FIRE SAFETY ISSUES ASSOCIATED WITH TRANSPORTATION VEHICLES:UPDATE ON CODES, STANDARDS AND REGULATIONS

摘要

It can be approximated that, in the US, roughly 80% of fire fatalities occur in residences and that most of the others occur in transportation vehicles. Moreover, well over 70% of the vehicular fire losses occur in road vehicles, and over 90% of those happen in private cars. rnOn a general note, a Research Advisory Council on Fire and Transportation Vehicles, created by the Fire Protection Research Foundation, is investigating fire safety of vehicles, which will produce its initial findings in 2004, on the state-of-the-art of regulatory requirements and guidelines and their relevance to fire hazard and fire risk in the various types of transportation vehicles. It will address five types of vehicles, representing the corresponding modes of transportation: aircraft, ships/boats, trains, underground fixed guideway vehicles, road/highway vehicles (with a strong emphasis on cars). The biggest emphasis will be on fire testing: furnishings and contents (reaction-to-fire) and structural fire protection (fire resistance), while considering ignition sources, egress, propulsion systems and detection and suppression. rnA consensus is fast developing that requirements for the fire safety of cars need to be significantly overhauled and strengthened. The NFPA Technical Committee on Hazard and Risk of Contents and Furnishings is developing NFPA 556, Guide for Identification and Development of Mitigation Strategies for Fire Hazard to Occupants of Road Vehicles, to be completed by 2006, to highlight this issue. Also, the US NHTSA, which regulates fire safety of road vehicles, has been funding research on ways to replace FMVSS 302, the traditional fire test for car materials, by a more modern fire test method which can address the fire safety requirements of passenger car occupants (as well as school bus occupants). With regard to other road vehicles, there is movement to see whether regulation can replace the present guidelines for fire safety in buses. rnThere have been many significant changes in the requirements for rail vehicles, with updates in the Federal Railroad Administration rulemaking (2002), the NFPA 130 Standard for Fixed Guideway Transit and Passenger Rail Systems (2003) and ASTM E 2061, Guide for Fire Hazard Assessment of Rail Transportation Vehicles (2003). It is now clear that the way to ensure rail vehicles continue to be safe is through fire hazard assessment via heat release. rnMost recent developments on fire safety of ships are in requirements for military ships and high speed craft, where combustible materials with improved fire properties offer significant advantages in lower weight, higher speed, less detectability and more pleasing options. rnThe concept of higher fire safety in airplanes based on lower heat release has taken flight many years ago, and recent efforts have focused on combustibles in hidden areas (mainly insulation and cabling), which should either withstand ignition, or have minimal flame spread, to protect the aircraft long enough to permit safe landing.