Getting value from fire engineering for Architects and Engineers quiz

Please answer the following 5 multiple choice questions, then click 'submit' to check the result. The pass mark for a CPD certificate is 4 out of 5, and you may retake the quiz as many times as you wish, but the questions will vary! Please note that one, two, three or all of the possible answers presented for each question may be right, and to gain a mark for that question all correct answers must be identified.

Good luck

Getting value from fire engineering for Architects and Engineers

In buildings which are designed for fire using an engineered approach, the presentation discussed the shortcomings of restricting the fire engineer’s involvement to the design phase and ignoring the preparation stage. Which of the following were said to be shortcomings of this?

By the time the fire engineer becomes involved, his/her brief is often already defined, which can limit what he/she can achieve
The resultant fire protection strategy is likely to increase risk to life
The focus of the objective can often be set on code compliance and ignores issues such as business protection and/or in-use management
All of the above

An example was provided of a situation in which a code compliant solution was clearly not safe. This was a building in which compartmentation could have been breached by fire spread across an open courtyard. Based on what you have heard today, which of the following do you think could have done to solve or reduce the problem?

Introduce life safety sprinkler systems
Adjust the lines of the fire compartment walls
Use fire resistant glazing to ensure that separation was maintained across the courtyard.
All of the above

The presentation raised a number of specific points in the final slides. Which of the following statements do you consider to be consistent with those points?

That the focus of fire safety engineering approaches should always be considered as being the cost saving possible over prescriptive approaches
Fire engineering approaches allow us to consider the cost of fires on sustainability of the built environment.
At all stages of the design, construction and operation process appropriate competency must be applied
For fire engineered approaches to work well, it is necessary to ensure that all relevant fire design, construction and operation decisions have been considered together and have been integrated into a whole by a well organised team.

Based on this presentation, which of the following statements do you consider to be correct?

If one follows a prescriptive approach to the design of fire precautions in buildings, for example as outlined in Approved Document B, the building will automatically be safe in fire
If one follows a prescriptive approach to the design of fire precautions in buildings, for example as outlined in Approved Document B, the building will probably be unsafe in fire
A fire engineered solution means that the design of the building, the construction of the building and the operation of the building is considered properly and the solution provided is suitable to that building
A fire engineered approach and an Approved Document B approach to fire precautions in buildings can be complimentary.

Which of the following statements best summarises the philosophy described in the presentation?

A fire strategy created in the design stage can be trusted to be carried through to building completion and use
It is quite possible for the integrity of a building fire strategy to be lost during specification, construction and use
It is essential that the fire strategy be considered throughout the building’s lifetime and that the appropriate expertise and checks and balances are in place
Loss of integrity of a fire strategy is more likely to happen in a fire engineered building compared to a building which uses a prescriptive solution