The problem of presenting requirements of fire safety regulations in Russia
Authors:   State Fire Academy of EMERCOM of Russia, IVANOV Vladimir N. , KIRYUKHANTSEV Evgeny E. ,   State Fire Academy of EMERCOM of Russia, ESIN Vladimir M. ,   State Fire Academy of EMERCOM of Russia, FIRSOVA Tatyana F. ,   State Fire Academy of EMERCOM of Russia, ALESHKOV Aleksander M. ,   State Fire Academy of EMERCOM of Russia, PRONIN Denis G. ,   State Fire Academy of EMERCOM of Russia
Published: October 2024

Purpose. The article is devoted to the procedure for presenting regulatory requirements in the field of fire safety in modern realities of the market economy, when safety is ensured, first of all, for people’s life and health and then for material values. The problem results from the active implementation of new regulatory documents, as well as from multiple amendments to the existing ones. The purpose of the article is to reduce the number of amendments made to regulatory documents, and also to improve the quality of rule-making in the field of fire safety regulation in Russia. Methods. The article analyzes and synthesizes the principles of writing standards in the USSR and in Russia today. Based on the results of observation, generalization, comparison, analogy and practical experience in the field of rule-making, new principles for presenting fire safety standards are proposed. Findings. In Russia, rule-making work is actively underway to develop new independent regulatory documents in the field of fire safety; changes are being made to previously developed codes of rules and national standards; new organizational standards are being established and agreed upon, often with the goal of softening regulatory provisions or optimizing and typifying them. Some technical specifications for fire safety are being developed for facilities to be protected for which there are no requirements of regulatory documents due to the introduction of new construction technologies, new technical solutions and architectural preferences. The authors propose the following basic principles for presenting requirements that should be observed when preparing regulatory documents: – clarity, brevity of content; the requirement presentation must be understandable to all participants in the design and construction, experts of examination bodies and inspectors of supervisory authorities; multiple interpretations must be excluded; established terms should be used; – the content and meaning of the requirement must be complete, without uncertainties in its implementation; – the requirements must be possible to implement; – the requirements must be compatible with the requirements of other regulatory documents and must not contain references to canceled regulations. Research application field. The proposed new principles for presenting fire safety standards should be applicable to rule-making activities of EMERCOM of Russia in the area of fire prevention and fire supervision at all stages of “the life cycle” of buildings and structures. Conclusions. The conducted theoretical study allows identifying and formulating new principles for presenting paragraphs of fire safety standards. Application of these principles makes it possible to avoid their multiple interpretations and uncertainties in implementation of regulatory documents in general, and also duplicating and contradicting requirements of other regulations. This, in turn, will reduce terms for approving design documentation, commissioning facilities, and ensure consistency of requirements imposed on facilities to be protected in general as well.