The conceptual evaluation paradigm of Malaysia old and new public hospital buildings on passive fire protection system versus UBBL 1984 compliance

Public hospitals in Malaysia require stringent fire safety measures opt to high occupancy due to government policy against convoluted building design and layouts. Ensuring compliance with fire safety regulations, particularly passive fire protection systems, is critical for safeguarding lives and facilitating safe evacuation during emergencies. Yet, older hospital buildings often face challenges to meet the fire safety standards due to outdated designs and spatial limitations before the Uniform Building By-Laws, 1984 (UBBL 1984) mandated by the year 1984. The paper investigates the passive fire protection system vs the appraisal of UBBL 1984 between existing new and old public hospital buildings via systematic literature review. The key disparities are design criteria such as escape routes, fire compartments, emergency exits, and fire protection systems. The findings indicate that newly constructed hospitals are more likely to fully integrate passive fire safety features from the outset, ensuring better compliance with UBBL 1984. In contrast, older hospital buildings often lack essential fire safety components due to constraints in retrofitting, potentially compromising containment, disobeyed by laws and evacuation efficiency. Expectantly, this paper provides valuable insights for hospital administrators, fire safety professionals, and policymakers, to enhance fire safety requirements in existing hospital facilities.