Overview of the role

Provide specialist, fire-related information across the built environment to protect people and property from the destructive effects of fire by applying science and engineering principles.

Details of standard

Occupation summary

This occupation is found in the construction sector and across the built environment.

The broad purpose of the occupation is to provide specialist, fire-related information across the built environment to protect people and property from the destructive effects of fire by applying science and engineering principles. Fire Safety Engineers identify risks and design safeguards to aid the prevention, control and mitigation of the effects of fire. Their role is to provide technical advice to develop design solutions within the built environment at various stages of projects.

In their daily work, an employee in this occupation will work as part of an integrated team of engineers and other construction or regulatory professionals through all stages of development, design, construction, commissioning, operation, maintenance, modification and decommissioning of the built environment infrastructure. A Fire Engineer may be required to have a broad knowledge base to work across a diverse spectrum of built environment projects including high rise, residential buildings; shopping centres; multi-storey commercial, healthcare buildings; or road and rail tunnels. A Fire Safety Engineer might work in public or private sector organisations, including local authorities, fire and rescue services, central government departments and agencies, engineering consultancy firms, contracting firms, or construction companies. A Fire Safety Engineer will be required to use professional judgement and research-based knowledge to justify and apply guidance or accept departures from recognised guidance documents and to be able to use mathematical and scientific skills to measure and evaluate risks from fire to people, structures and the environment.  A Fire Engineer will also contribute towards making improvements to the professional fields of fire safety and fire engineering.

An employee in this occupation will typically have management and supervisory responsibility for a team of technicians, including apprentices.

Typical job titles include:

Fire engineer Fire safety engineers

Occupation duties

Duty KSBs

Duty 1 Research and critically evaluate complex fire engineering systems, products and processes

K1 K8 K9 K11

S1 S2 S4 S7 S13

Duty 2 Apply advanced mathematical, scientific and engineering principles, methods and modelling to the design of fire engineering solutions

K1 K8 K9 K11

S1 S4 S13

Duty 3 Contribute to the planning and assessing of appropriate design solutions and contribute to their refinement, evaluation and quality improvement

K5 K6 K8 K9 K10 K12 K17 K18

S1 S2 S4 S5 S7 S9 S10 S11 S13

B1

Duty 4 Apply appropriate and relevant specialist fire safety guidance and codes of practice

K3 K4 K6 K8 K9 K10 K12 K17 K18

S1 S2 S4 S9 S13

B1

Duty 5 Contribute to the development, assessment and quantification of acceptable alternative solutions where proprietary solutions will not work due to bespoke/unique nature of the built environment

K1 K3 K4 K6 K8 K9 K10 K11 K12 K17

S1 S2 S4 S7 S9 S10 S13

B1

Duty 6 Apply current and relevant legislation

K3 K4 K5 K8 K9 K10 K16

S4 S9

B1

Duty 7 Contribute to production and review of technical fire safety reports following appropriate methodologies

K9 K11

S2 S3 S4 S5 S6 S7

Duty 8 Manage own workload, internal tasks, people and resources to plan and budget and undertake quality assurance

K5 K13 K14

S3 S5 S6 S11

B3

Duty 9 Manage teams and develop staff to meet changing technical and project need within the limit of their responsibility

K13 K14

S3 S8 S11 S12

B3

Duty 10 Communicate complex subjects to technical and non- technical people

K13 K14

S3 S5 S6

Duty 11 Use risk assessment and safe systems of work to keep self and others safe

K9 K10 K15

Duty 12 Undertake specialist fire safety engineering activities in a way that contributes to sustainable development

K5 K6 K8 K9 K10 K12 K18

S5 S9 S10

Duty 13 Carry out and record CPD necessary to maintain and enhance competence in own area of practice

K12 K13 K16

S8 S12 S13

Duty 14 Work within the UK Engineering Council's code of ethics and adhere to the UK Engineering Council’s and other relevant codes of conduct

K16

B2

Duty 15 Undertake fire safety engineering in a way that contributes to safe and effective fire service intervention

K9 K11 K12

S1 S2 S6 S13

B1 B3


KSBs

Knowledge

K1: The mathematical, scientific and engineering principles, methods and modelling that contribute and help to develop the design and construction to create a fire safe and sustainable built and natural environment. The analysis and understanding of fire growth and smoke movement, determining the behaviour of materials in fire, the behaviour of structure and people's reaction to fire, as well as limitations that come with different analytical approaches. Back to Duty

K2: Understanding of the first principles of fire engineering including: fire dynamics, smoke dynamics, heat transfer, human behaviour, psychological impact of fire on humans, physiological impacts of fire (tenability), combustion process, products of combustion, structural response. Back to Duty

K3: Legal and regulatory frameworks, that govern the life cycle of the built environment such as Building Regulations, Construction (Design and Management) Regulations, Regulatory Reform Fire Safety Order. Back to Duty

K4: The differences between regulation, statutory guidance, British and European Standard guidance, and guidance produced by others, e.g. trade bodies. Back to Duty

K5: The application of the regulatory framework affecting the life cycle of the building i.e. from concept design through to occupation and beyond. Back to Duty

K6: Construction fundamentals including what makes a structure, construction methods and construction types. What designers are involved in the design of a structure (e.g. structures and their component parts), how they fundamentally work together as a system, and key design decision drivers (i.e. sustainability, energy, natural lighting etc.). The different fire hazards that arise from different construction methods (modular, mass timber, timber frame, etc). An understanding of common fire safety defects. Back to Duty

K7: Fire performance and material classifications (including reaction to fire, fire resistance and surface spread of flame), the test procedures associated with these and the certification process. Limitations of the tests and the applicability and suitability of the tests for the proposed purpose or function. This will include the difference between direct field of application and extended field of applications and limitation of such assessments. Back to Duty

K8: Principles of both active and passive groups of fire protection systems and the individual systems within both groups. Understanding of the principles to include function and application, cause and effect matrices, cost benefit analysis, interaction between systems, limitations, design freedoms and compensations, their design and use during and after construction. Back to Duty

K9: The principles, techniques and methodologies of risk assessment used to evaluate the impact of fire safety on life, property and environment in the built environment. This includes the importance and limitations of tools used to measure, enhance or protect welfare, health and safety and sustainability. Back to Duty

K10: Management and maintenance requirements for different fire safety strategies, systems and the impact these may have on owners / tenants during the life cycle of the building. Back to Duty

K11: A range of research techniques used to develop acceptable and safe solutions to fire engineering problems and the use of current and emerging technologies, products and fire safety data and research. Understanding of the use and validation of software, codes and data gathering to model, evaluate, test, build and manage fire safe buildings with an awareness of limitation of software and data. Back to Duty

K12: Building life cycle management, using acquired knowledge to understand the impact of their design from a commercial and practical viability viewpoint and demonstrate an awareness of fire safety beyond design into construction and occupation. This includes how fire safety measures are specified, constructed and maintained by others. Back to Duty

K13: Managing teams and developing staff to meet changing technical and managerial needs including reviewing and appraising performance in relation to delivery of fire engineering projects. Back to Duty

K14: The principles and techniques of effective project management to time cost and quality. Utilising change-management techniques and impacts on project design and delivery. Understanding the design and construction stages RIBA, BIM and other PM tools. Back to Duty

K15: Safe systems of work, their management and application. Back to Duty

K16: UK Engineering Council’s and other relevant codes of conduct and ethical principles. Back to Duty

K17: The capabilities and limitations of the fire service and how building design can facilitate safe and effective fire service intervention. Firefighting objectives that may need to be considered during an operational incident include: firefighter safety; life safety of building users; loss control; business continuity; property and environmental protection. Back to Duty

K18: The key topics related to sustainable development and how fire safety design methods can impact on these, and where challenges can arise with competing design requirements. Examples include the significance of carbon and climate change; building energy use; material selection; responsible procurement and efficient use of resources during construction; life cycle costing. Back to Duty

Skills

S1: Use and evaluate modelling software including smoke and evacuation models. Back to Duty

S2: Develop and or review, safe, technical solutions to fire safety engineering problems through the use of research techniques, current and emerging technologies, products and innovations as well as best practice. Examples include: ability to use of range of research methods to collect and analyses data to draw well-founded practical conclusions for implementation, applicable research strategy and methodology, literature searches. Back to Duty

S3: Communicate effectively and provide guidance to others using appropriate language to suit the audience through varying methods: design models, calculations, reports, drawings, specifications, presentations, digital media and discussions with those both inside and outside the industry. Back to Duty

S4: Demonstrate solutions proposed are safe and the level of safety they provide. Critically analyse prescriptive recommendations and alternative solutions, the use of bench-marking, cost/benefit and sensitivity analysis. Back to Duty

S5: Illustrate/present Fire Safety Engineering solutions to the appropriate level of detail for concept design and detailed design. Back to Duty

S6: Coordinate fire safety solutions with technical and non-technical people. Back to Duty

S7: Review and interpret fire related information such as product certification and test reports, cause and effect information and design detail drawings. Back to Duty

S8: Carry out and record the continuing professional development necessary to maintain and enhance knowledge and competence as a fire safety engineer. Back to Duty

S9: Interpret and apply design and quality standards including codes of practice, legal and regulatory frameworks, in the development of fire engineering solutions, Examples include: planning, designing, construction and maintenance of buildings and infrastructure in compliance with current codes, standards and legislation, industry regulations. Back to Duty

S10: When considering design options, evaluate the impact of fire safety engineering on society and the environment taking account of business, client and end user needs in its construction, management and use. Back to Duty

S11: Contribute to the management of the planning, budgeting and organisation of tasks, people and resources for a project, working to agreed quality standards, project programme and budget, within legal, contractual and statutory requirements. Back to Duty

S12: Contribute to effective team working and developing staff to meet changing technical and managerial needs. Back to Duty

S13: Apply acquired knowledge to develop and or review fire safety solutions and be able to objectively review, identify issues or offer alternative solutions/opinions including, fire engineered analysis, means of escape calculations, smoke ventilation calculations, heat transfer calculations and hazard identification and fire risk assessments. Back to Duty

Behaviours

B1: Adhere to the UK Engineering Council’s code of conduct and ethical principles. Back to Duty

B2: Be conscious of the need to create, maintain and enhance productive working relationships. Back to Duty

B3: Shares good practices/best practice and actively promotes their use. Back to Duty

B4: Take responsibility for personal development, demonstrating commitment to learning and self-improvement and be open to feedback. Back to Duty


Qualifications

English and Maths

Other mandatory qualifications

High Level Qualification

Fire Safety Engineering degree (Bachelor of Engineering accredited by the Engineering Council)

Level: 6 (non-integrated degree)

Professional recognition

This standard aligns with the following professional recognition:

  • Institute of Fire Engineers for Associate/Member (depending on experience)


Additional details

Occupational Level:

6

Duration (months):

60

Review

Status: Approved for delivery (available for starts)
Level: 6
Degree: non-integrated degree
Reference: ST0859
Version: 1.0
Date updated: 07/07/2021
Approved for delivery: 7 July 2021
Route: Construction and the built environment
Typical duration to gateway: 60 months (this does not include EPA period)
Maximum funding: £27000
LARS Code: 642
Employers involved in creating the standard: International Fire Consultants, NFCC CPO, Hants FRS, London Fire Brigade, Arup, FPA, Devon & Somerset FRS, International Fire Consultants, Design Fire Consultants, WSP, IBA London, DD FRS, BB7, Bucks FRS, Suffolk FRS, Tenos, International Fire Consultants, GUC, Burohappold, Exova, Pyrology, FIA, Tenos, Cundall, Firescape, ASFA, Flamerisk, The FPA, Kent FRS, Tyne & Wear FRS, Buckingham FRS, Mottmac, LFB, Essex FRS, Ibassoc, Transport for London, IBA, Hydrock, Kent FRS, Essex FRS

Version log

Version Change detail Earliest start date Latest start date
1.0 Approved for delivery 01/07/2021 Not set

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