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KAUST Fire Protection is the authority having jurisdiction (AHJ) in relation to all fire and life safety matters throughout KAUST. Our response personnel are supported by the KAUST Fire Protection team (KFP), who are headed by the Fire Protection Lead and their Fire Safety Inspectors and Engineers. Fire Protection:
Protection activities on KAUST may include:
Fire and Life safety includes active and passive fire protection features of a building. Active fire protection features include fire sprinkler systems, fire alarms, fire pumps, automatic self-closing fire doors, smoke dampers, fire shutters and other systems that need a signal to activate or operate. Active fire protection measures are designed to warn people when a fire occurs and to initiate early fire control.
Passive fire protection features include fire doors, fire-rated walls, fire-rated floors/ceilings, fire stopping and fire escape routes. Passive fire protection is vital to ensure that areas of high fire risk are separated from escape routes and to ensure that a fire does not spread easily from one compartment to another.
We are a high-performing team of safety professionals and engineers who are here to maximize safety culture throughout KAUST. Acts as the Authority Having Jurisdiction lead for all fire and life safety code review and compliance. Coordinates with stakeholders and HSE colleagues to assess individual Fire Loss Prevention program performance.
We plan and lead fire and life safety activities, developing, communicating, and implementing programs and procedures that ensure safe, healthy, and compliant environments. We are located in the Campus Administration building (Building 16) on the first floor, room 1312, and can be contacted by e-mail at fire.protection@kaust.edu.sa
For new construction projects, the KFP team carries out comprehensive design reviews to ensure the implementation of the international construction standards and project standards. KFP is also involved in attending Requests for Inspections (RFIs), raised by the project management team on behalf of the contractors.
Our team of engineers and inspectors attend the RFI and provide official responses against each RFI in the form of Acceptance or Rejection. KFP's involvement during design and construction activities ensures the quality of construction follows the approved designs and enables the project management team to meet their project milestones. KFP's involvement from design to final occupation benefits KAUST by ensuring our buildings are safe, code compliant, and meet or exceed the fire and life safety standards found internationally.
Upon design approval, the KFP team is responsible for ensuring that projects are executed in strict accordance with the approved design. This includes the crucial task of verifying that all materials used meet approved codes and standards and are installed correctly.
Another key responsibility of the KFP team is to oversee all commissioning activities related to fire and life safety features, ensuring that they are carried out to the highest standards.
Once the building is ready for the end users to occupy, KFP plays its part in one of the most crucial project activities—"testing and commissioning" of Fire Systems. Our team of engineers and inspectors witness testing and commissioning to make sure all the Fire Systems provided in the building are functioning as per relevant international codes, standards, and project specifications. Once all of the systems are determined to be functioning in accordance with relevant international codes, standards, and specifications (code compliance), KFP officially agrees to "Safe Occupancy" by signing the Turn Over Certificate (TOC).
During the building project, we will carry out many inspections, such as construction fire safety inspections, at the request of the project teams (RFIs) to ensure that fire safety codes, such as the International Fire Code, International Building Code, and NFPA Codes & Standards, are being complied with.
The Fire Protection team is the team to contact for any questions relating to fire and life safety features in any building.
We carry out prevention and protection inspections on all buildings to ensure that the fire systems are being maintained correctly and that active and passive fire safety measures are not being compromised in their use or maintenance.
We further conduct periodic inspections to ensure that all fire alarm and fire suppression systems are functional and maintained in accordance with the required codes and standards, as well as follow up with the required rectification. We regularly carry out inspections prior to KAUST events where large gatherings of people are expected to ensure full compliance with fire safety requirements.
When reviewing the fire and life safety systems a building should be fitted with, we follow a process to determine what is required. The main points that we consider in the safety of occupants in a building are:
The means of raising the alarm in case of fire: Smoke detection, manual pull stations, and the building fire alarm system. The means of egress: How people escape from a building in the event of a fire. The means of securing the egress routes: Ensuring that escape routes are kept clear and available at all times and that fire doors and fire-rated walls hold fire back and prevent it from affecting escape routes
The means for fighting fire: This includes fire pumps, sprinkler systems, wet chemical extinguishing systems for kitchen hood clean agent flooding systems (such as NOVEC-1230 in sensitive areas such as computer suites), fire extinguishers, fire hose reels, fire department standpipes and access and facilities for firefighter access.
