The 5 most common mistakes in building fire protection
Effective fire protection in buildings calls for precision, expertise and experience. Unfortunately, in practice we often come across mistakes that can significantly reduce the effectiveness of fire safety systems – and, in turn, put lives and property at serious risk.
Here are the 5 most common fire protection mistakes and how to avoid them.
1. Unprotected service penetrations
Every pipe, cable or conduit passing through a wall or floor should be properly sealed with a fire-stopping system. Without it, fire and smoke can spread rapidly between storeys. Find out more about how we seal service penetrations.
2. Incorrectly installed ventilation ducts
Smoke extraction and ventilation ducts should be made from certified materials and installed in line with the required fire resistance (e.g. EI 60, EI 120). Installation errors can render smoke extraction completely ineffective.
3. Using uncertified fire protection materials
Products that fail to meet the required fire safety standards are, unfortunately, still on the market. Cheap, uncertified materials not only fail to protect – they can actually accelerate the spread of fire.
4. No regular fire protection inspections
Fire protection systems require periodic inspection and maintenance. Blocked ventilation ducts, damaged seals or deteriorated sprayed fire protection can lead to tragedy in the event of a fire. See what our periodic inspections and remediation involve.
5. No as-built documentation
Even correctly installed fire protection is hard to defend at handover if there is no paperwork to back it up. Missing information on the system used, the location of penetrations and the fire resistance class makes the acceptance inspection by the fire service more difficult – and, later on, inspections and repairs after installation work. That is why we prepare as-built documentation after every project.
If you are planning a new project or an upgrade of existing fire protection, get in touch with our team. Make sure your building is protected to the highest standard.