Holistic fire safety impact matrix

As well as meeting compliance requirements with the building code, building works need to be cost effective. The cost to benefit ratio and associated considerations become especially important when it comes to existing buildings and ‘as nearly as is reasonably practicable’ (ANARP) arguments need to be presented to address compliance shortfalls. Auckland Council has a good practice notice on applying the term as near as is reasonably practicable.

For fire designs, especially those that are based on prescriptive requirements, it is not always easy to identify the complex relationships that exist between different fire safety features and their impact on other compliance requirements. Technical audits conducted in the past of the work reviewed by the New Zealand Fire Service have identified the need for a more holistic approach when reviewing designs for the industry as a whole.

One way to improve the quality and adequacy of complex fire designs or ANARP arguments is by conducting Fire Risk Assessments. There are numerous approaches and techniques for risk assessments, however most of them would be too complex to be suitable for normal building projects. Fire and Emergency New Zealand has developed a relatively simple Impact Matrix that can be used as a checklist in order to enable assessing the impact of a specific aspect of the design on other fire safety features from a holistic point of view. The matrix is intended to be used as a guide, or starting point, to assess the robustness of a proposed design that falls outside of the compliance documents or for one that does not meet full compliance. It is intended that it can be used by all parties including designers and regulatory authorities.

More detailed information is provided within the Holistic fire safety impact matrix.