Passive fire protection: glazing
Typical pitfalls in implementing fire safety with glazing Anthony Robbins is a well-known author, coach and speaker, who has been inspiring change for many years. One of his famous quotes, reflects abhi chhabra, Global Business Development Manager, Thomas Bell-Wright, is very suitable to define the changing perception of fire safety in the construction industry. “If you do what you’ve always done, you’ll get what you’ve always gotten”.
many shifts in technical regulations and conformity regimes related to fire safety in the construction industry are happening now the world over. For example, countries like India, where the demand of construction has been increasing very fast, is publishing new standards for Fire Rated Glazing. Apart from the two Indian Test Standards of IS 16945 (Fire Resistance Test for Glass Walls) & IS 16947 (Fire Resistance Test for Doors with Glass Panes, Openable Glass Windows and Sliding Glass Windows) another product standard defining Fire Rated Glazing is also in the making.
20 Fire Middle East Magazine • October 2023
With the changing regulatory environment around the world, it may look like a daunting task to prepare strategies to buy or sell solutions and equally challenging to work on designs and implementation strategies to build buildings which need to last a couple of decades from now. Read on to learn more about typical pitfalls in implementing fire safety where glazing is involved. F I R E S A F E TY CH A L L E N G E S I N G L A ZI N G Glass is not a combustible material and it some may think, why is fire safety being discussed for glass? We need to worry about other materials that catch fire, not glass! While this is true, it is also known that glass has moved ahead in building and construction. It is not just used for making windows and colored glazing for decoration. It has been taking on functions of several other components of buildings. G L A SS A S TH E B U I L D I N G E X TE R I O R More than half a century ago, taller buildings were built using thick load-bearing walls. Over the past few decades, this has changed drastically. The shifts in building technologies have allowed cities to grow vertically. As the need to build a loadbearing wall has gone away, architects, building owners and cities