ETB 4481

Passive fire prevention system requirement comparison

among different construction codes
Sri Lanka versus Mauritius

By-P. PAJEETH
EGT/16/498
Department of Engineering Technology
Faculty of Technology
University of Sri Jayewardenepura
Sri Lanka
25th July 2020
INTRODUCTION

Passive Fire Protection (PFP) is a group of systems that compartmentalize a building through the use of
fire-resistance rated walls/floors. Compartmentalizing your building into smaller sections helps to slow or
prevent the spread of fire/smoke from one room to the next. PFP helps to limit the amount of damage
done to a building and provides its occupants more time for evacuation. PFP includes fire/smoke
dampers, fire doors, and fire walls/floors. Dampers are used to prevent the spread of fire/smoke
throughout the building through its ductwork. Fire doors help to compartmentalize a
building. Firestopping helps to separate the building into compartments. Photoluminescent egress path
markers help light the way to safety.

Most passive fire protection products are fire resisting Fire resistance is the ability of elements of
construction such as beams/columns, walls, floors and doors etc. to resist fire for certain periods of time A
component with a fire resisting function can resist fire in one or more of three ways It must resist
structural collapse and/or it must resist the passage of smoke and hot gasses (integrity) and/or it must
resist heat conduction (insulation). A structural floor in a multi-storey building will require all three. A
non-loadbearing compartment wall will have to provide insulation and integrity. A steel beam or column
will only have to provide structural stability. Loadbearing elements such as beams, columns, walls and
floors have to be able to support their load under fire conditions. Separating elements such as doors, walls,
glazed screens and suspended ceilings have to stop fire passing through them either as flames or by heat
conduction. Loadbearing and separating elements such as loadbearing walls and floors have to do both,
any building services that pass through separating elements such as cables, pipes or fire resisting ducts
need to be fire stopped to ensure that the service does not provide an easy route for fire. These are
critically important since they are often located in concealed spaces which means that fire can pass
unnoticed It also makes evaluation of their correct installation difficult.

Fire resistance may be enhanced by the use of added materials or components that are known by the
collective term passive fire protection (PFP). These are called passive because they do not need any
special energization or command signal to operate, (although some systems such as dampers and certain
types of doors may be designed to operate from such methods). PFP includes.

 Fire protection to the structural frame of the building

 Fire-resisting doors and fire door furniture

 Fire shutters
 Compartment walls and floors

 Fire-resisting walls and partitions

 Suspended ceilings

 Fire-resisting glazing

 Fire doors and hardware

 Industrial fire shutters

 Firefighting shafts and stairwells

 
 Analysis for Passive Fire Protection in Mauritius Vs Sri Lanka.

MEANS OF ESCAPE (Mauritius)

The basic principles for the design of means of escape are:
(a) that there should be alternative means of escape from most situations;
(b) where direct escape to a place of safety is not possible, it should be possible to reach a place of relative
safety, such as a protected stairway, which is on a route to an exit, within a reasonable travel distance.

MEANS OF ESCAPE (Srilanka)

The provisions of this Chapter of this Regulation shall control the design, construction, protection, location,
arrangement and maintenance of required exit facilities to provide safe means of escape from all new buildings and
buildings altered or changed in occupancy
Occupant Capacity ( Mauritius)

Exits Requirements (Mauritius)

Fire Doors codes and regulation in Mauritius
A door provided for the passage of persons, air or objects which together with its frame as installed in a
building is intended to resist the passage of fire or products of combustion.
1. All fire doors shall have a minimum fire resistance as per below table.
2. All fire doors shall be fitted with an automatic self-closing device.
3. Where a self-closing device is considered a hindrance to the normal use of the building, such doors
may be held open by
(a) A fusible link connected to a fire detection system
(b) An automatic release mechanism.
4. Any hinge on which a fire door is hung shall be made entirely of
(a) Non-combustible materials
(b) materials having a melting point of at least 800°C;
5. All doors affording means of emergency from a building shall, except in the case of sliding door, be
constructed to open outwards.
Fire door codes and regulation in Sri Lanka
This regulation shall apply to any door which is required by the provisions of this Section to have fire
resistance. Automatic Self-Closing Device does not include rising butt hinges except in relation to a door;
and Electro-Magnetic or Electro-Mechanical Device Susceptible to Smoke refers only to any such device
which will allow the door held open by it to close automatically upon the occurrence of each or any one of
the following-
 Detection of smoke by automatic apparatus suitable in nature, quality and location;
 Manual operation of a switch fitted in a suitable position;
 Failure of electricity supply to the device, apparatus or switch;
 If a fire alarm system is installed in the building, operation of that system.

Any door fitted in an opening which is provided as a means of escape in the event of fire or might be so
used shall be so constructed and installed that it can readily be opened manually and shall not be held
open by any means other than an electro-magnetic or electro-mechanical device susceptible to smoke:
Provided that there may also be installed so as to close the same opening, a door which cannot readily be
opened manually if-

 Such door is fitted with an automatic self-closing device and is held open by a fusible link;
 The manually openable door has fire resistance of not less than half an hour; and
 The required fire resistance is achieved by the two doors together.
Restriction of spread of flame over surf aces of walls & ceilings in Sri Lankan code

 "Ceiling" includes any soffit and any skylight, or other part of a building which encloses and is exposed
overhead within a room, circulation space or protected shaft;

 "Circulation space" means any space which is solely or predominantly used as a means of access
between a room and protected shaft or between either a room or a protected shaft and an exit from the
building or compartment; "Small room" means a room which is totally enclosed and has a floor area not
exceeding that specified in column (2) of the Table 7, according to the purpose group of the building or
compartment; and

 "Trim" means any architrave, cover mould, picture rail, skirting or similar narrow member

 Any reference to the surface of a wall shall be construed as a reference to that surface including the
surface of any window, window frame, glazing and frame in which the glazing is fitted but excluding
any unglazed portion of a door, door frame, mantel shelf, fitted furniture or trim

 Any reference to the surface of a ceiling shall be construed as a reference to that surface excluding the
surface of the frame of any roof light or skylight

 Any part of a ceiling which slopes at an angle of 70° or more to the horizontal and is not part of a roof
light shall be deemed to be a wall

 Any reference to a surface being of Class 0 shall be construed as a requirement that

 The material of which the wall or ceiling is constructed shall be non-combustible throughout; or
 The surface material (or, if it is bonded throughout to a substrate, the surface material in
conjunction with the substrate) shall have a surface of Class I and, if tested in accordance with
BS 476; Part 6: 1 968, shall have an index of performance (1) not exceeding 12 and a sub-index
(i) not exceeding 6.

 In relation to a requirement of a surface shall be of a class not lower than a specified class, Class 0 sha1l
be regarded as the highest class followed in descending order by Class 1, Class 2, Class 3 and Class 4, as
set out hereunder
 Class 0 - Surface of no flame spread.
 Class 1 - Surfaces of very low flame spread. Those surfaces on which not more than 15Omm
mean spread of flame occurs under the relevant test conditions.
walls & ceilings in Mauritius code

The roof of the building shall offer adequate resistance to the spread of fire over the roof and from one
building to another with consideration given to the height, use and position of the building. If the
assembly is to achieve 60 minutes fire resistance or more, shall also meet the provisions of a type D
ceiling
 wall

Any compartment wall or compartment floor shall be imperforate except for any one or more of the
following;

i. An opening fitted with a door, which complies with the same fire resistance as that required for the
wall.
ii. An opening for a protected shaft.
iii. An opening for a ventilation duct provided that the space surrounding the duct is fire stopped and that
any duct of greater cross-sectional area than 0.02 m³ is fitted with an automatic fire shutter where it
passes through a compartment wall or compartment floor.
iv. An opening for a pipe which
(a) Is not a fluke pipe and
(b) Does not exceed 150mm diameter where the pipe is made of non-combustible material and
(c) Where the space surrounding the pipe is fire stopped at the point it passes through the
compartment floor.
v. An opening for a chimney, ventilation duct or duct encasing one or more flues or a refuse duct where
a construction is made of non-combustible material with a period of fire resistance equal to that of the
compartment wall or compartment floor and the space surrounding the chimney or duct is fire
stopped.
Structural and Access Requirement in Srilanka

1. Protected Stairway:

a) The stairway shall be separated from the remainder of the building by 60 min./ 90 min./ 120 min. fire
resisting construction and 30 / 60-minute fire doors to form a stairway enclosure.

b) All doors shall open in the direction of escape.

c) Scissor type protected stairways are not acceptable for super-high-rise buildings.

2. Alternative Means of Escape:

a) Alternative protected stairway not less than 1 m. wide shall be provided up to the highest floor level,
access from all floors.

b) Scissor type protected stairways are not acceptable as alternative means of escape for super-high-rise
buildings.
Construction of stair ways ,ramps in Mauritius

(a) The slope of such exit ramps shall not be steeper than 1 in 10, and

(b) Exit ramps shall be straight with changes in direction being made at level platforms or landings only,
except that exit ramps having a slope not greater than 1 in 12 at any place may be curved, and

(c) Platform

 level platforms or landings shall be provided at the bottom, at intermediate levels where required
and at the top of all exit ramps, and

 level platforms shall be provided at each door opening into or from an exit ramp, and

 the minimum width of a platform or landing and length shall be not less than the width of the ramp,
except that on a straight run ramp, the length of the level platform or landing need not be more than
1m, and

(d) Exit ramps shall have walls, guards or handrails, and

(e) All exit ramps shall be provided with non-slip surface finishes, and

(f) Exit ramps shall be ventilated to comply with the requirements for ventilation, and

(g) Exit ramps serving as means of escape to only one basement storey need not be protected by
enclosure walls.

Every stairway forming part of the escape route shall be enclosed in a protected shaft constructed of non-
combustible materials. Where between a stairway and the access to the open air at ground level there is a
vestibule forming part of the same exit, the stairway enclosure shall be so constructed as to separate the
vestibule from the remainder of the building (lobby approach). Every stairway enclosure shall be enclosed
by a combination of any of the following:

1. Compartment walls
2. Compartment floors
3. External walls
4. The lowest floor of the building
5. The roof of the building
Summery

Prevents or slows the spread of fire from the room of fire origin to other spaces, limiting damage and
providing more time to the occupants for emergency evacuation or to reach an area of refuge. PFP is a
range of measures designed to prevent, contain or slow the spread of fire from the area of origin to other
areas. It compartmentalizes an area to prevent and slow the spread of fire, minimize damage and give
occupants more time to evacuate. PFP is one of the three key components of structural fire protection in
area. The other two components are active fire protection and education. Most people are familiar with the
basics of fire suppression (sprinklers, fire extinguishers, etc.), but PFP that actually contains a fire at its
point of origin can be invisible and nearly forgotten - until the day you come to truly appreciate and
depend on it. PFP, such as fire stops, fire walls, fire retardant coatings contrary to active fire protection
measures, do not typically require electric or electronic activation or a degree of motion.

References

http://mfrs.govmu.org/English/Publications/Fire%20Code/Pages/default.aspx

http://mfrs.govmu.org/English/Publications/Guidelines%20Fire%20Safety/Pages/default.aspx

https://www.ifcgroup.com/training/passive-fire-protection-overview_210120/

https://www.colombo.mc.gov.lk/downloads/Single-Window-Counter/Fire-Clearance-
Certificate/Guidelines

http://mfrs.govmu.org/English/PublishingImages/Content%20of%20Mauritius%20%20Fire%20Code
%20newa.