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Technical Advisory Document TAD0024
Fire Safety Engineering and Coatback
There are instances on projects where Fire Safety Engineering (FSE) has been used, which has resulted in the intermediate (or secondary) beams not being fire protected.
Where FSE has been carried out, due consideration needs to be made to the connections of the intermediate beams with the primary beams. It needs to be considered if some fire protection to the connections is required. Failure to do so may result in ‘hot spots’ on the primary beam, which may result in premature failure of the beam in a fire situation.
Where the body who carried out the FSE has considered the connections and deemed coatback is not necessary, then that advice may be followed but this must be their responsibility (i.e. the body who carried out the FSE).
In the absence of any other advice, our recommendation for such instances is based on ASFP TGN 004 Section 2.8 Connections, which states that it may be necessary to provide protection to some portion of the intermediate beam at the connection.
In our opinion such protection should always be provided and for simple beam to beam connections. The recommendation is to apply FIRETEX to the relevant thickness (determined by the primary beam section factor and required period of fire resistance) for a minimum distance of 200 mm along from the connection.
Note that when the primary beams are cellular, it is our opinion that a level of coatback on the intermediate beams is essential.
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