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Occupant loads and COVID-19: The impact on office building fire evacuation

Larsson Silli, Malte LU (2022) In LUTVDG/TVBB VBRM10 20202
Division of Fire Safety Engineering
Abstract
COVID-19 was declared a world-wide pandemic in 2020, consequently affecting societies all around the globe. This thesis investigates one of these effects, namely how the pandemic affected occupant loads in office buildings and its subsequent effect on fire evacuation. Occupant load is one of many important factors when designing a building in regard to its fire safety, as it is a key component in determining and applying building regulations. By analysing data collected from video recordings of three different offices as well as performing a case study in which different occupant load levels and physical distancing were combined to determine evacuation time, the objectives of this thesis were accomplished. The results included, but were... (More)
COVID-19 was declared a world-wide pandemic in 2020, consequently affecting societies all around the globe. This thesis investigates one of these effects, namely how the pandemic affected occupant loads in office buildings and its subsequent effect on fire evacuation. Occupant load is one of many important factors when designing a building in regard to its fire safety, as it is a key component in determining and applying building regulations. By analysing data collected from video recordings of three different offices as well as performing a case study in which different occupant load levels and physical distancing were combined to determine evacuation time, the objectives of this thesis were accomplished. The results included, but were not limited to, that the restrictions of the COVID-19 pandemic affected occupant load levels to varying degrees, which combined with the common restriction of physical distancing proved to cause significant increases in modelled evacuation time. Due to the lack of research, it was difficult to determine whether this increase in time reflects real life fire evacuation scenarios during a pandemic or not. If this reflection was to be accurate, it would indicate an increased risk for occupants of office buildings during a pandemic similar to the one caused by COVID-19 in regard to fire safety. To counterbalance the increase in risk, potential changes in building codes might be appropriate, but in order to confirm this further research is strongly recommended. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Larsson Silli, Malte LU
supervisor
organization
course
VBRM10 20202
year
type
H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
subject
keywords
Occupant load, physical distancing, evacuation, COVID-19, office building
publication/series
LUTVDG/TVBB
report number
5677
other publication id
LUTVDG/TVBB--5677--SE
language
English
id
9102336
date added to LUP
2022-10-27 10:03:49
date last changed
2022-10-27 10:03:49
@misc{9102336,
  abstract     = {{COVID-19 was declared a world-wide pandemic in 2020, consequently affecting societies all around the globe. This thesis investigates one of these effects, namely how the pandemic affected occupant loads in office buildings and its subsequent effect on fire evacuation. Occupant load is one of many important factors when designing a building in regard to its fire safety, as it is a key component in determining and applying building regulations. By analysing data collected from video recordings of three different offices as well as performing a case study in which different occupant load levels and physical distancing were combined to determine evacuation time, the objectives of this thesis were accomplished. The results included, but were not limited to, that the restrictions of the COVID-19 pandemic affected occupant load levels to varying degrees, which combined with the common restriction of physical distancing proved to cause significant increases in modelled evacuation time. Due to the lack of research, it was difficult to determine whether this increase in time reflects real life fire evacuation scenarios during a pandemic or not. If this reflection was to be accurate, it would indicate an increased risk for occupants of office buildings during a pandemic similar to the one caused by COVID-19 in regard to fire safety. To counterbalance the increase in risk, potential changes in building codes might be appropriate, but in order to confirm this further research is strongly recommended.}},
  author       = {{Larsson Silli, Malte}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  series       = {{LUTVDG/TVBB}},
  title        = {{Occupant loads and COVID-19: The impact on office building fire evacuation}},
  year         = {{2022}},
}