OUTLOOK
FIRE SAFETY MANAGEMENT OF HIGH-RISE BUILDINGS
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n the last two decades, many developers within the construction industry have resorted to building skywards due to scarcity of land, high land prices and rapid population growth in urban areas. While there are various types of high-rise buildings, buildings with sleeping occupancy pose the highest risk - human senses are lower while we are asleep, and not to mention when the building occupants include those who are under medication or influence of alcohol. For sleeping occupancy, it can be divided into two categories: • Those who are familiar with the layout of their environment e.g. high-rise residential apartments or condominiums, dormitories, hostels, etc. • Those who are not familiar with the layout of their environment e.g. hotels, serviced apartments, AirBnB, etc. Irrespective of occupancy categories, high-rise buildings with sleeping occupancy have higher life safety risks as compared to buildings without overnight sleeping facilities like office towers, shopping complexes, places of worship, factories and plants, 40 Building & Investment | www.b-i.biz
warehouses and storage facilities, schools and institutions. Be that as it may, it does not mean that other types of building occupancy have lower fire risks; case in points, buildings with special occupancy and/or have overnight sleeping facilities such as hospitals, retiree homes, orphanage homes, disabled care centre, etc. also pose higher life safety risks due to mobility issues of occupants. HIGH-RISE BUILDING FIRE INCIDENTS It has been two years since the Grenfell Tower disaster and yet the incident is still fresh in our minds to this day. It was just passed midnight when a fire broke out in a fourth-floor apartment, which quickly spread up the external claddings and engulfed the entire 25-floor residential tower. It became known as the worst inferno ever experienced by the people of Britain since the Great Fire of London. While it is believed that many occupants were awake at the time of the fire – it would have been catastrophic if the incident had occurred in the early hours of the morning when all occupants are sound asleep – however due to rapid fire propagation, the occupants were confronted with heavy smoke that have filled the lobby and single fire escape staircase, forcing them back into their apartments
