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Fire Safety Engineering Education in Australia

Past, Present, and Future

Dr Cristian MalukSenior Lecturer

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Acknowledgements in advance…

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Dr David Lange Dr Juan Hidalgo Dr Andres Osorio Prof Jose Torero

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Engineering Education

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• E.F. Crawley, J. Malmqvist, S. Östlund, D.R. Brodeur, Kedström, Rethinking (2014). Rethinking Engineering Education.

• To provide the learning required by students to become successful engineers.

• Success can only be achieved by having awareness of technical expertise, social awareness, and a bias toward innovation.

• It is imperative that we improve the quality and nature of undergraduate engineering education to enable individuals able to “solve problems of today, challenges of tomorrow.”

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“New Variation on an Old Theme”

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“Well, it is clear to my mind that we have lost control, orperhaps never had it, and this forms the central reason forthe establishment of a new department, and indeed a newmethod in dealing with fire.”

New Variation on an Old ThemeProf David J. Rasbash

November 1974

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International Working Group on Fire Safety Engineering

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• S.E. Magnusson, D.D. Drysdale, R.W. Fitzgerald, F. Mowrer, J. Quintieri, R.B. Williamson, and R.G. Zalosh (1995). A proposal for a model curriculum in fire safety engineering. Fire Safety Journal, 25(1), 1-88.

• Defined the knowledge framework (e.g. fire dynamics, human behavior) and develop a model curriculum for Fire Safety Engineering

• Necessary elements to allow the evolution of fire safety engineering toward a mature engineering discipline

• Standards should never be introduced without an evaluation of the engineering and scientific background

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The Development of Fire Engineering into a Mature Discipline

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“It is better to have explicit assumptions and relationships, so that thedesign engineer can apply the codes in an intelligent way."

“In the past, the search for simple solutions has been deflected downthe route leading to simple rules and the prescriptive approach. Theresultant masking of assumptions means that new hazards may notbe addressed properly and the available resources may not be usedto best effect.”

The Development of Fire Engineering into a Mature DisciplineProf Margaret Law

July 1995

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Fire Safety Engineering Education

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• Professionals must be able to design and to demonstrate that asocietally acceptable level of safety has been attained…todayand tomorrow.

• The role of the fire safety engineer must be fulfilled by individualswho collectively possess the correct competencies, comprisingprofessional attributes, skills and knowledge required.

• There is (to some extent) a consistency in model curricula whichexist when describing the knowledge required of a fire safetyengineer.

• Largely unchanged over the past 30 years while the challengeswhich fire safety professionals face have continued to evolve.

The Warren Centre2019

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Definition of Competence

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• Confusion of what constitutes the competencies expected of professional fire safety engineers

• Within the context of education (and others), competence is key. And a poor definition of competency results in “conflict”

• An adequate framework of competence must:o Enable us to interact with other professionso Respected as a profession

The Warren Centre2019

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“New Variation on an Old Theme”

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“We need a discipline which makes us visualize how weaffect fire – and indeed other aspects of safety and planeffectively for these when we introduce changes into ourways of life.”

New Variation on an Old ThemeProf David J. Rasbash

November 1974

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Current Programs – Australian context

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• Victoria UniversityThe structure of the program is such that it follows closely the state building regulations.

• Western Sydney University The course covers fire safety science and engineering principles.

• The University of Queensland (accredited by EA)There is a substantial part of the course associated with developing the skills in application of the knowledge learned.

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Current Programs – Worldwide context

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• Lund University• The University of Edinburgh• Glasgow Caledonian• Ulster University• University of Central Lancaster• University of Ghent• University of Maryland• Worcester Polytechnic Institute• Hong Kong Polytechnic University• City University of Hong Kong• International Masters in Fire Safety Science

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Fire Courses at The University of Queensland

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Introduction to Fire Safety Engineering

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Fire design for implicit safety

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DisclaimerThis is a likely misuse of the “land use planning curves” to prove a point.

Sprinklers – Use of trade-offs?

Can we use these systems for reducing the occurrence (or frequency) of fire?

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Sprinklers almost always work, at least 96% of the times. [paraphrasing]

National Fire Protection Association (NFPA)

The commonly stated reliability of automatic sprinkler systems in the rangeof 96% – fails once in every 25 fires – is overstating the reliability of sprinklersystems unless there are assurances that the preventive maintenance on thesystem is substantially better than that on the average.

William E. Koffel, P.E. – Reliability of Automatic Sprinkler Systems (2005)

Sprinklers – Use of trade-offs?

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• Frequency of fire starting 𝑃" = 1.0 𝑒'( [fires/m2/year](Source: “The Natural fire safety concept”)

• Floor are similar to the Advanced Engineering Building (AEB) = 20.000 [m2]

• Therefore, the a fire starting in the AEB is:𝑃" = 20,000 × 1.0 𝑒'( = 2.0 𝑒'- [fires/year]

• And, the probability of a fire starting and the suppression system failing to work in the AEB is:

𝑃" × 𝑃. = 2.0 𝑒'- × /-0

= 8.0 𝑒'2 [per year]

Sprinklers – Use of trade-offs?

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8.0 e-4

Sprinklers – Use of trade-offs?

DisclaimerThis is a likely misuse of the “land use planning curves” to prove a point.

Can we use these systems for reducing the occurrence (or frequency) of fire?

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Fire dynamics

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Fire dynamics laboratory

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Structural fire engineering

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Bisby, L., Gales, J. & Maluk, C. Fire Sci Rev (2013) 2: 1. https://doi.org/10.1186/2193-0414-2-1

Structural fire engineering

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Fire design for explicit safety

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Research thesis

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Fire Service Operations

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A nascent educational framework for fire safety engineering

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Poor competency awareness within FSE is:• Partly a consequence of the small size of the discipline and the lack of support for

initial or continuing education• Partly a consequence of our reliance on prescriptive approaches to design, which

permit (indeed promote) a lack of fundamental understanding of the principles upon which an integrated fire safety strategy should be based; and partly a consequence of educational programmes which support all of the above.

A nascent educational framework for fire safety engineeringWoodrow et al. (2013)

Fire Safety Journal

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www.civil.uq.edu.au/fire

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Structures in Fire 2020 Conference

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Asia-Oceania Symposium on Fire Science and Technology 2021