In North America, the major driver for the fire and life safety market is that building owners are required to follow fire and building codes. Many municipalities have adopted codes from the NFPA, the Canadian Commission on Building and Fire Codes (CCBFC), and other independent organizations. Building codes make it mandatory for newly constructed buildings to have effective measures for fire detection and suppression.

The building and fire codes also mandate that systems are inspected at least once a year. These periodic inspections sometimes lead to system replacement, driving revenue growth in the market. In addition, existing buildings undergoing renovation need to upgrade or replace existing systems to comply with current codes. The impact of codes on fire and life safety market revenue is expected to be high over the forecast period.

Asset Protection and Life Safety

A fire can have a devastating effect on a business and can cause major damage to the building, itself. Because of property damage and loss to structures, such as industrial plants, offices, and schools fire damage, can result in the loss of life and can negatively impact a business. In order to protect building occupants' assets and lives, building owners need to install adequate fire and life-safety systems.

It is critical for a building owner to install at least a basic fire detection and suppression system that ensures safety to both occupants and assets. The need for asset protection and life safety is, therefore, another crucial driver in the fire and life safety market. The impact of this driver is expected to remain high throughout the entire forecast period.

Environmental Concerns

Environmental concerns are a major driver for environmentally-friendly fire and life safety equipment. End users are concerned both with complying with the fire codes and choosing products that have least impact on the environment. The high global-warming potential of some of the gaseous fire suppression agents and the human exposure issues related to the use of carbon dioxide in occupied spaces has contributed to shift toward the use of alternative systems with agents that help reduce the impact on the environment.

The suppression market is moving away from agents that are harmful to the environment to clean agents. The market has witnessed a shift toward the use of FK agents, such as Novec, 1230 because these agents have zero ozone depletion potential and negligible global warming potential. Water mist suppression has also seen a recent surge in interest from end users, which is mainly because these systems consume less water, which promotes the green-environment concept. The impact of this driver on the life and safety market is expected to be medium in the short and medium terms and increase to high in the long term.

Report Scope

This study covers the state of the North American fire and life safety markets, examining drivers and restraints for growth, and discussing major trends. Following from these, market growth for market segments are forecasted. In addition, an in-depth analysis of the competitive landscape including vendors' market shares is performed.

The base year is 2010 with forecasts running through 2017. Revenue forecasts are provided. The market is divided into two segments including fire detection equipment and fire suppression equipment. These segments are further divided into sub-segments. The study also analysis the value chain.