FIRE SAFETY IN OLD HIGH-RISE RESIDENTIAL BUILDINGS IN SLOVENIA

Abstract

In 2002 there were 3224 buildings with 5 or more floors in Slovenia. The majority were built in the period from the end of the Second World War to the 1990s, at a time when the fire safety requirements were not as strict as they are now. An assessment of fire risk levels carried out according to the valid rules would, in the majority of cases, show that the buildings have the highest risk level rating. This Master’s thesis at the Faculty of Chemistry and Chemical Technology at the University of Ljubljana focused on one high-rise residential building in Kranj and assessed its fire risk level. It was established that this building was classified as having the highest fire risk level. Based on this finding, several measures were discussed for improving the fire safety of the building, and the financial costs related to each measure were evaluated. The analysis was made for this particular building; however, it can be assumed that there are many similar buildings in Slovenia. At the same time the method was checked. It turned out to be considerably better than the previous one, although there is still room for improvement. This article summarizes the findings of the Master’s thesis entitled “Suggested measures to reduce the fire hazard level in older high-rise residential buildings” (2025), which the candidate Nika Šter wrote under the mentorship of Assistant Professor Dr Domen Kušar at the Faculty of Chemistry and Chemical Technology at the University of Ljubljana.