Fire-safe buildings? This is what you need to know about the applicable standards
Last updated:
28/5/2025
Which standards for fire prevention, fire detection and fire fighting help you protect your building? NBN filtered the most relevant ones from the more than 600 international, European and Belgian standards that exist around fire safety. You can find them on our overview page about fire safety and you can easily purchase them in our e-shop.
Fire hazards remain one of the main business risks. From office buildings and schools, to hospitals and manufacturing facilities, every building requires a sophisticated strategy to prevent human and material damage. Fire safety professionals now have more tools than ever to help them do their job, and one of those tools is standards.
A strong fire safety policy should be based on clear preventative measures. In terms of your organisation, for example, are there anyawareness-raising initiatives, or is there emergency lighting in place? Next, passive and active fire protection lay a major role. For example, having a fireproof structure and the means to efficiently detect and fight fire. Each of these subdomains within fire protection is backed up by standards, which are often mandatory.
An example of such a mandatory standard on fire safety is the Belgian standard NBN S 21-204-2:2020 , in full: Fire safety of buildings - School buildings - Part 2: Fire safety of new school buildings . This means that every new school building and every extension of existing school buildings must comply with certain rules. Think of interventions to prevent the spread of fire and a plan to ensure the safety of people present.
A revised version of NBN S 21-100-1 will be published in 2025. In addition, standards for selection, installation and qualifications will also be revised or introduced under the name NBN S 21-112. This will create a more layered and specialised approach to fire safety.
Purchase NBN S 21-204-2:2020 from NBN's e-shop.
Check out our handy overview page about fire safety.
