies applied for specific situations, based on the expert method. The industrial safety management system and the industrial safety requirements must ensure the identification, analysis, and forecast of accident risk at hazardous production facilities, as well as the planning and implementation of fire safety measures and risk reduction. The scope of studies is industrial facilities, the Federal Forestry Agency, expert activities, activities of insurance companies, scientific activities, and individuals competent in forest fire safety (experts). To ensure the fire safety of hazardous production facilities, it is required to assess the risk of the onset and spread of a forest fire (upper fire, ground fire). In order to determine a safe allocation of forest stands and ensure the safe operation of firefighting subdivisions during forest fire extinguishing, it is required to apply the proposed expert method associated with the control of activities of the body responsible for the implementation of measures of planning, development and maintenance of forest stands at the exercise of official powers.

Performance-Based Design Assessment of Temperature Tenability Condition in a Hotel Atrium

Fire safety risk assessment to prevent loss of human life and property is necessary for complex structures where the traditional prescriptive designs are inapplicable. Maintaining tenable temperature conditions is essential for the safe evacuation of building occupants. This study considered British Standards (BS) 7974 and the Code of Practice for Fire Precautions in Buildings to analyze the temperature tenability conditions in the hotel atrium through a performance-based design approach. Further, the Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) code, Pyrosim, a Graphical User Interface (GUI) of the Fire Dynamics Simulator (FDS), was utilized to simulate a constant Heat Release Rate (HRR) steady state design fire of 5 Megawatts (MW) igniting from the hotel brasserie (ground floor) within the atrium. The researcher used the big design fire of 5MW to generalize the results to similar fires in similar structures. The objective was to conduct a fire safety risk assessment to prevent loss of property and fatalities by activating a smoke management control system with a ‘what if’ condition when the fire suppression system failed to start. Temperature data was collected through the statistical steady state profile, smoke layer temperatures, thermocouples, and 2-dimensional slice temperature recordings. The ground floor, the fire source, was found to have untenable conditions for human survival with temperatures above 2250C, as confirmed by thermocouple and steady-state temperature profile readings. Other floors demonstrated tenable conditions for human survival with temperatures below 400C due to the effect of natural vents and mechanical extractors, which extracted the hot smoke at a rate of 15m/s. The temperature recordings from this study compared well with those from Chew and Liew’s (2000) Computational Fluid Dynamics results, which had fire igniting within the atrium, without sprinklers, and had mechanical extraction fans and a constant Heat Release Rate of 5 Megawatts (MW). The results indicated that the smoke control management system maintained tenable temperature conditions within the hotel atrium, even without the fire suppression system through sprinklers. Considering the design fire size was 5 MW, which was significantly big, the results could be generalized for other hotels or structures with similar designs.

A Systematic Review on Cavity Fires in Buildings: Flame Spread Characteristics, Fire Risks, and Safety Measures

Fire spread scenarios associated with concealed cavity spaces have been relatively less discussed. The variation in studies with respect to geometry, influential parameters, and protection strategies has been an obstacle to deriving more generalized solutions in terms of cavity fire in buildings. A systematic literature review was conducted following the PRISMA method to identify the conclusive fire behaviour, safety risks, and protection strategies to enable future researchers to address cavity fire scenarios effectively, avoiding catastrophic disasters. This study identified that relative to open-fire scenarios, cavity fires could result in up to 10 times higher flame spread, up to 14 times higher heat exposure, and temperature conditions 13 times higher. Increased toxicity and smoke velocity are also found with cavity fires. Fire protection strategies and their efficiency were identified for a range of cavity geometries. Altogether, cavity spaces, especially narrow ones, cannot be neglected during fire safety, and proper risk identification is required to ensure the safety of the buildings and the occupants in a fire scenario.

Fire safety of existing residential buildings: Building regulatory system gaps and needs

Considerable cost and effort are invested in government and private-sector activities aimed at providing a societally tolerable level of fire safety of the built environment. This is particularly true with respect to fire safety of new building construction. On the government side, this includes activities associated with building and fire regulations, material performance and test standards, design guidance, competency requirements, review and approvals, and more. On the private side, activities include product development, analysis and design, construction and installation, as well as education and training of practitioners. In some cases there are overlaps (e.g., private building control). However, once buildings become occupied, the system faces several challenges. Oversight of building use and modification often gets lost. Different actors come into play. Competing objectives become more significant. Occupants often lack understanding and ability to recognize problems and make adjustments. The net result is an increase in fire safety risk over the life of a building, with less opportunities for the regulatory system to make interventions prior to an unwanted fire event. However, this can be changed if the approach to regulating existing buildings changes, and importantly, embodies whole-of-life, multi-agency, holistic, systems-based thinking.

Prescriptive Building Regulations, Safety Objectives, and Residual Risk in Germany

AbstractIn Germany, building codes relating to fire safety are mainly prescriptive nature. Therefore, fire safety engineering is based on a combination of expert judgment and reverse engineering of prescriptive rules. This necessitates to connect the given objectives with the detailed prescriptive rules—if not already described within the law or bylaw. This paper proposes a table relating the fire safety objectives of European building regulations and their German counterpart with the prescriptive model building code in Germany. In addition, a risk curve for prenormative work is also given. This represents the prescriptive regulations concerning in terms of fatalities of a level acceptable to society and emphasizes the lower degree of acceptance of multiple fatalities occurring in a single incident. This residual risk limit represents the opinion of German firefighting associations. Data taken from the London area supports the suggested slope rate, as the level of safety in Britain is similar to that in Germany. The table of prescriptive building regulations and their corresponding objectives aids everyday planning decisions in the context of determining adequate compensation without missing out any essential aspects, such as firefighting and firefighter safety. The proposed table forms the basis of the current discussion of a European model performance-based model building code (PBC) within the European Committee for Standardization CEN. Moreover, the risk curve is the first to be discussed in Germany that takes into consideration the societal aspect. It forms an appropriate basis for performing fire safety risk calculations based on fault tree analysis or Bayes nets. The CEN working group for fire safety engineering discusses both aspects of the current development of a European, performance-based fire safety code. It is presented here for the first time.

A review of the contribution of smoke management systems in building design by CFD analysis

As it is broadly known smoke is the major cause of casualties in the event of fire incidents in buildings. Accordingly, the majority of fire related-deaths are not caused by fire flames, but by inhaling smoke. Apart from that, as fire-generated gases exceed a certain level, lower visibility can be attained. Aiming to break this vicious cycle between building design and fire safety, smoke management systems underline a fruitful way to tackle this problem. Within this framework, this work focuses on a thorough presentation of smoke control systems in building design. In an effort to assess the significance of such kinds of systems, as well as to justify their contribution from a quotative point of view, highly sophisticated numerical approaches are mostly adopted. In this context, CFD techniques illustrate a rational way to enhance the arrangement of buildings in terms of fire safety (risk assessment). In a nutshell, this paper discusses the main conclusions of earlier research in this important area of study.

Fire risk assessment of Malaysia public hospital buildings

Fire risk assessment of Malaysia public hospital buildings

Research on the flow and dropping behaviour of droplets generated by burning of flexible polyurethane foam

ABSTRACT The combustion of flexible polyurethane foam (FPUF) poses a significant fire safety risk due to the flow and dropping behavior of its liquid products, which can accelerate fire growth and spread between nonadjacent objects. In this work, the formation, flow, and dropping phenomena of FPUF liquid products were investigated in the laboratory. The findings show that the polyols pyrolyzed by FPUF initially form bead-like droplets on the foam surface, which undergo a morphological transformation from spherical to hemispherical and striped shapes on the side of the foam. The downward flow velocity of the largest droplet is measured to be 5.3 ± 0.4 mm s−1. Furthermore, it is found that droplets with diameters less than 0.70 mm float up, while droplets above the critical dropping diameter have a high risk of igniting flammable materials below. The critical dropping diameter increases linearly with the drop height. These results contribute to a better understanding of the behavior of FPUF during combustion and have important implications for fire safety engineering.

A new consensus on reconciling fire safety with environmental & health impacts of chemical flame retardants

Flame retardants are chemical substances that are intended to mitigate fire safety risks posed by a range of goods including furniture, electronics, and building insulation. There are growing concerns about their effectiveness in ensuring fire safety and the potential harms they pose to human health and the environment. In response to these concerns, on 13 June 2022, a roundtable of experts was convened by the UKRI Six Clean Air Strategic Priorities Fund programme 7. The meeting produced a Consensus Statement that summarises the issues around the use of flame retardants, laying out a series of policy recommendations that should lead to more effective fire safety measures and reduce the human and environmental health risks posed by these potentially toxic chemicals.

Examination of the Practice for Protection against Landfill Fires

The scientific examination of residential waste management has become an increasingly important scientific problem nowadays. Waste disposal and incineration are the most important elements of the modern waste management system. The handling, disposal and burning of residential wastes have significant fire safety risks. In this article, the authors examine the fire protection characteristics of landfills, the legal background of their operation, the causes and circumstances of the individual fires that have occurred, the measures to increase the efficiency, as well as the technical and technological possibilities of fire safety operations.

Hidden hazard weight analysis and safety assessment of fire protection in residential areas

To evaluate the current situation of fire safety in domestic high-rise residential communities, the community, which integrates high-rise residential buildings, office buildings, and shops, was deliberately selected as an example to conduct fire safety assessment. Combined with the current domestic and foreign fire safety assessment methods and practical application of the review, the establishment of the community at all levels of the evaluation index system, the use of analytic hierarchy process (AHP) for fire safety assessment of the community. Results showed that the fire hydrant system and automatic fire alarm linkage system played a decisive role in the fire safety of the community. To perfect community fire safety assessment, and reduce the plot to fire safety risk, enhance the level of community comprehensively, can not only enhance residents on fire control safety knowledge, and the exact analysis of problems existing in the community fire and handled in time, but also strengthen fire safety management, enhanced the safety awareness of the people.

Fire Risk Assessment of a Ship’s Power System under the Conditions of an Engine Room Fire

This paper presents a risk assessment method for a ship’s power system under the conditions of an engine room fire based on the expert comprehensive evaluation (ECE) method combined with the fuzzy fault tree analysis (FFTA) method. The composition of the main engine system in the engine room and the failure logic of each subsystem were analyzed, and the fuzzy fault tree of a ship engine room fire was constructed. The probability of system failure and the importance of basic events were calculated. The fire safety risk assessment model was established using the safety risk matrix. The risk assessment of a ship engine room fire was implemented. The results demonstrated that the fire frequency of the ship engine room was 5.232 × 10−6 h−1. The fire risk of the main engine fuel system was the highest. Fuel leakages from diesel supply tanks and heavy fuel oil tanks are the main cause of accidents. The proposed method eliminated the influence of incomplete statistics in the risk assessment process and improved the accuracy and credibility of the reassessment results.

An overview of the impacts of autonomous vehicles on fire safety in parking buildings

Several fire safety benefits are realised when considering autonomous vehicles (AVs) using parking buildings. Hazards posed by the increasing number of alternatively powered vehicles on the road, such as electric vehicles (EVs), may be mitigated. Parking AVs in designated zones would allow for the installation of fire-suppression systems other than those that are water-based, permit alternative ventilation requirements and allow for the reconfiguration of the building structure. Connected AVs could communicate with other vehicles, the parking building and the emergency services, resulting in a more effective response to a developing fire incident. However, AVs may increase fire safety hazards when considering alternative parking arrangements that promote more extensive fire spread, increase the median fire load energy density by at least 13% and inhibit firefighting. This may impact on the operational capability of the emergency services and the expectations of the structural fire safety design of the building. In this paper, options are presented that would influence the design and use of parking buildings where AVs and EVs are present. Presently, it is unclear whether the introduction of AVs will increase or decrease the fire safety risk to life and property, and further research is suggested to better understand such matters.

A Case Study on Condition Assessment of Fire-Damaged RC Members of Turbo-Generator

Many researchers across the globe have carried out fire safety risk analysis to gather evidence and pertinent data for different Reinforced Cement Concrete (RCC) members exposed to fire. Assessment of fire-damaged structures furnishes the minute details of the effect of fire on the properties of concrete.The study indicates the condition assessment of the turbo-generator (TG) unit, comprises of concrete bearing pedestals, deck and supporting columns. The research was conducted using Non-Destructive Testing (NDT) techniques using Rebound hammer test, Ultrasonic Pulse Velocity (UPV) test, Concrete Cover measurement, Carbonation and Crack depth measurements followed by microstructural studies using an X-ray Diffraction (XRD), Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM), Optical Microscope (OM), and Mercury Intrusion Porosimetry (MIP). The samples were taken from a fire-damaged concrete bearing pedestal B2 and a non-fire-damaged concrete bearing pedestal B4 of the TG unit. The approach enabled us to find the extent of damage to the RCC members exposed to fire. The above mentioned test witnessed that the concrete bearing pedestal B2 was the moderately distressed member, expressed doubtful quality of concrete, higher porosity, reduced residual compressive strength and reduction in yield strength of steel. However minor distress in form of crushing at the top grout portion was observed in concrete bearing pedestal B4, and no apparent distress was observed in supporting columns of TG unit. Based on the distress identified, repair and remedial measures were proposed to concrete bearing pedestals in order to improve the performance of the TG unit.

Ready for the Road? A Socio-Technical Investigation of Fire Safety Improvement Options for Lithium-Ion Traction Batteries

Battery technology is crucial in the transition towards electric mobility. Lithium-ion batteries are conquering the market but are facing fire safety risks that might threaten further applications. In this study, we address the problem and potential solutions for traction batteries in the European Union area. We do so by taking a unique socio-technical system perspective. Therefore, a novel, mixed-method approach is applied, combining literature review; stakeholder interviews; Failure Mode, Mechanisms, and Event Analysis (FMMEA); and rapid prototyping. Our findings confirm that fire safety is an upcoming concern. Still, most stakeholders lack a full understanding of the problem. Improving safety is a shared responsibility among supply chain and societal stakeholders. For automotive applications, voluntary standard-setting on safety risks is an appropriate tool to improve fire safety, whereas for niche applications, a top-down approach setting regulations seems more suited. For both groups, the adaptation of battery pack designs to prevent thermal runaway propagation is shown to be promising from a technological, practical, and organizational perspective. The chosen mixed-method approach allowed for a holistic analysis of the problems and potential solutions. As such, it can serve as an empowerment strategy for stakeholders in the field, stimulating further discussion, agenda building, and action.