Analysis of Major Fires by Number (1992-2001)
The second issue to address is the breakdown between different types of construction and panel systems. The following table addresses this issue in detail
Table 3:
The building envelope, roofs and walls, plays relatively little significance in determining the outcome of major fires. That is one of the major messages that have come out of the latest research into major fires in the commercial and industrial building sectors.
Conducted by EPIC [Engineered Panels in Construction], the research is believed to be the largest study of its kind to look at the relationship between major fire losses and the fabric of the building. The research studied nearly 400 fires with losses in excess of £500,000 over a 10-year period to 2001. Using Insurance Industry records, Fire Service reports, photographs and EPIC’s own research base, half of these incidents could be analysed in terms of their construction. (See Tables 3 and 4).
The research results show that only 3.4% of the fires involved rigid urethane roof or wall panels compared with an estimated 15% of building stock in this sector were constructed with panels over the last 25 years.
In the 6 cases identified, the panels only became involved once the internal fire had become fully developed. This is born out by large scale tests, which show that urethane panels are only gradually involved during the developing stage of a fire and are not affected until the fire is fully developed.
It is particularly significant that polyurethane panels were involved in 3.4% of the total fires and these fires accounted for 3.1% of the financial loss to insurers. In stark contrast polystyrene panels were present in 12.8% of the total number of fires but these fires represented 26.8% of the total insurance loss. This data confirms that insurer losses in fires involving polystyrene are higher than with other types of insulated panel systems – confirming the link between polystyrene panels and higher insurance losses.
Analysis of Major Fires by Value (1992-2001)
Table 4:
