The Benefits of Passive Fire Protection

The benefits of Passive Fire Protection are vast and make it an essential part of structural fire protection in any building.?

By limiting the spread of fire and smoke, Passive Fire measures provide more time for building occupants and emergency services to respond and act in the event of a fire.

Additional time for occupants to evacuate can mean the difference between life and death, and limiting the spread of toxic smoke can help prevent thermal damage and poisoning to occupants in close vicinity to the blaze.

For emergency services, Passive Fire Protection adds crucial time for them to respond and begin combating the fire and isolating any blaze to one compartment within the building makes it easier for emergency services to contain and eliminate.

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Coupled with the increased safety for occupants, Passive Fire Protection also offers reduces structural damage to components throughout the greater building. By isolating fire to one compartment within the building and slowing its spread it reduces the risk that other segments are damaged by fire and smoke. This minimizes the damage caused by any potential blaze and effectively reduces the overall cost of any remediation work required after an incident. Consequently, by reducing the risk of widespread structural damage Passive Fire Protection can also help to reduce insurance costs for your building, therefore adding significant value to the building and contributing greatly to the safety of its occupants.??

Common types of Passive Fire Protection

• Fiber boards
• Calcium silicate boards
• Spray fibers
• Cement
• Composites (e.g. plastics and phenolic)
• Lightweight cementitious
• Thin film intumescent (solvent/water-borne)
• Thick film intumescent (epoxy)

The fire performance function of the above PFP materials and others vary when exposed to fire and while considering the right PFP for the job, several factors need to be taken into consideration. These include strength, durability, operating environment, weight, system integrity, corrosion performance, health and safety impacts, ease of installation, cost effectiveness and fire scenario

?Intumescent PFP

The most common form of passive fire protection used in modern, high-risk industries such as oil, gas and petrochemical facilities are epoxy intumescent coatings. As the oil & gas market involves activities ranging from exploration, production, storage and transportation of highly flammable liquids and gases, intumescent PFP is suitable in protecting structural steel from extreme heat caused by hydrocarbon fires

These are coatings that (as well as providing full corrosion protection for the life of the installation) in the event of a fire react to heat by swelling in a controlled manner to many times their original thickness to produce a carbonaceous char, which acts as an insulating layer to protect the steel substrate.

They are normally spray or trowel applied in the form of a two-pack epoxy coating material that is applied directly onto a clean, prepared steel surface. Once cured the system is ridged and bonded on place. The system is typically reinforced with a mesh (steel or glass/carbon fibre) at mid thickness depending on fire type and protection requirements.

Typically thickness of intumescent epoxy PFP will range from 3 to 20 mm. The system will have a very long life, maintenance free, provide excellent corrosion resistance and be capable of taking heavy mechanical knocks.

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Hazards, risks and safety critical elements

The requirement for fire protection is normally driven by a process of identifying hazards such as impact damage or corrosion resulting in a release of fuel (oil, gas, LNG, etc.) that may cause thermal shock, explosions and fires of various ferocity such jet fires and pool fires.

From these hazards it is possible to identify specific risks such as escalation of the incident, structural collapse, blocked escape routes and resultant loss of life or assets.

This leads to the identification of Safety Critical Elements; these typically include items such as primary structural steel, divisions (bulkheads and decks), pipes and vessels plus their supporting structures and items such as ESD valves and actuators. It is these safety critical elements that may require fire protection.

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Why is fire protection critical?

Fire protection is a legal requirement in most countries.

The fundamental purpose of fire protection systems is to:

• Prevent the passage and spread of smoke and fire from one area of a building to another
• Allow for the safe escape of the building occupants
• Prevent/reduce damage to the building structure and neighboring structures, and reduce the risk of collapse for the emergency services

In essence, it is about people protection and asset protection.

It is important to provide protection to ensure the item being protected is capable of fulfilling its function until the incident is brought under control or the installation is evacuated.

Typically, protection is applied for the following reasons:

• Decks and bulkheads/firewalls: To prevent the passage of heat and smoke, and to provide insulation and personnel protection.
• Structural steelwork: To prevent structural collapse, fracture and escalation due to jet fires.
• Vessel and pipe supports: To prevent structural collapse.
• Vessels: To prevent inventory temperature and pressure rising (which could result in an explosion).
• Pipework protection: To prevent fracture and escalation due to jet fires.
• ESD valves and actuators: To ensure shutdown containment and prevent escalation.