Development of Safety Measures for Nightclubs

Abstract: There have been numerous tragic incidents in nightclubs leading to hundreds of fatalities. This thesis attempts the current situation. Different nightclub fires from the past 17 years were analysed in order to identify the critical factors influencing these events. As most dominant factors the illegal operations of nightclubs; the use of pyrotechnics; the choice of materials; manual & automatic fire protection systems; the occupant load and the means of egress were identified. Additionally, the training of staff was found to be valuable, if present. It was never just a single factor influencing the events but always a combination. Additional input has been found by analysing two different evacuation experiments. The influence of staff and the fact that single rooms can become overcrowded before the maximum number of occupants of the venue is reached were identified. The critical factors are addressed in the regulations of the U.S.A. and the UK. It is recommended that countries with less developed codes adapt their codes to the more developed ones or completely adopt them, implement aggressive enforcement, fight corruption and improve their fire safety culture. Additional recommendations for future research are given.