Comparative study of building fire safety regulations in different Brazilian states

- Comparative study among Brazilian fire safety regulations are presented.
- State regulations showed differences however similar technical base was found.
- A Brazilian national fire safety regulation could be created.

In the last forty years, Brazil has seen several major fires resulting in dramatic human and material losses. These led to society-driven initiatives that together with national legislation gaps caused a diversity of building fire safety regulations which were only applicable to the corresponding state. This caused an administrative and technical disarray among fire safety agents, as well as anti-economical building design and construction. This paper presents a comparative study among building fire safety regulations in different Brazilian states aiming at the development and adoption of a technical regulation at a national level. The results showed many differences in regulations on the mandatory requirements for fire protection systems; however, a similar technical base among state regulations showed that a Brazilian national-level fire safety regulation could be created.