The philosophy of fire safety engineering in the shaping of civil engineering development

This paper presents modern application of fire safety engineering (FSE) in the shaping of civil engineering development. Presented scientific achievements of FSE become tools used in typical modern engineering workflow. Experience gained through successful implementations of these solutions is then further crafted into prescriptive laws that shape future fire safety. This diffusion of knowledge is limited by law requirements themselves, technical limitations, and yet unresolved challenges that are still being worked on by the researchers in this field. This paper aims to present the achievements of the FSE discipline that may and should be used by civil engineers and other participants of the building process. Explanations given for the choices of fire safety engineers allow a better understanding of their gravity by representatives of other engineering branches. That way it is possible to build empathy between different engineering disciplines, which may significantly improve both the building design process and safety of the buildings itself. The chosen framework of this paper is Appendix A to EU Construction Products Regulation defining basic goals for a fire safe building, with a possible application of FSE given for each of these goals. The current framework of performance-based FSE is presented in relation to the Polish legal system, with recommendations on how to improve both FSE and civil engineering in the future.