Fire safety is a major concern in many industries, particularly as there have been significant increases in recent years in the quantities of hazardous materials in process, storage or transport. Plants are becoming larger and are often situated in or close to densely populated areas, and the hazards are continually highlighted with incidents such as the fires and explosions at the Piper Alpha oil and gas platform, and the Enschede firework factory. As a result, greater attention than ever before is now being given to the evaluation and control of these hazards. In a comprehensive treatment of the subject unavailable elsewhere, this book describes in detail the applications of hazard and risk analysis to fire safety, going on to develop and apply quantification methods. It also gives an explanation in quantitative terms of improvements in fire safety in association with the costs that are expended in their achievement. Furthermore, a quantitative approach is applied to major fire and explosion disasters to demonstrate crucial faults and events. Featuring: Full international coverage and a review of several major fires and explosion disasters. Presentation of the properties and science of fire including the latest research. Detailed coverage of the performance of fire safety measures. This is an essential book for practitioners in fire safety engineering, loss prevention professionals, technical personnel in insurance companies as well as academics involved in fire science and postgraduate students. This book is also a useful reference for fire safety officers, building designers, engineers in the process industries, safety practitioners and risk assessment consultants.

Fire safety regulations in many countries require Fire Risk Assessment to be carried out for buildings such as workplaces and houses in multiple occupation. This duty is imposed on a "Responsible Person" and also on any other persons having control of buildings in compliance with the requirements specified in the regulations. Although regulations only require a qualitative assessment of fire risk, a quantitative assessment is an essential first step for performing cost-benefit analysis of alternative fire strategies to comply with the regulations and selecting the most cost-effective strategy. To facilitate this assessment, various qualitative, semi-quantitative and quantitative techniques of fire risk assessment, already developed, are critically reviewed in this book and some improvements are suggested. This book is intended to be an expanded version of Part 7: Probabilistic risk assessment, 2003, a Published Document (PD) to British Standard BS 7974: 2001 on the Application of Fire Safety Engineering Principles to the Design of Buildings. Ganapathy Ramachandran and David Charters were co-authors of PD 7974 Part 7. Quantitative Risk Assessment in Fire Safety is essential reading for consultants, academics, fire safety engineers, fire officers, building control officers and students in fire safety engineering. It also provides useful tools for fire protection economists and risk management professionals, including those involved in fire insurance underwriting.

This book arrives at just the right time to facilitate understanding of performance-based fire risk assessment in buildings – an integral part of the global shift in policy away from traditional prescriptive codes. Yung, an internationally recognised expert on the subject of fire risk assessment, introduces the basic principles and techniques that help the reader to understand the various methodologies that are currently in place or being proposed by different organisations. Through his illustration of basic principles and techniques he enables the reader to conduct their own fire risk assessments. He demonstrates how the probabilities of fire scenarios are assessed based on the probabilities of success and failure of fire protection measures that are in place. He also shows how the consequences of fire scenarios are assessed based on the intensity and speed of fire and smoke spread, the probability and speed of occupant response and evacuation, and the effectiveness and speed of fire department response and rescue efforts. Yung’s clear and practical approach to this highly topical subject enables the reader to integrate the various tools available into a quantitative framework that can be used for decision making. He brings an invaluable resource to all those involved in fire engineering and risk assessment, including students, academics, building designers, fire protection engineers, structural engineers, regulators and risk analysts.

This book applies a behavioral point of view to individuals’ fire safety in historic buildings. It outlines theoretical and operative issues, based on recent studies and international guidelines. Firstly, critical issues for Building Heritage fire safety are widely discussed, by including the modelling of human factor and man-environment-fire interference in these architectural spaces. A significant part of the book includes a discussion on emergency modeling and simulation. A source code for representing the fire evacuation process (including man-evacuation facilities interactions) is offered to the reader. Methods for effectiveness assessment of risk-reducing solutions are provided and tested in a case-study. Being a structured approach to occupants-related problems during a fire in heritage buildings, it offers an innovative methodology and practical examples that researchers and designers can use as a guide when proposing and testing solutions. Evaluation indexes for effectiveness assessment (also useful for future guidelines or handbooks) are included. Readers are encouraged to understand these indexes within the proposed approach, so as to extend their applications and possibilities of how to introduce human behaviors-based solutions in other fields. Lastly, attention is focused on the proposal and evaluation of low-impact and not-invasive strategies, such as ones based on wayfinding elements. From this point of view, the pros and cons of wayfinding systems are discussed: these are important today, especially for fire-safety designers, because of the ongoing innovations in this field.

Structural Design for Fire Safety, 2nd edition Andrew H. Buchanan, University of Canterbury, New Zealand Anthony K. Abu, University of Canterbury, New Zealand A practical and informative guide to structural fire engineering This book presents a comprehensive overview of structural fire engineering. An update on the first edition, the book describes new developments in the past ten years, including advanced calculation methods and computer programs. Further additions include: calculation methods for membrane action in floor slabs exposed to fires; a chapter on composite steel-concrete construction; and case studies of structural collapses. The book begins with an introduction to fire safety in buildings, from fire growth and development to the devastating effects of severe fires on large building structures. Methods of calculating fire severity and fire resistance are then described in detail, together with both simple and advanced methods for assessing and designing for structural fire safety in buildings constructed from structural steel, reinforced concrete, or structural timber. Structural Design for Fire Safety, 2nd edition bridges the information gap between fire safety engineers, structural engineers and building officials, and it will be useful for many others including architects, code writers, building designers, and firefighters. Key features: • Updated references to current research, as well as new end-of-chapter questions and worked examples. •Authors experienced in teaching, researching, and applying structural fire engineering in real buildings. • A focus on basic principles rather than specific building code requirements, for an international audience. An essential guide for structural engineers who wish to improve their understanding of buildings exposed to severe fires and an ideal textbook for introductory or advanced courses in structural fire engineering.

Master an Approach Based on Fire Safety Goals, Fire Scenarios, and the Assessment of Design AlternativesPerformance-Based Fire Safety Design demonstrates how fire science can be used to solve fire protection problems in the built environment. It also provides an understanding of the performance-based design process, deterministic and risk-based ana

Provides the fundamentals, technologies, and best practices in designing, constructing and managing mission critical, energy efficient data centers Organizations in need of high-speed connectivity and nonstop systems operations depend upon data centers for a range of deployment solutions. A data center is a facility used to house computer systems and associated components, such as telecommunications and storage systems. It generally includes multiple power sources, redundant data communications connections, environmental controls (e.g., air conditioning, fire suppression) and security devices. With contributions from an international list of experts, The Data Center Handbook instructs readers to: Prepare strategic plan that includes location plan, site selection, roadmap and capacity planning Design and build "green" data centers, with mission critical and energy-efficient infrastructure Apply best practices to reduce energy consumption and carbon emissions Apply IT technologies such as cloud and virtualization Manage data centers in order to sustain operations with minimum costs Prepare and practice disaster reovery and business continuity plan The book imparts essential knowledge needed to implement data center design and construction, apply IT technologies, and continually improve data center operations.

Siting of permanent and temporary buildings in process areas requires careful consideration of potential effects of explosions and fires arising from accidental release of flammable materials. This book, which updates the 1996 edition, provides a single-source reference that explains the American Petroleum Institute (API) permanent (752) and temporary (753) building recommended practices and details how to implement them. New coverage on toxicity and updated standards are also highlighted. Practical and easy-to-use, this reliable guide is a must-have for implementing safe building practices.