Most indoor structures, tunnels and off-shore structures should be designed for fire, which usually means that steel structures are protected by insulating plaster, mineral wool or intumescing paint, and traditional concrete structures are over-sized or protected by mineral wool. Especially if a high-strength concrete is applied, it has to be protected for explosive spalling caused by high pressure of steam in the dense material.
Light-weight concrete of a super-light structure can be made very fire resistant and is capable of protecting the strong skeleton. If the skeleton is made of high-strength concrete, it is sufficient to apply 60 mm light-aggregate concrete protection of density 600 kg/m3 in order to protect it from most fires.
Light-weight concrete is capable of absorbing energy from mechanical impact and deformations. This is the reason why the materials have proved to be beneficial for crash barriers. Super-light structures are therefore capable of damping the effect of impact and shakings from explosions and earthquakes increasing the safety for people in buildings made from it.