Analysis and mitigation of fire-related risks for urban cableway installations

Historically and quantitatively, aerial ropeway installations are associated with mountainous locations in natural or peri-urban environments. It was against this backdrop that the technical regulatory requirements for fire risks were initially defined by the Order of 7 August 2009 on the design, construction, modification, operation and maintenance of aerial ropeways, and its accompanying guides.

The relatively new and innovative installation of ropeways and gondola lifts in urban areas is likely to create a specific fire hazard, which places additional potential stresses on the transport installations.

STRMTG (Technical Service in Charge of Safety for Ropeways and Guided Transport) asked EFECTIS France to study the issue of integrating aerial cableway installations into urban environments in terms of fire risk in order to:

• Provide information on the issues involved for project developers and the relevant authorities, in order to anticipate changes in the level of fire risk posed by installations as a result of their integration into an urban environment;
• Formalise the methodological principles of fire risk studies designed to assess the safety level of installations and justify the relevance and adequacy of the safety barriers implemented.

The principles defined by the study were partially introduced into the ropeway decree and the RM1 and RM2 guides when they were amended in 2016.

A day-long presentation of the study to sector professionals was co-organised by STRMTG and EFECTIS on 26 March 2015.