Playing with fire: Are you safe in that building?

Sonjib Banerjee, technical director, Duval.

Duval Messien technical director Sonjib Banerjee muses on what is holding back the industry from mandating the best measures for fire safety in the region.

From Oman to Morocco the region is developing at a frantic pace. Although reports are sketchy, by 2012, over a trillion US dollars will be invested in Abu Dhabi alone. Add to that investments in public facilities, ports and logistics terminals and we have several trillion dollars worth of civil structures being built in the UAE alone - an insurer's dream.

But while we in the Gulf break the mould with buildings that are the tallest, the best, or with the most breathtaking design - the question today is, have we as a community of designers and planners honestly kept pace with the latest safeguards to protect these structures we help build?

Getting back to basics

Electrical fires continue to plague the region and summers make things a little trickier.

We have had several incidents of fires just within the UAE in the past few years, caused by electric short circuits: a common result of either bad wiring or improper earthing.

The earthing of the building is the only outlet through which excess current during the time of electrical fault can be instantly dissipated to the ground without affecting costly appliances in apartments.

The earthing system must respond to maximum fault current of the building as well as faults, which are continuous in nature. Currently, the earthing technology in use across the region leaves a lot to be desired.

Modern design should mean modern safety standards

Safeguarding a building starts at the design phase, and should imply well-selected infrastructure.

Optimal electrical safety standards demand effective maintenance-free systems.

Periodically, maintainable systems need complete abolition, as it is impossible to have resources employed for this purpose and when regular maintenance is overlooked, the building becomes incompliant with all known safety standards.

Some buildings continue to rely on high maintenance options, as they are deemed cheaper, when technologically advanced options, which are far more durable and effective, are readily available.

Based on decisions made at the design and construction phase, the maintenance schedule for its lifetime is decided and this imposes the need for strict adherence to manufacturer protocols to ensure safety of the building throughout its standing.

The most commonly used earthing in the UAE, as in the rest of the region continues to be brine-based solutions, which require high levels of maintenance upto once every four months particularly during the summer months.

Without adequate regulations in place however, to enforce this or penalise wrong-doers, there is little to be said about the continued safety of the building as it ages.

More durable options, such as those common in the EU, are gel-based mixtures, which require maintenance only once every 10 years or so.

Furthermore, regulations clearly stipulate penalties for errant maintenance contractors.

Lightning and tall buildings

It is a myth that the Gulf is not prone to lightning strikes. With tall structures coming up in Dubai, the probability of a lightning strike is much higher than the basic risk factor of 0.00001.

This probability of lightning strike is calculated based on utility, type of construction, consequence, isolation and location of the structure. It would thus seem logical to make it mandatory to have lightning protection in place for all structures using high-tech pro-active, intelligent, remotely monitored, maintenance free systems for tall structures.

However, many design consultants in the region continue to recommend out-dated iron-rod-and-conductors technology to safeguard buildings that are otherwise state-of-the-art.

In a scenario where we have a plethora of tall structures popping up across the region, this shortfall in safety understanding, is in my opinion, undesirable.

Typically, the most common factor that challenges resistance is costs, but with effective technologies offering lower maintenance protocols so readily available this rationale lacks footing.

The issue of safeguarding buildings therefore is far more complex and perhaps there are ready learnings from the global stage. Whatever the complex tangle of underlying issues may be, one thing remains for certain -buildings are not safe till we, as a community, make them just that.

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