Proposed fire safety ranking system EB-FSRS for existing high-rise nonresidential buildings in Hong Kong

A Fire Safety Ranking System (EB-FSRS) is proposed for assessing the fire safety provisions in existing high-rise nonresidential buildings in Hong Kong. The objective is to investigate how far the fire safety provisions in those existing buildings deviate from the expectation of new codes. Suitable fire safety management can then be worked out in the transition period, based on the scores. Local fire codes were reviewed first to decide what should be the attributes and their weightings. From the reviewing results, three groups of attributes were proposed in the EB-FSRS. These are the passive building construction, active fire protection systems (fire services installation), and key risk parameters, all following the local fire safety requirements. The concept is similar to those equivalent concepts on fire safety parameters of the National Fire Protection Association-Fire Safety Evaluation System (NFPA-FSES). But the EB-FSRS is not a "trade-off" exercise. Thirty-seven old high-rise buildings were rated by studying their architectural features, interior details, and fire safety provisions. Scores under EB-FSES and NFPA-FSES are also compared.