The unit introduces students to basic fire safety engineering design concepts and provides students with the necessary knowledge concerning occupant communication and response submodels and subsystems as a basis for assessing the necessary input data for a risk assessment model. An introduction to Building Code of Australia (BCA) and Fire Engineering Guidelines is provided.
Important aspects of human behaviour during fire will also be introduced. Many assumptions generally held about the way humans respond to fire emergencies have been shaped by the media and provide a sensationalised view. In this unit, we will seek to clarify this view by presenting research to uncover what can truly be expected from people when a fire occurs. Statistics from coronial data will also be examined to provide an overview of who is at most risk when a fire starts. The focus will be on urban and residential structure fires, but human behaviour during bushfires will also be discussed.
Other areas covered in this unit are:
- Fire statistics and statistical analysis of occurrence, death and injuries;
- Introduction to risk management including probability, reliability, fault trees, event trees.
- The initiation and development of fires, fire characterisation and design fires.
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Learning Outcomes
| 1. | Contextualise basic concepts and alternative acceptable frameworks for performance-based codes, with an emphasis to fire safety engineering design; | ||
| 2. | Utilise basic concepts of risk management and probabilistic risk assessment; | ||
| 3. | Develop fault tree and event tree; | ||
| 4. | Interpret and analyse fire statistical data; | ||
| 5. | Manage building evacuations in case of fire; | ||
| 6. | Analyse toxicity and toxicological effects of fire and its effluents |
Assessment
| Assessment type | Description | Grade |
|---|---|---|
| Assignment | Assignment 1 (1300 words) | 25% |
| Assignment | Assignment 2 (2500 words) | 50% |
| Report | Analysis of risk and human response (1300 words) | 25% |
Required reading
Building code of Australia,
Australian Building Codes Board, (2011)
Australian Building Codes Board.
International fire engineering guidelines,
Australian Building Codes Board, (2005)
Australian Building Codes Board.
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