Steel Protection Cages – Requirements for Fire Rating Performance

The Australia’s National Construction Code (NCC) has guidelines that define performance requirements for buildings exposed to fire with the primary goal of ensuring the safety of occupants.

These requirements can be met by either one or a combination of two distinct approaches: the Deemed-to-Satisfy (DTS) Solution and the Performance Solution.
• The DTS Solution includes a range of prescriptive requirements. It typically focuses on compliance to the relevant standards assessment and each identifying individual elements to ensure that all critical points are met.
• The Performance Solution makes allowance to satisfy the requirements through alternative means. With an understanding of real-world fires, this performance-based approach can provide a range of acceptable solutions to actual or near-actual fire scenarios.

Indicators that need to be considered when considering fire protection for steel include:
• Steel size
• Structural integrity
• Fire Resistance Level (FRL)
• Critical temperature

Steel protection cages, based on the following criteria, are not generally subject to fire rating requirements
• When used for their intended purpose. A protection cage is not a structural element of a building.
• When installed correctly, it should not impede egress from a building.
• Their predominant use is external to a building and hence is not in a high intensity heat-build-up scenario.
• They are manufactured entirely from steel components.
• It is accepted understanding that any aesthetic coating (powder-coat/paint) is not a fire protection, nor will withstand the heat of any fire.
• Although they are not specifically designed for this purpose, protection cages may be a ‘Performance Solution’ to contain the potential explosion of equipment with flammable gases.