Rzeczoznawca, ochrona przeciwpożarowa

In order to broaden my horizons, I recently participated in a training course organized by SFPE on the fire safety of passenger car garages in the context of multi-level car storage systems. By the way, we should consider adopting a Polish "official name" for such systems from the English term car stackers. Various names can be encountered, such as parking systems, parking platforms, multi-level car parks; each name says something, but none unequivocally identifies the solution. But getting back to the point, recently we have been paying a lot of attention to the safety of car garages due to the increasingly frequent presence of cars with powertrains other than internal combustion engines running on gasoline or diesel fuel. However, quite little is heard here about another trend taking place, namely the increasingly frequent multi-level parking systems or, in other words, spaces for car storage. In reality, such facilities have more in common with a warehouse, often high-bay, than with a garage for passenger cars as described in our regulations. And it must be remembered that the hazards that appear or intensify in standard garages—such as increased vehicle sizes, larger amounts of plastics, the presence of vehicles with various powertrains, i.e., classic ICE (internal combustion engine), hydrogen-powered, PHEV (plug-in hybrid electric), EV (electric)—are multiplied in "car storage" facilities. The difference on the positive side is that these multi-level parking facilities are increasingly spaces where people are not allowed (except for technical maintenance personnel), as they are fully automated. So the threat to human health and life within the garage itself is eliminated, but on the other hand, this gain is not very significant, because historically it is known that casualties in garages are rather rare. On the other hand, the hazards to the facility itself are significantly greater. Below are a few thoughts and conclusions, both my own and from the training I mentioned at the beginning:

Definitely, in "our" technical conditions for buildings, there must be a separation and differentiation of safety requirements for classic garages, vehicle garaging/storage spaces using multi-level platforms accessible to users, and automated vehicle garaging/storage spaces using multi-level platforms where users do not have access.
The requirements for the above-mentioned types of facilities must be differentiated due to the varying scales of hazards to people and to the building itself. It is not advisable to exaggerate evacuation safety in a facility where there are no people who need to evacuate, while on the other hand, it is completely misplaced to treat spaces with multi-level vehicle storage as PM < 500 MJ/m² as is currently the case for traditional garages.
Due to the variability and modularity of parking systems, it will likely not be possible to specify detailed prescriptive requirements; it is necessary to define the objectives to be achieved and leave determining the way to achieve those goals to specialists.
The primary safety measure for garages, and especially multi-level car storage spaces, should be a sprinkler system, as primarily such equipment is capable of reducing the impact of fire on the structure and limiting its spread until the arrival of emergency services.
Due to the above-mentioned variability of car storage arrangements, there is a need to adapt design standards for fixed water fire-fighting systems to this situation

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