Fire compartmentation is a cornerstone of fire safety and compliance for business premises. By effectively dividing a building into fire-resistant sections, fire compartmentation can limit damage, reduce pressure on emergency services, and most importantly, save lives. Below, we answer key questions about fire compartmentation, its importance, and how to implement it properly.
What is Fire Compartmentation?
Fire compartmentation is a form of passive fire protection that subdivides a building into smaller, fire-resistant compartments. This is achieved using fire doors, cavity barriers, fire-resistant materials, and other structural elements designed to contain the spread of fire and smoke for a specified duration, usually between 30 minutes and 2 hours.
By slowing the spread of fire, compartmentation guarantees that occupants have adequate time to exit safely and allows emergency services more time to respond efficiently.
Why is Fire Compartmentation Important?
- Protect Lives: It prevents the rapid spread of fire, smoke, and toxic fumes, providing critical time for evacuation.
- Limit Property Damage: By containing the fire to a specific area, it minimizes the extent of damage to the property.
- Ease Emergency Response: Slowing the spread of fire reduces the intensity of the fire emergency services need to tackle.
Key Features of Fire Compartmentation
Fire Door Sets: These specially designed doors use cold smoke seals and intumescent strips, which expand when exposed to high temperatures to seal gaps between the door and its frame.
Fire Dampers: Often used in heating, ventilation, and air conditioning ducts, these systems close automatically during a fire to prevent fire and smoke from spreading.
Cavity Barriers: Located within wall cavities and roof spaces, these partitions expand under heat to block flames and smoke from moving through structural gaps.
Fire Stopping Materials: Gaps around services like electrical cables and pipes can compromise compartmentation. Fire stopping products seal these breaches to maintain the effectiveness of fire-resistant compartments.
Passive Fire Protection Explained
Passive fire protection refers to built-in fire safety measures that become active in the event of a fire. Unlike active fire protection systems like sprinklers and alarms, passive measures are designed to slow the spread of fire and smoke.
For instance, fire compartmentation works as a preventive barrier that seals gaps between compartments, ensuring the fire remains contained until it can be extinguished or burns out naturally.
Who is Responsible for Fire Compartmentation?
Under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, the ‘Responsible Person’ for a building—such as the business owner, employer, or property manager—is legally obligated to ensure fire safety compliance. This includes ensuring that compartmentation measures are properly installed and maintained.
The Responsible Person should:
- Conduct regular fire risk assessments.
- Engage qualified professionals to install fire safety measures.
- Address any breaches in compartmentation promptly.
Related article: Who has responsibility under fire safety laws?
What is fire stopping?
Fire stopping is a way of shoring up any gaps in fire compartmentation.
Services like heating pipes and electrical cables often have gaps around them where they pass through walls, floors and ceilings. This can allow fire and smoke to pass through, even if those surfaces are designed for fire compartmentation. Fire stopping materials and products seal these gaps to maximise the effectiveness of your fire compartmentation measures.
Ensuring Compliance with Fire Compartmentation Requirements
- Commission a Fire Risk Assessment: A competent and qualified assessor should evaluate the building’s fire compartmentation status and identify any gaps or breaches.
- Address Breaches in Compartmentation: Activities such as electrical work or renovations can create gaps in fire-resistant barriers. Regular inspections and repairs can mitigate these risks.
- Hire Certified Professionals: Ensure that fire safety installations are carried out by certified contractors, such as those accredited by the BM Trada Q-Mark scheme, to guarantee quality and compliance.
The Importance of Fire Compartmentation
Fire compartmentation is critical for ensuring compliance with the Fire Safety Order, saving lives, and protecting property. Failure to take proper procedures can result in serious legal and financial penalties, such as fines, invalid insurance, or even jail in extreme situations.
Investing in fire compartmentation ensures not only legal compliance, but also the safety and security of your facilities, personnel, and assets.
Fire Compartmentation for Your Commercial Property
CFP’s fire safety experts are BM Trada Q-Mark certified and fully-trained members of the Institute of Fire Safety Managers and the Institute of Fire Engineers.
We can help keep your compartmentation measures in good working order – ensuring your building is legally compliant, and your people are protected. Check out our website for more information on our compartmentation and services, or get in touch with our team. We’re always happy to help.
