difinative guide

[jasper]

I an looking for a comprehensive guide to fire safety as in means of escape, I know the rro guide cover this but not  in great detail, any sources would be good
jasp

[Mr. P]

Apd 'b'

[jokar]

Means of escape is covered in Approved document B as part of the Building Regulations for England and Wales.

[CivvyFSO]

Also the BS5588 series is worth a look. Older standards, but the commentaries give good explanations of the problems.

P.S. For future reference: "Definitive"

[kurnal]

DD9999 gives a very good insight to all aspects and how they inter relate, in a format that is easy to read

[Mr. P]

Does anyone have the link for dd9999? please! tried a search here but couldn't see it.. thanks

[jasper]

excuse the spelling

I was looking for some type of detailed book, the dd999 looks good but this is for a graduate who cannot afford £160

[jokar]

The DD stands for draft for development and is therefore not a standard at present.  Whilst it includes anumber of good points, some of the things contained therein are contentious.

[kurnal]

OK - but if at uni then should have access to the BS and DD via their systems or the local library may help.

I would also recommend the LPC Building Design Guide 2000 which you can find and download through google if you look hard enough.

A good old book- well out of date but comprehensive and well written is "Aspects of fire Precautions in Buildings" - BRE publication by REH Read and W A Morris 1993.

The FPA also do a building design guide. If using the LPC or FPA documents just remember they are written from an insurers perspective and in some areas recommend standards way higher than ADB or BS5588.

[Dinnertime Dave]

The DD stands for draft for development and is therefore not a standard at present.  Whilst it includes anumber of good points, some of the things contained therein are contentious.

Some of the things contained therein are contentious - No they`re not.

I`m sorry I just coundn`t resist.

[Shand]

I'm a sudent at the moment with the good fortune to have cash to spend on books and access via university and work to various on line resources. I've realised that there isn't a simple answer to this one.

ADB is fine for 'more common building situations'.
BS 5588 is quite old now and some of it is quite outdated (Part 10 for example)
DD 9999 is new but has some major weaknesses in my opinion. It works for fairly straightforward buildings but kind of struggles with things like warehouses/mezzanines for example.

The definitive BS has to be 7974 - the engineering standard. It deals with all the issues from a 'first principles' perspective - how comprehensive do you want???

In terms of books, I've got fire dynamics books (which won't really do the job for you), the SFPE Handbook and NFPA Codes (all from USA) but they're all huge and convoluted. I've also got 'Buildings and Fire' by T J Shields which is a bit old now.

Using Barbour indexes I've got hold of copies of 2 other books:

'Means of Escape from Fire' by Billington, Ferguson and Copping (published by Blackwell)
'Design Principles of Fire Safety' by the Dept of the Environment (300 pages, published in 1996 and written by Bickerdike Allen)

If it's an affordable simple book you're looking for you could do worse than 'Fire - Design from first principles' by Stollard and Abrahams. It roughly follows the process of ADB. I've included a link to Amazon just so that you can see the cover. I paid under £20 for mine.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Fire-First-Principles-Design-Building/dp/0419242708

The LPC Guide is good but looks at the problem from a property protection point of view.

Another book I've found very cheaply recently is 'Evaluation of fire safety' by various authors including Rasbash, Ramachandran and Law. Again a google search and a look on Amazon found me what should be a £90 book for £16 including post and packing! Bargain!

Other than that you could ask around to find people with older copies of books/standards that have been superceded and are no longer required?? As Led Zeppelin once said, the details may change, but broadly speaking 'the song remains the same'!!

[kurnal]

Yes BS7974 is a sure fire recommendation. But its written in very technical terms and as a bit of a duffer I find it a nightmare to follow. For someone  with a degree who already has a firm understanding of the principles it is the ultimate choice.

[saddlers]

'Design Principles of Fire Safety' by the Dept of the Environment (300 pages, published in 1996 and written by Bickerdike Allen)

I have to admit I read this when starting out, our local fire officer recommended it, and as a basic principles book it is great. I have no doubt some of the references/guidance will be slightly dated, but it is an easy read.

[wee brian]

That's what it was written for. Bickedike Allen did a study for the DoE on fire safety law. One of the issues they identified was that people didn't understand the subject.  They then got a follow up job of writting said book.

[jokar]

For any background redaing you could have a look at Post War Builidng Studies 20 and 29.