Altaf Afridi, Regional Marketing Director (MENA) and head of the Project Management Team, based in United Arab Emirates, a Civil Engineer having 10 years of extensive experience in Architectural hardware and openings industry of his total 17 years of experience. Specialist of fire rated doors, first certified FDAI (Fire Door Assembly Inspector) outside US, certified Project Management Professional (PMP), LEED AP and Life Safety code (NFPA 101) specialist.

While working with architects Mr. Afridi has learnt NFPA 101 Life Safety Code, NFPA 80 Standard for fire doors from them while providing related solutions and thus gained a good data base of lessons learnt. He has been doing presentations on Life Safety code at architect offices in UAE, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Lebanon and Qatar. He has been assisting architects providing solutions at the design stage for doors, doors hardware, movable walls, glass fittings and access control products.

John is the co-founder of Joule Group, a boutique Fire Engineering Practice based in Dubai. A Chartered Fire Safety Engineer he holds a BSc Hons in Fire Safety Engineering.

John has gained a wide range of experience in fire engineering in the Middle East, Africa and Europe.

He applies his expertise primarily in fire safety design, on-site implementation and handover of Aviation, Assembly and transportation projects across the built environment.

John is a visiting lecturer at Trinity College Dublin on the fundamentals of fire safety science and fire dynamics.

John’s passion is for advancing the field of fire engineering in its application into the design and operation of the built environment. He represents Joule Group and the industry in promoting this message on fire safety at targeted fire safety seminars and conferences.

Alexander graduated in 2004 with a Bachelor of Science from the prestigious University of Maryland Fire Protection Engineering program. Upon completing his studies, he worked in the New York office of one of the leading fire engineering consultancies in the US. During this time he worked on various high profile projects such as the original Brooklyn Arena design by Frank Gehry. During his time in New York he was also seconded over a period of time to the Macau office where he was part of a team delivering the third party reviews for various casinos. In 2008, Alexander relocated to the London Office of a multi engineering firm where he again worked on high profile projects where in addition to delivering fire strategies he was responsible for undertaking egress, fire and smoke modelling. After relocating to New York in 2010, two years later Alexander joined the WSP Offices in the Middle East.

In his current role he is responsible for delivering fire strategies for various high profile projects and is also involved during the construction supervision stage to ensure the strategy is implemented as intended. In addition, Alexander serves as a liaison between the design team and authorities such as Dubai Civil Defence to ensure that the designs are in accordance with their expectations and requirements.

Andy has over 25 years of experience in the field of Building and Construction, ranging from structural testing within the nuclear industry to fire testing. Having established the Dubai Cladding Technology Centre and Laboratory, and operated it for 10 years, he has particular knowledge of heavy structures testing and weathertightness testing of cladding, curtain walling and building envelope systems.

He has carried out many consultancy projects as a third-party specialist in the field of building envelope technology.

Andy has a long-standing association with the CIOB. He is currently the Chairman of the Dubai and Northern Emirates Center and he is also an experienced candidate mentor.

He continues to provide input into the UAE code and is a regular speaker at industry technical seminars such as this one.

James A. Bychowski, P.E., has over 30 years of fire protection experience. As Senior Vice President – Middle East, Mr. Bychowski has been responsible for JENSEN HUGHES Middle East operations for the past 10 years.

Mr. Bychowski was responsible for establishing our first Middle East office in Dubai in 2006, and has developed this office into one of JENSEN HUGHES’s largest regional offices having a unique mix of international professionals. Mr. Bychowski is a member of the NFPA MENA Advisory Committee, has served as a principal member on the NFPA 72 technical committee, as alternate to the chairman of NFPA 13 and is a founding board member of the International UAE chapter of the Society of Fire Protection Engineers (SFPE).

Mr. Bychowski is a professional fire protection engineer with experience in preparation of fire strategies and fire protection designs for many types of occupancies including high-rise offices and hotels, residential buildings, shopping malls, airport terminals, aircraft hangars, petrochemical processing, power generation stations, stadiums, convention centers, hospitals, universities, assisted living facilities, museums, and numerous other facilities. He guides our Middle East team in developing fire-safe designs for our clients that meet the requirements of Civil Defense authorities to improve life safety throughout the region.

An electronic systems application design consultant with over 30 years’ experience in building and industrial projects across Europe, the Middle East, Africa and South East Asia as a consultant, contractor and with major manufacturers.

Innovative integration application and solutions designer for iconic projects and contributor to CEN, CIBSE and BSRIA standards in the UK and Europe.

Aaron F. Vanney is Vice President for RJA/ JENSEN HUGHES located in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Mr. Vanney specializes in international projects including mixed use high-rise buildings, large assembly occupancies, and healthcare facilities. He has focused his project work in code consulting, developing building fire and life safety strategies, and performance-based design.

Since joining RJA, Mr. Vanney has spent the majority of his career working in the Middle East where he had the opportunity to participated in the design of Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest building. Mr. Vanney has participated in projects throughout the world and is familiar with fire and life safety regulations throughout the Middle East.

He is a graduate of Worcester Polytechnic Institute with a degree in Mechanical Engineering and Fire Protection Engineering. Mr. Vanney is a registered Professional Engineer in the United States. He is a certified NFPA 101 instructor and is a member of the UAE Fire and Life Safety Code of Practice Code Committee. Mr. Vanney is a member of the Society of Fire Protection Engineers (SFPE) and a member of the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA).

Mr. Vanney has participated in international conferences throughout the Middle East, North America, and Asia.

Nusrulha has completed his Diploma & Bachelors in Instrumentation Engineering. He started his career in Factory Automation where he worked with MESSUNG & MITSUBISHI ELECTRIC PLCs in the fields of Programmable Logical Controllers, Control Panels and HMI (Human Machine Interface) Panels. He later worked in Buildings Automation Systems when working with Johnson Controls International.

Nusrulha is competent in BMS, CCTV, Access Control System (Smart Cards & Mobile Key Technologies using low power Bluetooth), Fire Alarm System, Perimeter Protection, ELV, Wireless Telecommunication (P2P & P2MP), PLC, SCADA and RTU. Nusrulha is well versed with Building Management System and Access Control Systems.

He also has a Certification of Honeywell - Notifier Fire Alarm System, Certification of Lenel’s Access Control System & Digital Video-CCTV Certification. Allen Bradley’s - PLC & SCADA Programming. For Wireless Communication – Point to Point & Point to Multipoint, he is Netronics Certified System Specialist. He has worked for different industries such as infrastructure, hospitality, airport, oil & gas.

Paris Stavrianidis is general manager of FM Approvals, a member of the FM Global group. Named to the position in December 2001, Stavrianidis had most recently been the assistant vice president and manager of the FM Approvals electrical department since early2001, during which time he oversaw certification of equipment used in hazardous locations, detection and signaling, and reliability evaluations of PLCs. Stavrianidis served as director of risk and reliability research for the FM Global for the 5 years prior to that. He began his career with FM Global as a fire research scientist in 1987.

During his tenure with FM Global, Stavrianidis has led as well as participated in several committees for the Instrument Society of America, the National Fire Protection Association, the International Electrotechical Commission (IEC), and the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME). He chaired ASME’s Safety Engineering and Risk Analysis Division from 1999 to 2000, and served on the editorial board of the Reliability Engineering and System Safety Journal from 1995 to 1997. He has served on the Board of Directors of the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) and is currently on the Board of directors of the International Fire Sprinkler Association (IFSA), and a member of the United States National Council of IEC. He has authored over 30 research reports and has published 25 technical papers in national and international journals.

Stavrianidis completed both undergraduate and graduate work at Northeastern University in Boston, Mass., USA, earning a bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Mechanical Engineering.

Ms. Shamim Rashid-Sumar is Vice President of Development for the Middle East based in JENSEN HUGHES’ Dubai office. Ms. Rashid-Sumar has over 16 years of experience in building and fire code consulting, fire dynamics, timed egress modeling, and performance based design. Since graduating with a B.S. in Fire Protection Engineering from the University of Maryland, she has performed fire protection evaluations, prepared fire and life safety strategies and design specifications, fire alarm system design, and other engineering analyses and studies.

As a registered Professional Engineer in the United States, she has worked on a multitude of projects including government facilities, hospitals and medical centers, airport terminals, museums, high-rise buildings, hotels, shopping malls, and many special use facilities.

Shamim was instrumental in establishing and currently serves as President of the UAE International Chapter of the Society of Fire Protection Engineers (SFPE). She is also an NFPA 101 International Instructor, a member of the UAE Code Committee, and a member of the SFPE International Committee on Membership and Chapters Relations.

Gilles Vandevoorde is the General Manager for Building Sciences at Intertek for the GCC markets. Gilles holds a Master’s Degree in Mechanical Engineering and is a 22 plus year veteran of the construction industry. He is a glass expert and has worked in all aspects of the building envelope sector. His previous work ranges from designing and selling aluminum and glass for facades, directing an aluminum contracting company and managing a glass manufacturing float plant in KSA. His focus is on the construction industry providing facade consulting and enclosure commissioning, third party design reviews, field testing, mock-up testing, tender assessments, facade dispute resolution, technical risk assessment and failure investigation/expert witness services. Gilles is widely traveled and understand the different requirements from European and American construction codes and standards.

David has studied Applied Science, (Fire Technology at Swinburne University, Australia), Fire Engineering with the Institute of Fire Engineers London and Advanced Project Management. He has worked in various roles over the past 26 years, the last 6 being in the Middle East.

These include.

• Civil Defence
• Project Management / Construction Supervision Consultancy
• Independent Third Party Inspection
• Fire Safety Consulting
• Insurance Risk Assessment
• Products Fire Testing and Certification

His current role involves managing the Fire Testing Laboratory, the Product Certification Division and the Third Party Fire Inspections Division, including the UKAS & IAS accreditation.

David’s past projects include airports, museums, government facilities, hospitals, high-rise, hotels & hospitality, education, entertainment complexes, stadia, shopping malls, industrial / manufacturing and mixed use facilities.

Since graduating from the Fire Safety course at the University of Central Lancashire in 2001 Robert has undertaken a variety of roles within the Fire Safety Industry. He started his career with AkerKvaener carrying out fire protection system designs for Petro-Chemical and Pharmaceutical facilities before moving to International Fire Consultants Limited (IFC). Whilst working for IFC he gained extensive experience in managing and witnessing Fire Resistance Tests, undertaking Fire Risk Assessments and preparing Fire Safety Strategies and Fire Engineering Solutions for a variety of building types. Whilst working for IFC he also completed a Masters in Fire Safety Engineering at the University of Ulster.

In 2007 Robert moved to Dubai and joined Buro Happold as a design engineer working on large mixed use / high rise developments in the ME region. In 2009 he was awarded Chartered Engineer status with the Institution of Fire Engineers (IFE) and qualified through the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) as one of their Certified Fire Protection Specialists (CFPS).

At the start of 2010 Robert started working as an independent fire safety specialist for several high profile clients in Saudi Arabia including the Planning and Development authority for Riyadh (Arriyadh Development Authority) as their fire safety advisor. After one year Robert returned to Dubai and joined WSP Middle East.

Specialties: Fire Engineering Solutions, Fire Safety Strategies, Liaison with Local Authorities in the Middle East, Fire Risk Assessments, Fire Safety Management, Fire Resistance Testing.

Elie Ghoussoub is a Principal Consultant for health, safety and accessibility for the built environment at WSP I Parsons Brinckerhoff in the Middle East. Elie has conducted many accessibility audits and design reviews for commercial and public buildings. Elie has presented at a number of government forums, appeared in regional trade publications and continues to provide universal accessibility advice to private and public clients.

Anas A. Alzaid is the General Director of Safety and Security in the Ministry of Health of Saudi Arabia. He has more than 25 years of experience in Healthcare Facilities Management and safety

He holds Consultant Engineer level from the Saudi Counsel of Engineers (SCE). He is certified Facilities Management and Safety surveyor by CBAHI/ Accreditation Canada, Certified Arbitrator from Ministry of Justice, member of NFPA, IEEE, and Chicago AHA. Moreover, he has published articles in Journals and local magazines.

Mr. Alzaid received Bachelor Degree in Electrical Engineering from King Fahad University of Petroleum and Minerals in 1990. Then he received a Master Degree in Business Administration (MBA) from King Saud University in 1999.

Abstract:

Real-estate developer are always interested in constructing iconic buildings that will attract large crowds (e.g. high-rise buildings and shopping malls) for a greater return on their investment. Such buildings usually contain complex architectural features, i.e. atriums, where approving authorities require conducting a timed egress analysis to ensure that occupants are not subjected to untenable conditions prior to evacuating the space. While there are a number of tools to conduct this analysis, engineers should be aware of limitations, cost and validity of such tools for the chosen scenario. This presentation introduces the various approaches / tools for conducting a timed egress analysis, some of their strong suits and limitations.

KEYWORDS: Human Behavior, Human Factors, Egress, Exit Choice,

Author Bio:

Majed has a Bachelor and Master of Science in fire protection engineering and has been involved in the industry for 13 years. His experience covers developing and implementing fire protection strategies in various applications, such as hydrocarbon processing plants, high-rise residential/office buildings, training and research.

In addition to working with BuroHappold as a Senior Fire Engineer, he is also a PhD candidate at Worcester Polytechnic Institute pursuing a degree in fire protection engineering and his thesis examines the effects of cultural differences on human behavior during evacuation, and how to implement such differences in egress modeling.