CEO TALK: Beyond the checklist: Why fire engineering is becoming a boardroom issue

Fire safety has long been treated as a late-stage requirement — something to satisfy approvals before a project moves forward. But Shaikh (Eng) Ahmed Saeed Hassan Bait Saeed, CEO of Ahmed Saeed for Engineering Consultancy, argues the conversation is shifting: fire engineering is increasingly tied to investor confidence, insurer expectations and the long-term value of assets in Oman’s fast-evolving built environment.
In an interview with the Observer, Shaikh (Eng) Ahmed Saeed framed fire safety as a “quiet enabler” of development — supporting safer hotels for tourism, safer factories for industry and safer public buildings for everyday life. As projects become larger and more complex, he said, fire engineering must be treated as part of city resilience, not a checklist item added at the end.
That shift is not only about safety. It is also about delivery certainty. When fire engineering is brought in early, it can reduce redesign, avoid last-minute changes and support smoother approval pathways — practical outcomes developers understand immediately, especially as timelines and financing costs tighten.
Shaikh (Eng) Ahmed Saeed traces his professional direction to an early realisation: safety decisions outlive the drawings. He recalled working on projects where fire safety was treated as a final requirement rather than a design responsibility — an experience that pushed him to specialise in a field where engineering protects people, not just structures.
That same philosophy later shaped the company’s mission. He said the gap was rarely in regulations themselves, but in how projects approached them. Too many teams focus on passing inspections while overlooking how buildings operate under real-world conditions. His aim, he said, was to work with architects, developers and authorities from the start — using engineering judgement rather than relying solely on checklists.
Building a specialised consultancy in a highly regulated space came with one central test: trust. Fire safety decisions affect cost, approvals and timelines, which makes clients naturally cautious — particularly when recommendations require changes to design assumptions already embedded in budgets and drawings.
He said the challenge is to prove that good fire engineering should not delay projects — it should improve them. For him, the standard is simple: maintain technical rigour while communicating solutions clearly for non-engineers, so decisions remain practical and deliverable on site.
Shaikh (Eng) Ahmed Saeed believes fire safety is moving into the same strategic category as structural integrity, ESG performance and operational continuity. The logic, he argued, is straightforward: early fire-safety thinking protects both lives and asset value. Investors and insurers are increasingly focused on risk, not just returns — and confidence has economic value.
A well-designed safety strategy, he noted, supports occupancy confidence, reduces disruption risk and strengthens the reputation of owners and developers. “Safety is part of quality”, he said in effect — and quality sustains value over a building’s life cycle.
Asked about Oman’s priorities, Shaikh (Eng) Ahmed Saeed linked fire engineering directly to national outcomes. Safer hotels support tourism expansion. Safer factories strengthen industrial growth. Safer public buildings protect productivity and community life. The work may be invisible to most occupants, he said, but its impact is measurable in resilience and continuity.
His point is not to make fire risk a constant public conversation — but to design it out so effectively that people can live, work and invest safely without thinking about it at all.
He pointed to two major shifts: the rise of performance-based design and the growing role of digital tools. Fire and evacuation scenarios can now be simulated more precisely, enabling better design decisions and more efficient solutions. In parallel, fire systems are becoming smarter and more integrated with building management platforms — raising expectations for coordination, commissioning and operational readiness.
For young Omanis entering safety-critical disciplines, Shaikh (Eng) Ahmed Saeed’s message is grounded: specialise, keep learning and treat responsibility seriously. The work may not always be visible, but it is always necessary — and engineers in this space carry a form of quiet leadership that directly serves society.
He said he is encouraged by a market-wide mindset change: more clients are involving fire engineers earlier, asking better questions and recognising safety as part of quality design rather than a late-stage obstacle. If that trend continues, he believes standards across Oman’s built environment will rise — supporting development that is not only faster and larger, but also safer and more resilient.