SANS 10400-T and -W: Fire Protection

Parts T and W of SANS 10400 cover fire safety. Part T sets fire protection: how long walls and floors must resist fire, how escape routes must work, and when fire-fighting equipment is triggered. Part W covers fire installations: the water supply, hose reels, hydrants and sprinklers that feed those systems. SANS stands for South African National Standard, the standard the National Building Regulations (the NBR, under the National Building Regulations and Building Standards Act of 1977) point to. For a standalone house the rules are light; for duplexes, blocks of flats and anything commercial they grow quickly.‍‌​​‌‌​​​‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌​‌​​​​​‌​‌‌‌​‍

The figures below come from public summaries and archived copies of the paywalled SABS text (SABS is the South African Bureau of Standards), including a copy of SANS 10400-T archived on the public Archive.org library, plus the gazetted regulations. Treat them as plain-English orientation, not a definitive spec, and confirm the exact current values with your local authority and the SABS SANS 10400-T and -W texts before you build or submit plans.

What this Part covers

Part T (the brief references the 2011 edition, 3) sets fire resistance ratings by occupancy class, escape route layout and width, smoke control, structural fire stability and the triggers for fire-fighting equipment. An occupancy class is the use category the NBR assigns a building, for example H4 for a single dwelling house, H3 for two or more dwelling units on one site, and G1 for an office. Part W covers the design of fire installations: the water supply and reticulation, hose reels, hydrants, sprinklers and portable extinguishers that serve a building.

Most of the heavy requirements apply once a building is no longer a category 1 building. A category 1 building, broadly, is a single-storey building of a limited occupancy class, no basement, with no more than 6,0 m between lateral-support walls and a floor area of 80 square metre or less. A standalone house usually sits inside that, which is why its fire rules are simple.

Key requirements (plain English)

Keep the caveat above in mind: these are orientation figures from public summaries and an archived copy of the paywalled SABS text, so confirm the current values with the SABS Part T and W texts and your local authority before building.

Fire resistance of the elements that separate one tenancy or use from another:

• A wall between H3 domestic residence tenancies: at least 60 minutes.
• A wall between H1 (hotel) or H2 (dormitory) tenancies: at least 60 minutes.
• Most other separating elements between tenancies: at least 30 minutes.
• A domestic garage (not big enough to count as a parking occupancy) next to any habitable room: the separating wall and the door must give at least 30 minutes.

The garage-to-house separation in detail:

• The wall between a domestic garage and any habitable room must give at least 30 minutes fire resistance and run up to the underside of the roof covering.
• The connecting door must give at least 30 minutes fire resistance.
• The door threshold must be raised at least 10 mm.

Escape and equipment, for small residential buildings:

• A category 1 single-storey H4 dwelling needs no sprinklers or hose reels; the design relies on occupants getting out quickly, and the design population set in Part A must not be exceeded.
• Minimum clear escape route width is about 900 mm for low-population residential use, with a minimum clear door width on the escape route of about 750 mm (wider, around 900 mm, for higher-population uses).
• Escape route doors should be self-closing, and for higher-population uses must open in the direction of escape.
• Maximum travel distance to a place of safety varies by occupancy; for an unsprinklered H4 dwelling the brief gives roughly 45 m.
• A party wall between semi-detached or row houses (H3) must give at least 60 minutes and extend above the roof line to stop flame travelling between units.
• Every building needs portable fire extinguishers; a residential building needs at least one suitable extinguisher per floor level.
• Hose reels are typically triggered where gross floor area exceeds 500 square metre (offices, large shops), not in a house. Sprinklers apply to certain large or multi-storey occupancies, not an H4 dwelling. Hydrants are triggered in buildings over three storeys or where hose reels are required.

When you need a competent person or plan approval

A competent person is someone qualified by education, training and experience, registered in their field. Fire engineering is its own discipline: rational fire design is done by a fire engineer or qualified fire protection consultant. Rational design means an engineered design and calculation in place of the prescriptive deemed-to-satisfy route, where deemed-to-satisfy means following the published rules and being deemed to comply.

You need a fire engineer for any building that is not a simple category 1 dwelling: multi-storey buildings, H1, H2 and H3 blocks, commercial occupancies, and anything with underground parking. They produce the rational designs for escape routes, fire compartmentation and suppression. A fire protection plan is submitted with the building plans and assessed by the local authority, and is required for non-dwelling occupancies where the local authority specifies it.

Common mistakes

• No garage-to-house fire separation. A door straight from the garage into a bedroom or living area with no fire-rated door and no raised threshold.
• An under-rated party wall. A thin 90 mm single-leaf unplastered wall between H3 units that does not reach the 60-minute minimum.
• Escape route too narrow. A corridor or escape door drawn under the minimum clear width on the fire plan.
• Combustible cladding on a fire-rated wall. The whole wall, cladding included, is assessed together, so combustible cladding can pull the rating down.
• No fire protection plan. Submitting non-dwelling occupancy plans without the fire plan the local authority requires.

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