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Civil Defense Approval in Saudi Arabia: From Design to Safety Certificate
Many project teams treat Civil Defense approval as an administrative step at the end of construction, then discover that what is holding them up is an engineering decision taken months earlier: a travel distance, a cramped pump room, or a system installed differently from the approved drawings. Approval really begins with the first drawing, and the teams that prepare the file early move fastest.
This article sets out the difference between two tracks that are often confused, what each one requires, why approvals are delayed, and how to shorten the process.
Two different tracks: design approval and the safety licence
The first track is approval of the fire protection design during design and construction. Its purpose is to show that what will be built complies with the Saudi Building Code and the adopted standards. It ends with approved drawings and then a site inspection of what was installed.
The second track is the safety licence for operating the facility, issued online through the Salama portal of the General Directorate of Civil Defense. Its purpose is to confirm that an existing facility is equipped and fit to operate, and it repeats at each renewal.
Confusing the two is a common source of surprises: a project can hold a design approval and still stall on the operating licence because of a missing operational document, or the other way round.
Track one: what is submitted for design approval
- Fire safety drawings: escape routes and exits, compartmentation, and the layout of detection and suppression systems.
- The fire safety strategy report and a compliance statement linking each requirement to the design feature meeting it.
- System calculations: hydraulic calculations for water networks and sprinklers, detection and coverage, and battery standby.
- Equipment specifications and certificates, and the operating sequence between systems.
- Supporting engineering studies where an alternative solution is used, such as performance-based design and its simulation results.
Review and comments follow, the package is resubmitted once they are addressed, and after installation a site inspection checks that what was built matches what was approved.
Track two: the safety licence through the Salama portal
Applications are filed online through the Salama portal, usually from the establishment's own account. The steps published on the portal are: sign in, enter the establishment and activity details, upload the documents that activity requires, pay the fees, then wait for the reviewer's approval and print the licence.
The documents the portal commonly lists include the commercial or industrial registration, the building licence, a site sketch, the lease or proof of ownership, a valid maintenance contract for the safety systems, a lift maintenance contract where lifts exist, the insurance policy, and any previous Civil Defense permit.
Both the documents and the route differ with the activity and its risk level: some activities are completed through a simplified path, while higher-risk facilities go through a site visit and additional requirements. The reference is what the portal shows for your specific activity, since these lists change.
Why approvals get delayed
- The code basis was never fixed: which edition, and whose standards the design followed.
- Packages that contradict each other: architectural drawings that do not match the systems drawings, or an old report issued with new drawings.
- Missing or unsigned calculations, or equipment specifications without certificates.
- Site changes during construction that were never documented or approved before the inspection.
- Comments answered only partly, which restarts the review cycle.
- Expired operational documents: a maintenance contract, an insurance policy or a municipal licence.
How to shorten the process
- Fix the code basis in writing in the first design package, and revisit it whenever something changes.
- Raise contentious items early in a technical meeting, and record what is agreed.
- Keep a comment register for every submission: the comment, the response, the reference and its status.
- Reconcile what was built against what was approved before requesting the inspection, not after.
- Collect the operational documents before they expire, and start renewals early.
- Give one party ownership of the file, so responses are not split between contractor, consultant and owner.
How Three Edges can help
Three Edges runs the whole approval file through coordination and authority submissions, including:
- Preparing the submission package and checking it is consistent before it is sent.
- Settling code compliance and preparing the compliance statement.
- Producing the fire safety plans in the form required for approval and operation.
- Answering comments and tracking them to closure, and attending the technical meetings.
Frequently asked questions
When should the approval file start?
At concept design. The decisions behind most comments — exits, compartmentation and the location of technical rooms — are made at that stage, and fixing them later costs far more.
What is the difference between design approval and the safety certificate?
Design approval covers what will be built and is granted during the project; the safety licence covers operating the finished facility and is renewed periodically. A project needs both, at different times.
Who files the application, the owner or the consultant?
The portal account belongs to the establishment or the owner, but preparing the technical documents and answering comments is engineering work. In practice the consultant owns the technical content and the owner files as the account holder.
Do we need a licensed safety company?
Some routes require technical reports or maintenance contracts from licensed providers, and this varies by activity. Check what your activity requires on the portal before signing anything.
Do you have an approval file that has stalled, or a project about to be submitted? Ask for a review of the submission package before it goes out: most extra review cycles can be avoided.
