Building safety and human behaviour in fire: A literature review

Kobes, Margrethe; Helsloot, Ira; Vries, Bauke de; Post, Jos

doi:10.1016/j.firesaf.2009.08.005

Cited by 482 publications

(377 citation statements)

References 37 publications

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Section: Personal Protective Equipment (Ppe): Personal Protectivementioning

confidence: 99%

“…In cases of buildings without HVAC systems, ventilation can be increased by opening windows and increasing cross-ventilation through the building. The behavior of the building occupants will also affect the transmission potential of contaminants within the building, for example through opening windows, doors, or altering the ventilation rates of the rooms [28,34].…”

Section: Dilutionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Reducing the vulnerability of a building to an attack, or the number of individuals infected following an attack, can be achieved by a series of protection measures that can be implemented prior to, in the event of, and following an attack. Analyzing the above literatures and the current practice and management in the field of fire safety [28,29] and biosafety and biosecurity in laboratories [30], Figure 1 is proposed in this study to describe the various protection measures that can be implemented within a building that can impact the vulnerability and resilience of the building. Engineering and biological systems can be put in place in new and existing buildings to help eliminate or reduce the threat of bioterrorism to building occupants.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The framework proposed by this study can systematically and immediately informs the protection measures in the attacked building. If this framework is used as a general practice and a common language in the biosecurity field, it will help rescue workers and other professionals to decide the appropriate response strategy specific to the type of biosecurity system of the building such as to assess the extent of bioaerosol dispersal and the risk of exposure to the agents at different locations [24,28].Investigation: Forensic investigation following a bioattack can be used to identify the method and extent of the attack, the BWA involved, and to identify the perpetrators. This information is crucial not only for presenting the case to the legal system but also to prevent and disrupt further attacks in other buildings.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Role of Protection Measures and their Interaction in Determining Building Vulnerability and Resilience to Bioterrorism

Taylor¹,

Margaritis²,

Nasir³

et al. 2013

J Bioterror Biodef

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Understanding the risk presented to buildings by bioterrorism has been a topic of research interest in recent years. Risk assessment methodologies and guidelines for the protection of buildings have been developed by a number of researchers, but it remains difficult to quantify the vulnerability and resilience of a building. It is an important issue from both biosecurity investment and operation point of view because different measures have different cost and operation implications. This paper reviews existing risk assessment methodologies, introduces a novel framework for classifying protection measures, and determines the inter-relation of the framework components and building vulnerability and resilience using a fault tree analysis within a biosecurity network system. Future work will develop weighting values for the different protection measures within the framework, allowing for the calculation of bioterrorism resilience of existing buildings, and to provide a decision making guide for building architects, builders, and managers for new and retrofitted buildings. The physical decay of BWA in the indoor environment refers to the loss attributable to physical factors such as unrestricted diffusion, surface impaction, and fall-out. Unrestricted diffusion allows the movement of aerosolized particles out of the zone where the pathogen was released into other areas within the building, or the external environment. This dilutes the concentration of the particle in the indoor air, but can also lead to the spread of the pathogen to areas of the building not directly targeted. Surface impaction refers to the attachment of contaminants to surfaces, while fall out refers to the deposition of the contaminant particles on surfaces due to gravity. Physical decay does not necessarily eliminate the threat, but may remove it from the indoor air, although the risk of re-suspension can remain.The biological decay of BWA within the built environment depends on the type of pathogen, and the surrounding environmental conditions. Potential pathogens used in bioterrorism can exhibit a range of survival times in the environment. The persistence of pathogens is dependent on environmental conditions, including the temperature and relative humidity of the indoor environment and solar radiation levels [3]. Fungi and some bacterial species, for example Anthrax, can form spores, allowing them to survive desiccation and remain viable for years. The nature of the BWA and the means of delivery of the contaminant to the building will dictate the threat and the consequences of an attack. Threat analysis for buildingsA successful bioattack on a building will be a product of a number of factors, including the terrorists' resources, capabilities, and decisions, actions by other individuals and/or groups, and the buildings resilience. Assessing terrorism risk in specific buildings is often considered to be a combination of the threat of an attack, the vulnerability to the attack, and the expected consequences of theattack. Risk threat vuln...

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Section: Personal Protective Equipment (Ppe): Personal Protectivementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Dilutionmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Role of Protection Measures and their Interaction in Determining Building Vulnerability and Resilience to Bioterrorism

Taylor¹,

Margaritis²,

Nasir³

et al. 2013

J Bioterror Biodef

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“…Such damages constitute loss of life, property and operation of schools [1]. Major fires have revealed that a safe escape from a burning structure is not always possible for everyone [2]. Therefore, installing fire protection systems, such as portable fire extinguishers as measures to prevent fires, is essential to slow down the spread of flames to other places.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Appraisal of Fire Safety Management Systems at Educational Buildings

Nadzim

Taib

2014

SHS Web of Conferences

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Abstract. Educational buildings are one type of government asset that should be protected, and they play an important role as temporary communal meeting places for children, teachers and communities. In terms of management, schools need to emphasize fire safety for their buildings. It is well known that fires are not only a threat to the building's occupants, but also to the property and the school environment. A study on fire safety management has been carried out on schools that have recently experienced fires in Penang. From the study, it was found that the school buildings require further enhancement in terms of both active and passive fire protection systems. For instance, adequate fire extinguishers should be provided to the school and the management should inspect and maintain fire protection devices regularly. The most effective methods to increase the level of awareness on fire safety are by organizing related programs on the management of fire safety involving all staff, teachers and students, educational talks on the dangers of fire and important actions to take in the event of an emergency, and, lastly, to appoint particular staff to join the management safety team in schools.

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Combustion Science and Technology

Lackner

2011

Kirk-Othmer Encyclopedia of Chemical Technology

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Combustion is an important and ubiquitous process, which supplies 85% of the worldwide energy as heat and power. In this article, fundamentals of combustion science are briefly reviewed: aspects of combustion chemistry, heat transfer and common fuels in solid, liquid and gaseous state. Biomass and safety‐related concerns are also covered. In the main section, combustion technology is explained: Common combustors such as boilers, power plants, reactors and engines are presented. Combustion synthesis for the production of advanced materials and a section on combustion‐derived pollutants and how to mitigate their effects such as climate change conclude this article.

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Building safety and human behaviour in fire: A literature review

Cited by 482 publications

References 37 publications

The Role of Protection Measures and their Interaction in Determining Building Vulnerability and Resilience to Bioterrorism

The Role of Protection Measures and their Interaction in Determining Building Vulnerability and Resilience to Bioterrorism

Appraisal of Fire Safety Management Systems at Educational Buildings

Combustion Science and Technology

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