Fire safety of existing residential buildings: Building regulatory system gaps and needs

Considerable cost and effort are invested in government and private-sector activities aimed at providing a societally tolerable level of fire safety of the built environment. This is particularly true with respect to fire safety of new building construction. On the government side, this includes activities associated with building and fire regulations, material performance and test standards, design guidance, competency requirements, review and approvals, and more. On the private side, activities include product development, analysis and design, construction and installation, as well as education and training of practitioners. In some cases there are overlaps (e.g., private building control). However, once buildings become occupied, the system faces several challenges. Oversight of building use and modification often gets lost. Different actors come into play. Competing objectives become more significant. Occupants often lack understanding and ability to recognize problems and make adjustments. The net result is an increase in fire safety risk over the life of a building, with less opportunities for the regulatory system to make interventions prior to an unwanted fire event. However, this can be changed if the approach to regulating existing buildings changes, and importantly, embodies whole-of-life, multi-agency, holistic, systems-based thinking.