Guidelines for Designing Fire Safety in Very Tall Buildings

Course Summary

This Course provides information on the special topics that affect the fire safety performance of very tall buildings and their occupants during a fire. This guide addresses these topics as part of the overall building design process using performance-based fire protection engineering concepts. It is not intended to be a recommended practice or a document that is suitable for adoption as a code.

The Guide pertains to “super tall,” “very tall” and tall buildings. They are characterized by heights that impose fire protection challenges. They require special attention beyond the protection features typically provided by traditional fire protection methods. This guide does not establish a threshold of what constitutes a building that falls within its scope. It directs the user to perform a risk analysis to achieve a reasonable and adequate solution for the specific building. A description of the elements of a risk analysis is presented in chapter six.

Learning Objectives

The purpose of the course is to identify issues unique to “super tall” buildings and provide the professionals engaged in the design of these buildings with sufficient information on the topics that affect the performance of tall buildings and their occupants during a fire. By considering these topics, the professional can prepare a fire protection design report or Fire Protection Engineering Design Brief for the project. Further information on this topic is described in chapter six. The Guide expects that the professional will have a fundamental understanding of fire dynamics and is competent in the application of scientific and engineering principles to the evaluation and design of systems and methods to protect people and their environment from the unwanted consequences of fire. The topics identified in this guide are intended to be addressed using performance-based fire protection and engineering concepts and the lessons learned from the experience of current tall buildings.

Course Author

Society of fire protection engineers

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Certificate of completion of the course

This course comes with a multiple-choice quiz. You can view the quiz and take the quiz if you are logged in your account. You can take the quiz for this online PDH course as many times until passed. The passing grade is 70% and above. After you pass the quiz simply follow the page, to pay for the course and print your certificate instantly. A copy of the certificate and receipt for this course will always be in your account.

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This online PDH course can also be used as a continuing education course for the following.

Civil Engineering

Structural Engineering