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Development of Safety Measures for Nightclubs

Strick, Jonathan (2014) In LUTVDG/TVBB VBRM05 20141
Division of Fire Safety Engineering
Abstract
There have been numerous tragic incidents in nightclubs leading to hundreds of fatalities. This thesis attempts the current situation. Different nightclub fires from the past 17 years were analysed in order to identify the critical factors influencing these events. As most dominant factors the illegal operations of nightclubs; the use of pyrotechnics; the choice of materials; manual & automatic fire protection systems; the occupant load and the means of egress were identified. Additionally, the training of staff was found to be valuable, if present. It was never just a single factor influencing the events but always a combination. Additional input has been found by analysing two different evacuation experiments. The influence of staff and... (More)
There have been numerous tragic incidents in nightclubs leading to hundreds of fatalities. This thesis attempts the current situation. Different nightclub fires from the past 17 years were analysed in order to identify the critical factors influencing these events. As most dominant factors the illegal operations of nightclubs; the use of pyrotechnics; the choice of materials; manual & automatic fire protection systems; the occupant load and the means of egress were identified. Additionally, the training of staff was found to be valuable, if present. It was never just a single factor influencing the events but always a combination. Additional input has been found by analysing two different evacuation experiments. The influence of staff and the fact that single rooms can become overcrowded before the maximum number of occupants of the venue is reached were identified. The critical factors are addressed in the regulations of the U.S.A. and the UK. It is recommended that countries with less developed codes adapt their codes to the more developed ones or completely adopt them, implement aggressive enforcement, fight corruption and improve their fire safety culture. Additional recommendations for future research are given. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Strick, Jonathan
supervisor
organization
course
VBRM05 20141
year
type
H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
subject
keywords
Nightclub fires, Human behaviour, Evacuation, Egress, Fire emergency, Pyrotechnics, Overcrowding, Means of egress, Critical factors
publication/series
LUTVDG/TVBB
report number
5457
ISSN
1402-3504
language
English
id
4522713
date added to LUP
2014-06-27 12:02:38
date last changed
2014-06-27 12:02:38
@misc{4522713,
  abstract     = {{There have been numerous tragic incidents in nightclubs leading to hundreds of fatalities. This thesis attempts the current situation. Different nightclub fires from the past 17 years were analysed in order to identify the critical factors influencing these events. As most dominant factors the illegal operations of nightclubs; the use of pyrotechnics; the choice of materials; manual & automatic fire protection systems; the occupant load and the means of egress were identified. Additionally, the training of staff was found to be valuable, if present. It was never just a single factor influencing the events but always a combination. Additional input has been found by analysing two different evacuation experiments. The influence of staff and the fact that single rooms can become overcrowded before the maximum number of occupants of the venue is reached were identified. The critical factors are addressed in the regulations of the U.S.A. and the UK. It is recommended that countries with less developed codes adapt their codes to the more developed ones or completely adopt them, implement aggressive enforcement, fight corruption and improve their fire safety culture. Additional recommendations for future research are given.}},
  author       = {{Strick, Jonathan}},
  issn         = {{1402-3504}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  series       = {{LUTVDG/TVBB}},
  title        = {{Development of Safety Measures for Nightclubs}},
  year         = {{2014}},
}