Examining means of improving fire safety

There are numerous products available to designers and architects for all areas of fire safety within buildings. Once the performance criteria have been set by the client, insurer, engineer or approving authority the options can be endless and generally those designers with historical experience with a particular fire safety product will specify these time and again. Most manufacturers of fire safety products produce the same types of products with variances on aesthetics and costs. The products mentioned above are specialised for particular applications, where other products may not be applicable. When choosing products for buildings, important areas which should also be considered are: Life expectancy of the product. New products may seem completely suitable to a particular design specification. However, if the product is fairly new, the expected life of the product may not be known. This should be considered as the client specification may be contradicted. Monopolies. Due to the nature of fire safety products, they are generally bespoke and specialised for certain applications. Therefore, there may only be one manufacturer of a product. This can sometimes lead to problems with clients since tender packages are the preferred method of assigning a particular product or system. In this case the performance which is being aimed for should be clearly stated and tenders also sent to manufacturers of similar products which closely fit this specification.