Assessment of fire characteristics of industrial buildings / Beurteilung der Brandlastcharakteristika bei Industriebauten

A joint research project of the 'Union of Swiss Federal Fire Assurance
Companies' and the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology was directed
on fire load assessments as a basis of a method for fire risk analysis
focused on industrial buildings. The assessment of the fire risk the
SIA Documentation 81 constitutes an alternative method for cases not
suited for the application of so-called 'Normal Fire Control Concepts'.
According to SIA Documentation 81, the Fire Hazard is assessed
individually for buildings due to a multiplication of factors related
to both, hazardous issues and issues linked to fire prevention.
Examples for hazard factors are fire load, flammability and smoke
emission; prevention factors examples are structural and organizational
measures like segmentation of the fire compartment area, fire alarm
systems and sprinklers. Within the SIA Documentation 81 hazard and
prevention factors are prescribed, whereas the background of these
numbers is based on a substantial survey and assessment activity in the
1960's. Obviously, the numbers are not representative for the current
situation in industrial buildings. Within the period between August and
December 2005, 95 industrial companies in Switzerland have been visited
and the fire characteristics have been assessed.
Client: VKF – Vereinigung Kantonaler Feuerversicherung

• Assessment of fire characteristics of industrial buildings / Beurteilung der Brandlastcharakteristika bei Industriebauten (ETH Resarch Database 15370)