Performance vs. Prescriptive Fire Protection for the Offshore Industry

Abstract

Most companies have standards for fire protection on offshore installations. These standards typically are prescriptive in nature and require that fire protection be installed, generally, without regard to the actual hazard. Fire protection generally consists of fireproofing, water systems and detection systems. The fire protection community is slowly using performance based criteria in determining appropriate fire protection. Performance based criteria using the latest modeling programs to assess the hazards of fires and explosions on the offshore installation. Based on the results of these studies, the fire protection engineer can then determine the appropriate fire protection required for the hazard. This paper addresses the use of performance based standards for fire protection in the process industry.