TechDiv_SubLevel2

FSE Verification Service

A new service available to insurers from the FPA

FPA’s Third Party Fire Engineering Service has been developed to help the insurance industry deal with fire safety engineering in buildings.

The FPA does not undertake fire engineering for commercial clients. We are ideally placed to give unbiased independent advice about the effect of fire safety engineering on the potential damage to buildings, loss of property, and business interruption.

We deliver impartial advice to insurers. Our only interest is in ensuring that best practice is followed, and that high standards of fire engineering are maintained.

FSE Service

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The financial cost of fire is made up of three parts;

the repair/rebuilding costs incurred,
the business interruption costs, and
the value of the stock which is damaged by fire, smoke and firefighting water.

The way that the total amount is distributed between these three areas partly depends on the nature of the fire, and of the business in question, but the internal geometry of the building (which may be unique thanks to fire safety engineering (FSE)) can contribute significantly to the degree of damage caused in all three areas.

In UK building regulation guidance, structural protection and compartmentation is only required to the extent necessary to ensure life safety. FSE allows designs to be approved which adequately deliver the required level of life safety, but which have reduced levels (or no levels at all) of structural fire protection or compartmentation.

Historically insurers have benefited from the structural protection and compartmentation which is used to deliver life safety when building regulation guidance is applied. Ideally, the standard of structural fire protection looked for by many insurers is that described in the Design Guide published by the Fire Protection Association. But whether a minimum regulatory standard is adopted, or the higher Design Guide standard, there is a wealth of historical data on similar situations on which to base an assessment of estimated maximum loss.

By definition, a design which incorporates FSE is unique. There is no historical data on which to base estimates of loss. Such estimates have to be calculated using FSE principles.

The Fire Engineering Consultancy Service offered by the Fire Protection Association can help overcome these challenges in two ways:

1. By working with designers and fire engineers at plan stage, we can ensure that property protection requirements are designed into FSE solutions from the start.

2. By examining buildings which incorporate FSE, we can assess the effect which that engineering will have on property loss and business interruption.