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FIRE SERVICE AND GENERAL FIRE SAFETY TOPICS => Fire Safety => Topic started by: lingmoor on October 08, 2014, 12:29:31 PM
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I noticed outside contractors painting skirting and architraves etc in a hospital with oil based paint. I have read somewhere that there was a fire back in 2008 in a hospital and this contributed to the fires intensity, I can't seem to find that story, does anyone have a link to it please? Thanks
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There was the Moston Hospital fire but that was a while back. As a result of that fire there was a code of practice developed. The issue isn't the paint but the number of coats and adherence to the substrate. Poor adherence through over painting dirty or damaged surfaces can cause a problem. All paints are a fuel source but if they are well adhered to the substrate then the heat of the fire sinks in to the substrate and the paint doesn?t ignite. Poor adherence means blistering can occur and the paint then comes off in sheets; even water based paints have plastics in them and therefore burn readily when separated from the substrate.
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If the surface finishes of skirting boards and architraves were a problem I would have expected a reference to this in the HTM- there is no specific reference to these as far as I recollect.
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There was an article in Fire magazine about 6 years ago, fire allegedly spread faster than someone walking....
davo
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If I recall correctly I think those fires involved the surface finishes of the entire wall rather than just skirting boards and architraves. If the main areas are compliant with ADB and / or HTM I cannot imagine that small areas as described would create any risk. What type of fire would it take to achieve temperatures like that at skirting board level?
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yup - we only worry about walls and ceilings - trims etc are generally ignored.
on Multi layer paint - this got published - although its really hard to find on-line
http://www.salamanderfire.co.uk/documents/MLP_CODE_OF_PRACTICE_Final_DTI_version.pdf
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And don't forget the significant contribution the paint layers made to the fire development at Kings Cross; however I agree with Kurnal that skirting and architraves are going to need an awful lot of layers to contribute a significant fire load!