ISO 23932-1:2018

Overview - What ISO 23932-1:2018 covers

ISO 23932-1:2018, "Fire safety engineering - General principles - Part 1: General", defines the general principles and requirements for fire safety engineering (FSE) used to support performance‑based fire safety design, implementation of design plans, and fire safety management. It is an outline of the FSE process rather than a detailed technical design manual. The standard sets out the essential steps and linkages needed to develop, evaluate and implement engineered fire safety solutions for the built environment, and to align those solutions with prescriptive regulations where both approaches coexist.

Key topics and technical requirements

The standard addresses the full FSE workflow and core elements, including:

• Establishing project scope and setting explicit fire safety objectives (FSOs) (e.g., life safety, property protection, continuity of operations, environmental protection, heritage preservation).
• Defining functional requirements (FRs) and measurable performance criteria (PCs) for performance‑based designs.
• Risk analysis approaches: comparative vs absolute, qualitative, deterministic, and probabilistic methods (including semi‑quantitative and quantitative risk analysis).
• Design scenario development: hazard identification, design fire scenarios, and occupant behavioural scenarios.
• Selection of engineering methods and tools: fire models, evacuation models, validation and verification, test data and engineering judgement.
• Evaluation and documentation: quantification of consequences and frequencies, treatment of uncertainty, comparison with PCs, and final reporting.
• Implementation and management: conformity checks, updates, inspection, maintenance and life‑cycle considerations.

Practical applications - who uses it and why

ISO 23932-1 is intended for professionals involved in:

• Fire safety engineers and consultants developing performance‑based designs.
• Architects, building services engineers and designers integrating engineered fire strategies.
• Regulators and authorities having jurisdiction assessing engineered solutions against codes.
• Facility owners, operators and asset managers responsible for implementing and maintaining fire safety plans.
• Emergency planners and insurers evaluating risk and continuity measures.

It applies to a wide range of built environments - buildings, off‑shore platforms, tunnels, bridges, mines, motor vehicles and marine vessels - though it notes some limits (for example, construction sites).

Related standards

• Part of the ISO 23932 series of FSE documents; intended to be used in conjunction with other ISO methods and data that support specific modelling, testing and management steps.
• Prepared by ISO/TC 92 (Fire safety), Subcommittee SC 4 (Fire safety engineering).

ISO 23932-1:2018 is a foundational reference for implementing robust, performance‑based fire safety programs and aligning engineering practice with regulatory and operational needs.