Building Constructions against Fire Disaster - Term Paper Example

Name : xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Institution : xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Tutor : xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Title : Fires in Buildings Course : xxxxxxxxxxx @2011 Building Constructions against Fire Disaster Introduction In architecture and fields of civil engineering, building is viewed as a process of collecting or assembling infrastructure. Even though in most cases building is considered to be a single activity, large scale constructions contributes a lot to human beings achievements of multitasking. The job of building constructions is done and supervised by a design engineer, project architect or a construction manager and for their work to be effective they ensure that they have had proper planning in their projects. Those concerned with the execution and design of infrastructure have to consider the impacts that they make in the environment of the job, scheduling that are successful and budgeting for the materials that they require. Building constructions only become more effective when all the required materials are available since this makes building more convenient to the public and avoids possible chances of construction delays or bidding (Nelson, 2002). Types of Construction Projects There are several types of building construction projects but the most common ones are; Building constructions and Industrial constructions. Constructions are also categorized into three groups and these are such as; building constructions, civil/ heavy constructions and industrial constructions. For any construction project to be successful, it must have a unique to do the planning for it so as to have a construction that is well designed in order to maintain the building and construction project. Building Construction Building construction can also be defined as a process that involves adding structures to a property that is real. Most building projects tend to have renovations and this means that a building could be complete but only needs some changes to be added to it and these changes are such as adding a new room in the construction or repainting some walls in a given room in a building. This renovation is done in most cases where the house needs to be made to look newer than it was before or when the structure that it had initially wants to be maintained (Charles, 2008). When a building has been built and new rooms are also required to be added to it then this can also be referred to as renovation. In most cases the owner of such properties plays the role of both a laborer and a paymaster in the design team. All projects of construction have some similarities and these similarities are such as their design, legal and financial considerations. These are very important factors to consider when dealing with any given form of a building construction since there are a variety of building projects that needs to avoid reaching end results that are undesirable. When building construction is done without putting into consideration the end results that is expected then there are high chances of such buildings to collapse (Ken, 2009). The cost of constructing a building is also a very important factor to consider because when the cost is not affordable then it becomes hard for the design team to continue working on the project. The construction building project should be cost effective so as to make the project successful and this also implies that the financial constraints should be met in all possible ways. An effective construction building project requires having team members who are highly experienced in that field so as to have a positive outcome by the end of the project. There are very many methodologies of delivery that are used when it comes to building constructions both to the public and private procurement. These deliveries are inclusive of hard bids, prices that are negotiated, management contracting, and design and construction management among other delivery methodologies. Practices of residential construction, technologies and other related resources should also be able to conform to the authorities of local building and its codes of practice. Materials that are to be used in building constructions also dictate the final outcome of the building and this means it will depend on whether it is bricks versus timber or brick versus brick that has been used since this will affect the cost of construction and the condition of the sites. Homes that are custom designed are always believed to be more expensive than others but this depends more on how available the skilled trade’s people are. One of the most popular residential constructions in the United States is constructions that with wood framed. In the modern world there many effective codes that could be used in order to improve the performance in construction and also reduce the waste made on construction (Charles, 2008). Industrial Construction This is a very important element in the construction industry even though it is considered to be relatively small. The owners of building projects are very profitable and form the most industrial corporations in the modern world. Most of these corporations can be found in industries such as chemical, petroleum, power generation, medicine and manufacturing industries and so on. Much expertise is required in these industries especially in the planning, construction and design sector (Fred, 2009). For such projects to be successful, a team of individuals who are cooperative is required since they will ensure that all the necessary steps towards achieving the goals of the industry. Industrial construction is considered to be one of the most important sectors in construction building since it has high chances of affecting the environment. Construction Processes Most of the constructions that are put up in the modern world are those that involve translating designs that have been made into real structures and this is done through drawing the type of construction that is required and then built. A design team that is formal are assembled together in order to do the plan of the physical proceedings of construction and other parts associated with it. The designs are composed of specifications of the building and necessary drawings that has been prepared by the design team and this includes the civil engineers and the surveyors. The design team in most cases is employed under a contract with the owner of the property. The engineers that are involved in this sector come from different sectors since there are those who are mainly concerned with the structures, mechanical sectors, electrical and fire protection (Hughes, 2008). When such a project is seen to be beneficial, more bidders show up so that they are given a contract by the owner of the property but after going through the bill of quantities that is provided by the quantity surveyor then owner is able to decide who to give the contract although in most cases it is given to the bidder who seems tends to be cost effective. The trend that exists in modern design is that which is mainly focused on integrating specialties that were there among large firms in the previous years. In the previous years, companies for architects, developers, engineers and construction managers used to be viewed as separate companies entirely and this was also viewed with a similar perspective by large firms. For a building and construction firm to be successful in a competitive environment, it must have highly skilled personnel since there is high probability that they will work towards the success of the company. Through having highly skilled personnel then a building and construction firm is able to meet the necessary requirements of the company and is also able to make profits that it needs and improve on the performance specifications. Owners of a given building can also be supported by other project structures through having partnership that can offer services of design construction. Such good relationships between the team members in a building construction design and other architectures are very important because it contributes a lot to development in the modern world (Armpriest, 2009). Fire Disasters in the United Kingdom Catastrophic losses at process facilities have generally declined over the past five years as different companies in the world continue enhancing their risk management techniques in order to reduce possibilities of having a single incident of fire disaster. The loss data has indicated that most industries in the United Kingdom have proven to be experiencing less or fewer major losses in comparison to the previous years. Most of the incidents tend to take place during a non-typical operation when more knowledge, attention and experience are required from the personnel who are responsible for managing and maintaining the facilities. This means that the facilities can also be enhanced through identifying technical hazards and engineering to account for and eliminate concerns in the process of implementing safety management techniques in the United Kingdom. Most of the fire disasters that have taken place in the United Kingdom have been through poor management of safety facilities thus it is important for such fatality incidents to be avoided through effective management techniques. Most incidents of fire disaster occur due to lack of system integrity in the United Kingdom and through leaks and other mechanical failures. Sources of ignition tend to be more vulnerable due to local hot surfaces and the results are the inability to isolate fuel supplies away from the recipient event. More injuries may occur in an area where pipelines and other hazardous materials are not well kept or stored and this can also affect the process of management since such damages may not have occurred if the process of management was effective. Fire and explosions have been some of the unpredictable issues that affect life and business losses in most of the hydrocarbon and chemical industries in the modern world. These issues have existed in the developed countries like the United Kingdom since the middle of the past century and this has continued to increase with more reports that are being given after financial impacts have increased drastically and are highly visible. Most people tend to believe that there are accidents that cannot be prevented but this is not the case because when there is effective management of these vital incidents, they can be avoided. Some of the most common causes of fire incidents in the United Kingdom and other parts of the world are such as ignorance, economic considerations, unusual occurrences, oversight and negligence. One of the best ways of reducing fire disaster in most parts of the world is through ensuring that reliable risk analysis has been done and this is what should be done in the United Kingdom (Brian, 2004). Risk analysis is one of terms that are used in to explain the types of analytical techniques that can be used to evaluate occurrences that are hazardous in the society and taking all possible steps to reduce the incidents. Risk analysis is used to evaluate the consequences of incidents and other hazardous implications and these techniques can be categorized as either qualitative or quantitative and this depends on the level of the required examination. Fire Studies in Italy In large scale disasters such as fire and explosion where a certain community is overwhelmed, health care services are backed up by both national and regional resources depending on the magnitude of their needs. Fire disasters occur suddenly anywhere in the world thus there is need for steps to be taken towards avoiding them where possible. One of the most memorable incidents associated with fire disaster that took place in Italy was the one on March of 1999 where a Belgian truck that was carrying flour and margarine caught fire when it was 6.7 kilometers in the France-Italy direction (Botti, 2006). The fire spread very fast to other vehicles that was behind it and since the vehicles were in a tunnel, the disaster was worse because the fire spread in a way that all the remaining vehicles got burned and there was nothing that could be done even by fire fighters themselves since smoke had already filled the tunnel and the fire took two days to stop burning. Many properties were destroyed and many people died since the smoke was very toxic and the temperatures had reached a thousand degrees Celsius and the temperature was rising rapidly. In most cases such disasters take place when people are just seeing and they tend to assume that it is a mere accident only to realize that it has turned out to be a disaster. Fire fighters tried their level best to control the fire under the tunnel but it was not possible because by fifteen minutes most people had already died and it was not possible to save the divers even though the firefighters had come from both sides of the tunnel. Some of the things that got destroyed during this disaster were the tunnel roof, the ceramic tiles, safe refuges around the tunnel and the road pavement and several vehicles. From a critical analytic point of view, this fire disaster in Italy could have been avoided if only some factors associated with the tunnel could be considered such as the smoke from the truck (Dickie, 2002). The smoke from the truck could be considered since it prevented the victims from seeing what was happening under the tunnel it had affected their visibility through obscurity. The smoke was also of very high temperatures thus when trucks are put to pass through a tunnel while having smokes of high temperatures the drivers must ensure that the condition of the truck is good since it could turn to be disastrous. The space that cars pass in between the tunnel should also be enlarged so as to avoid congestion inside the tunnel which could be dangerous for the lives of the victims. The layers of the tunnel should also be made to be a little bit stronger. Finally, fire disasters can really affect the lives of many people in the modern world thus much has to be done in order to stop these occurrences in all possible ways. Through taking preventable measures it is possible to avoid and prevent such disasters from taking place in the modern world. Fire Studies and disasters in Spain One of the fire disasters that took place in Spain and cannot be easily forgotten is the explosion that took place in the Exxon Valdez spilled in Alaska while sinking in the Gulf of Mexico. The explosion was too powerful that it made Effective use of fire for fuel management in countries such as Spain is highly regarded due to the fact that more objectives are rising in some regions of the country. At a lower scale wild land fire is also used for the same purposes and this implies that there is much use of fire in Catalonia and Canary Islands. Fire is regarded as a very important thing in most parts of Spain thus there are regimes that have been set in order to deal with issues associated with fire and disaster. The country ensures that preventive measures are taken towards avoiding fire disasters and this is why regimes keep on being changed from time to time. The cost of fire management is also regulated from time to time in Spain while other measures are also taken towards effective fire use. Studies on fire disaster in Spain help individuals to know the effective measures to take towards controlling fire disaster and prevent the threat for biodiversity in fire management. The study on fire disaster in Spain has been made more effective through the implementations of regimes that mainly focus on fire losses, post-fire fire restoration, fire suppression and fire prevention expenditures. The country has established burning programs that also help it in controlling fire disaster and preventing it from taking place. Post-fire restoration is also a very important thing to consider when focusing on fire disaster programs and that is what Spain as a country has ensured. When fire disaster case is reported in the country, measures are taken the soonest possible so as to prevent more disaster and this is done through ensuring that the victims of fire disaster have been taken care of. The tanker exploded sending flames into the sky after spilling gallons of diesel fuel off the coast of Cape Cod. In the year 2002 another disaster of the sort happened at the coast of Spain which caused the worst environmental disaster in the history of Spain. A tanker known as the Prestige split into half and dumped about 69,000 tons of oil and almost 80% of the load that it had carried and the ship sank while dumping 125 tons of oil per day which polluted several miles of the coastline. With such events taking place in the modern world it is important for different countries to take emergency actions to counteract such disasters. This can be done through ensuring complete information on the weather conditions, the type of ship that is on board, the nature of the fire and other factors associated with the ship that is on board. Fire studies in Spain has ensured that all possible measures to avoid hazardous incidents associated with fire by ensuring that special fire extinguishing agents have been put in place so as to avoid fire disaster incidents. Fire Studies Disaster in Canada Fire studies in Canada tend to be a little bit different compared to other parts of the world because in Canada there are training centers on fire disaster in the country. Training is done for everybody to be aware of the dangers that fire disaster holds. One of the cases that took place in relation to fire studies in Canada is the one that took place near Philadelphia Airport and this was considered to be one of the most disastrous situations in the history of fire in Canada. Few departments of fire have the facilities and an organization to provide the training that is required to cope with major disasters that could occur in that country (Paul, 1999). The trainers are also required to be people with the capability to teach effectively both the theory and the practical part of the training. There are multiple ways of defining training as far as fire disaster is concerned and this depends on where it takes place and when it is done. The best approach to take towards ensuring that there is effective fire disaster training is through combining the disaster training together with the elements of education. A disaster plan that wants to be more adequate must incorporate the elements of both education and training. Some of the steps that have been taken towards fire disaster in Canada are such as introducing fire education in schools and establishing training schools in Canada and this is one of the best options that the country has taken. Giving fire disaster education to students and also trainings to adults in most cases ensures that everyone in the society is acquainted with knowledge on how to deal with disaster situations since anybody can be caught such a situation (Pyne, 2007). These trainings are very effective because they help people in the country to be prepared for any disaster that might occur in the future. Other countries all over the world need to emulate Canada since it has a very effective approach towards preventing disasters to do with fire. In most cases both the trainer and the trainee tend to have different experiences thus a country like Canada that has disaster training makes it easy for people in the society to share their differentiated experiences towards solving fire disaster issues (Brian, 2004). Most people learn and act on decisions that they make through their past experiences and this means that when someone has added knowledge to the experience that already have, it becomes very easy for them to gain more knowledge and experience and this makes the training effective. Finally, fire studies in Canada stands out to be one of the best examples of fire studies since it has more effective approaches towards counteracting fire disaster in the community and this means that such incidents are going to be very minimal in countries that will implement this strategy. Other countries should also emulate Canada in establishing fire departments that are affordable for everybody in the society to gain access to the services provided (Paul, 1999). Strategies of design for fire safety There are many strategies that can be taken towards coming up with an effective design for fire safety in storages within a given building. When an architect is coming up with a strategy for a building, He should ensure that there is well planned and enough space for storing other properties. The design team can also play a big role in ensuring that fuel hazards within the building are well place so as to avoid and prevent any chances of explosion or reducing possibilities of a fire disaster to take place in the building (Britain, 2006). The maintenance manual of that building should also entail having limited misuse of space so as not to ensure that there is separation of life risks and fuel. A good designer should ensure that the building has been built strategically to avoid and prevent chances of any fire disaster incidents and this means that the house should be in a way that fire containment is provided and other fire resistance that is necessary for structural elements and sizes of compartments that are large. Fire Safety Management Larger buildings do not just require a simple maintenance plan in order to manage fire safety. Architects who want to be effective in their work in the society should ensure that the strategy that they have taken is good enough to control and manage fire safety in their country by preparing a strategy for the building as soon as it is occupied. The design team should also be in a position to come up with a very effective documentation that will help them make decisions that will help them to maintain ignition prevention and fuel limitation (Gustin, 2008). One of the steps towards ensuring there is fire safety in a building is through installing fire extinguishers in the building and also positioning the rooms in that room in a way that fire disasters can be detected before they actually happen. Such strategy also extends the considerations of fire prevention to include fire safety management while including communication, containment, escape and extinguishment. Buildings such as hospitals, large offices and shopping centers need to have fire strategies that will ensure that there is safety since there are usually a big number of people in those buildings. Security is a very important thing thus people living in whichever building they always want to be ensured that all their activities will take place safely thus it is always good to implement strategies that truly provide safety. An effective fire safety strategy sets out both normal safety procedures for a given building and the action that is required to be taken in the event of fire (Philip, 2007). The normal safety procedures make the maintenance schedules much broader into a program for full and regular fire safety audits of a given building as the safety systems and some other components are reviewed regularly. All large buildings should be well modified and altered in a way that any changes found can be adapted. An effective fire safety management should ensure that all the risks that are detected are solved on immediate effects so as to avoid any problems both in the present and in the near future. The management should also ensure that the audits are updated with the most recent risks that have been seen since correcting them earlier enough is better than focusing on it when it is much later. The fire safety management should also maximize on the training of its staff so as to have better performance in fire safety management and this should be done in relation to the responsibilities that each member of the staff has been given to carry out. The training of the staff should include methods of preventing fire disasters, firefighting and fire evacuation since implementation of all these is what helps in fire safety (Gustin, 2008). The staff should be well trained so as to face any challenges that they come across just in case fire occurs thus they should be trained in all possible areas of fire safety management. The management should also be in a position to take possible actions just in the case of an ignition occurrence and this also means that the designing team should also be in a position to partake in the pre-planning action. The management should operate in a way that each member has been given duties and responsibilities to carry out and this is what should be included in the training package for fire emergency. After maximizing on the measures and chances that can be taken by an architect to prevent fire it is good that the management understands that there is no tactic that can be hundred percent effective since ignition will be bound to occur eventually. Communication is a very important thing so that when fire breaks out anywhere it is possible for firefighters to be communicated the soonest so as to prevent more damages from taking place and that providing a solution to such an event becomes easier and more effective (Britain, 2006). When an action has been taken as soon as an ignition has been detected, to mitigate the consequences becomes quite easier and the possibilities of success become greater. Once fire outbreak is communicated, the location where it has taken place should be surrounded soon enough so as to provide fire services to them. The communication ensures that evacuation of people in the area has taken place immediately and the houses have been cleared so as to ensure that lives are not lost and this can be done through automated response such as an active system for controlling smoke and closing fire doors among other responses (Paul, 1999). Designers of a building should also include a very effective communication system in the house that will help prevent fire at any possible cost. The designers of an effective fire safety system should ensure that their work has surrounded both life safety and safety of properties within the building which they are operating. The communication systems should not be thought as an isolated piece of engineering but as a whole package in the mitigation of plan of fire safety. Some systems may be regarded as both property protection and life safety rather thinking of the as separate systems. Systems of fire detection always identify fire products and this can be done in very many different ways. For human beings this can be done through smelling or through sound and for a detector that is automatic it is done through light, smoke and heat and other turbulence movements. Human beings happen to be the most effective fire detectors owing to the fact that they can smell it and also see smokes of fire. A designer can make positive contributions to fire and safety especially when the circulation routes and types of accommodation involved are viable (Gustin, 2008). After an architect has detected fire through both smell and sight, it becomes easy for an action to be taken the soonest possible since this will make safety plans more effective. Though such surveillance it is easy to detect fire in advance and to prevent it before enough damage has been caused. Some of the most important places for surveillance to be put are such as the nursing houses of elderly people in the society, warehouses of supervisors and in hospital wards (Council, 1972). It is also very important for designers to ensure that the place in which they have put surveillance does not have any circulation that is only used for victims to escape and that the place should not be deserted at all. One of the things that fire safety training maximizes on raising an alarm call as soon as fire has been detected anywhere even though one of the most difficult things to do is to convince people to fight fire or just leave a building under fire. The call points for fire take the form of a red box and a clear plastic sheet. A good and effective fire safety strategy should ensure that it has contributed to issues associated with fire the soonest possible and eliminate any other potential source of fire. Manual detection can only be considered of value when the building is occupied and installing fire detection in such buildings is a nice idea since it provides a good ground for covering at night (Philip, 2007). Some places that also need an effective fire safety strategy are such as restaurants, public houses and restaurants and in such places it is advisable to install call points where all the members can have access. The decision behind such a design should ensure that they have done that under the fire safety policy so that the procedures for establishment are done legally. Detecting fire is one thing and interpreting the signals is another since various devices can be used to give fire condition signals whereas a manual call point is just a simple switch that can be used to give signals after they have been released. Detection devices can also be used in order to measure the level of smoke and temperature (Charles, 2005). Signal detectors that work in this manner are termed as conventional in most cases thus installing them can also be effective as far as fire safety management is concerned. While taking into consideration the environmental constrains on a building it is good advisable to establish a fire and safety strategy that will suit the environment. If the building is in the middle of an industrial town then it should be built where the roads to the location is viable in all possible ways so as to reduce chances of people dying due to fire disaster before firefighters have arrived. It is also a nice idea to ensure that the fire safety systems that are put in place correspond with the environment in which they have been put. Fire safety management should also be able to utilize cost effective fire safety systems and this means that they should consider the cost of implementing the systems. When fire safety management plans are to be implemented in a certain area, it is always good to know the economic stability of people in that area since this can help them also make effective plans and budget well (Britain, 2006). Systems that are to be installed in an environment where the living standards of people is not very high should also be considerate since the cost can also affect people from acquiring the services that they need in the society. The type of the building should also be considered by the architects since when the building is big then there is more involvement in the installation process as compared to when it is small in size. Firefighting is easier done on a small sized building as compared to a bigger one and this means that they systems used should more powerful than the ordinary one. There are very many advantages of using modern sustainable in fire safety strategy because this is done faster as compared to traditional methods. Using carbon management strategies is also very important in an industrial building. Finally, it is good to implement fire strategic management that is very effective and can easily prevent fire disaster from taking place before it is too late and the best agents to use are Halons fire safety management agents. References Brian, W (2004). Browsing science research at the federal level in Canada: history, research activities and publications. Canada, University of Toronto Press Botti, C (2006). Intelligent data engineering and automated learning--IDEAL 2006: 7th international conference, Burgos, Spain, September 20-23, 2006: proceedings. Publisher Springer Charles, W (2005). Fire retardancy of polymers: new applications of mineral fillers. Publisher Royal Society of Chemistry Dickie, J (2002). Disastro!: disasters in Italy since 1860: culture, politics, society. New York, Publisher Palgrave Macmillan Gustin, J (2008). Safety Management: A Guide for Facility Managers. 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