A Critical Review of Fire Safety Monitoring and Control Measures in Buildings

The paper presents the findings of an exploratory study reviewing fire safety monitoring and control efforts in buildings. It is intended to serve as a foundation for the specification of corrective and mitigation measures as part of a systemic approach. The study was conducted through a critical literature review of building fire safety utilizing a systematic approach. The review covered leading academic databases with a total of 1953 papers considered, and 58 analyzed using a rigorous screening process. The analysis identified three key overarching themes, namely: construction materials, design interventions, and continuous maintenance. Further analysis revealed several sub-themes in each theme. Additional analysis was undertaken to identify measures and tools along with their utilization frequency. The result showed major efforts were devoted towards the pre-operation phase covering 70% of the work. The most employed measures throughout the investigated work were modelling, testing, case study analysis, survey, and framework development, respectively.