Industrial fires are associated with many challenges and potentially large consequencesfor life, environment and property. The SEBRA project aimed to investigate preconditionsfor a well-functioning fire safety system, applying a systems perspective on workand safety. Three main themes were explored through field work on Swedish industrialworkplaces; (1) How do operations and the staff interact with fire safety installations ineveryday work, (2) What is the main focus of fire safety design, how is it conducted andhow do the end results affect fire safety and (3) What are the success factors behind positiveoutcomes from incidents where the personnel alone has dealt with fires.During the course of operations conflicts may occur between production and fire safetysolutions e.g. fire doors, detectors, alarm systems and procedures, sometimes to thepoint where fire protective routines or installations are bypassed. A common answer tosuch issues is to strengthen administrative barriers such as rules, safety information andtraining. However, in an industrial organization where resources are already strained,even more checks and routines will only run the risk of aggravating the problem at hand.When an industrial building is constructed there are no processes or methods that canprotect user needs in the design of fire protection. In construction, the main incitementis to minimize cost. When user adaptation is disregarded, costs are effectively transferredto the operational stage in the forms of more inefficient production and lower safety levels.The industry needs to develop ways of understanding and incorporating long-term operativeneeds in short-term construction projects, so that fire protection can be moreclosely fitted to the circumstances and demands of operative personnel