Fire Safety and Prevention in Construction - Research Paper Example

Fire Safety and Prevention in Construction In the pre industrialization periods, building homes was done by residents of that community or society. Nowadays, the job of building homes and houses in general is done by builders, and then they are put on sale to interested parties to buy them. The styles that were used for building homes were acquired from the readily available material while in the current world, the building styles originate from the architectural styles that are acquired from architects to the builders. This change in who is supposed to build houses has transformed the creation of making lasting assets and getting quick profits. The building industry is currently profit driven. Contractors aiming at increasing profits are struggling to reduce the construction costs and the price of the building materials that are used in construction. They have also increased their knowledge by specializing on the different sectors of the building. This change has also led to change in the materials that are used in the building sector. Nowadays materials such as glass, metal, foam and even plastic are being used in the construction sector. This is quite different from the materials that were being used long ago which included clay and thatch (Dickinson, 2004). Along with the change of these building materials, industrialization has seen the stick frame building rise and the use of cheap fuels. The provision of cheap lumber and other cheap construction materials has resulted in the offering of high profits to the contractors. As the building materials changed, so did the principles of thermal and solar utilization. Today there is a forced heating and cooling that has established the standard of the American construction (Potter, 2003). The green builders use the ancient principles that included the rammed earth construction and the straw bale construction where they kept the pas building principles. Although, these builders are exceedingly little today, this is because; this process needed a lot of attention, and labor to enable robust construction of the buildings so that they last long. This has made it exceedingly difficult for most American home owners to acquire these kinds of homes. The technology that is being utilized today uses the ancient thermodynamic construction principles in a different system. They use few materials and less construction time. This process is straightforward to implement for the contractors. This technology ensures that homes that are built are able to regulate themselves in heat and cold times they are able to produce both types of temperatures in houses. This ensures that the houses are kept safe, and the temperature in the houses is safe enough for people to live in (Dickinson, 2004). Several years ago, American cities were faced with the challenge of urban fires. Most cities were victims to fires and neighborhoods suffered the ignited fires that would take everything away including lives of people. This fire threat is still common with people in the society today. The American government has done its best to minimize risk and the severity of the losses that the fires cause. The government is trying its best to prevent the fires from spreading when they start. This is being done by states starting to enforce rules and standards that should be used when constructing houses so that the houses are able to control the fire from spreading in the case of a fire outbreak. The frequency and the severity of fires in the united states of America do not come as a result of the lack of know how about fire or the lack of knowledge about the means of preventing the fires or any types of suppression. The fire problem is as a result of the contractors and society in general failing to apply the methods and be able to fund the fire reduction strategies. On the other hand, the responsibility of the fire departments should be extended beyond the ancient fire hazard. A recommendation like the application of the sprinkler technology in commercial buildings should be enforced. The sprinklers help in reducing the fires in case they happen and they can be able to put out these fires. Installing fire alarms in houses will lead to reduction of loss of lives. Construction companies should ensure that the smoke alarms are fully functional and that they are put strategically where the fires might break out. This will safe guard people who are in the building from these fires and the severity of losses will be lessened. The construction companies should be made aware of importance to build fire resistant houses. This will motivate them to put up structures that will be strong enough to be able to resist fires and stop the fires from spreading to large areas (Dickinson, 2004). The fire safety act states that every apartment house should be protected from these fires. The houses, more so the residential houses should be reinforced against fire incidences. The houses should be built and installed with fire extinguishers. This installation should be inspected by the fire marshal and then be certified for accommodation. All types of commercial houses should be installed with the fire extinguishers and also be certified after inspection by the federal fire marshal. When building houses, they should be able to comply with the building codes of their respective states. For example, in the Kansas City, a building will comply with the state rules if the building complies with the following building codes: it must be given the certificate of occupancy and make sure that the certificate states of any special need for the building to be occupied. The building of schools and public institutions should be done in so that they are made fire proof. This will include reducing the risk of fires completely, installing all types of fire prevention measures and ensuring that the neighborhoods of the schools are also protected against these fires. The fire marshals should then investigate the installation of the fire protection installation and certify when satisfied that the children who will be studying in the schools will be safe from any kinds of fire tragedies. The school fire alarms should be fully functional to avoid the confusion when a case of fire outbreak occurs (Shear, 2010). Fire protection engineers take part in the designing of new houses and buildings. They assist in the rehabilitation of the existing houses and in the inspection of the safety of these existing houses. These engineers provide their services in the evaluation of the construction and installation of the fire protection gadgets and features. These engineers are given the opportunity to ensure that they can address the fire protection problem when designing houses. They have to consider the emergency personnel that will respond to the fires and create an access to them. Statistics has shown the causes of fires in buildings that are under construction. The open flame or torches that are used in the construction sites causes like twenty percent of the fires the heating machinery causes like ten percent of the fires, and thirty percent of the fires is caused by suspicious forms of fire. Considerations of fire safety that addresses these common causes mostly include better housekeeping and security in the construction sites should be kept tight. This will ensure that there are no suspicious acts in the fires and that people work well while taking care of their machinery and equipment well (Boyer, 2001). Buildings that are usually under rehabilitation and under construction provide difficulty when dealing with fires. This is because; their fire resistance in the structure and the protection of the membrane may not yet be completed. The fire in these types of buildings may increase their severity since the kind of housekeeping may be of low quality. The fire protection systems may not be functioning properly, or they may not be installed already (Boyer, 2001). A moral example that has lead to the changes of fire safety and prevention in the United States is whereby the construction of a large building is ongoing. The building is supposed to be occupied in the near future, and contractors are just painting the building. Then one person who is smoking outside the building throws the end part of the cigarette in to the house. The wet paint then catches the smoke, and this starts an immense fire in the building. The contractors had not yet installed the fire prevention equipment like the smoke detectors and the sprinklers. This fire will destroy the building and even the lives of the people who were busy working in the building. These kinds of incidences have caused people and contractors to change the way they build the house and start being keen on fire prevention measures. Forensic engineering is the method of applying the methodologies and principles of engineering to find out the cause of a performance problem or why a fire broke out in the building. Construction in underground surfaces involves several risks (Neale, 2001). Many of these risks are varied from the unknown geological materials that are underneath the building. There might be explosive gases under the building, and further construction may result in to fires. Forensic engineering will determine these problems, and then the contractors will find a way to go about this problem and ensure that the gases or the fires that could be caused by placing a building in that area are minimized and eliminated (Carper, 2001). REFERENCES Blakely, E. J. N. G. (2009). Planning local economic development: theory and practice. New Jersey: SAGE. Read More