The Summary of Fire Safety Requirements - Assignment Example

Insert your name here Year: 2008 Title: Fire Safety Requirements Report By: Michael Wacheke Date: 9th December 2008 The fire that started in a warehouse that was used for packing vegetables on Waterden Road, Stratford, Avon in Warwickshire left many people wondering about the fire safety measures that are put in many of the buildings both in London and in other parts of the world. This is because if all the fire safety regulations that are required were followed, the deaths of the four fire fighters would have been avoided and more property would have been saved. It took the combined efforts of 16 fire engines and 75 fire-fighters from West midlands, Herefordshire and Warwickshire to put out the fire. The blaze that started on a Friday evening burned most of the warehouse overnight before the fire-fighters could make a way into it through a door of the warehouse. Part of the building and the roof collapsed on that Saturday morning. The search of three of the fire-fighters took longer since the fire-fighters could not get a way into the warehouse and with the building burning for over 12 hours, questions lingered in the minds of many as to why there was no way the fire-fighters could make a way into the warehouse faster than they did (BBC News 2007). With fire safety in mind, many people have advocated for the change in the building structures in most parts of London and other parts of the world and at the forefront of advocating for fire safety in the design, use and management of buildings, has been the London Fire Brigade. A code of practice for the same was developed and this is meant to give the property developers a clear understanding of the fire safety measures that should be put in place while erecting a building. The code of practice includes a guide on the fire safety management and design for the disabled people. The fire safety changes apply to all buildings, alterations and extensions that are being built in present day and the implementation of the guidelines is mandatory (Waltham Forest). The major issues that are discussed in the fire safety requirements in the given official guidance document regarding the design and constructions of buildings include: Fire safety management – This should be the responsibility of every individual in the building and everybody plays their part in the management. The architectures and the designers of the building should include emergency exits in the building and the building managers should ensure that the material that makes these escape routes is strong enough to protect the people from the fire as they escape. This means that the fire escapes should be made of materials like concrete and other fire resistant material. When building, the building managers should consult the fire safety engineers and the fire risk consultants for their assessment and their opinions on the structures of the building regarding fire safety. Provision of means of escapes - These should be within reach from most parts of the building and this accessibility ensures that they will serve as a getaway for people in the building. They should be wide enough to accommodate many people at a go. Structural protection in the escape facilities should be enhanced by considering the material that is used for the escape facility. It should not be glass, plastic or any other material that is likely to be affected by a tremor and the fire temperatures. Structural stability of the building in the event of fire - This should be strongly enhanced by consulting the building engineers to ensure that the concrete blocks used to build are strong enough such that they can never give away under pressure. This prevents cases where the concrete blocks fall on the people whop are evacuating the rooms and this also hinders rescue efforts since removing the concrete block is a hard task while faced with a fire emergency. The provision of access and facilities for fire fighting – These are important since they could stop the fire before it catches up with most parts of the building. When there is fire fighting equipment on all the floors of a building, the people in the building could put out the fire at its early stages. The equipment could also be used to prevent further spread of the fire while the people are evacuating the building. Means of warning – These are the bells and the alarms that should be within reach such that when an individual sees a fire, they are able to hit the bell and warn the other people in the building. There could also be loud speaker systems in all the floors that could be used to alert people to evacuate a building. These means of warning should be situated within easy reach. Training of the staff is also a requirement in the guidance document that states that staff in a building should be taught fire fighting skills which they should use while they see a fire. The teaching should include safe ways of evacuating a building and control of panic and trauma (UK Government publication 2008) . The principles of fire safety that should be applied to single storey warehouses include: Supply of firefighting equipment that should be at strategic places in the building where the equipment is visible that will ensure faster reach and swift fire fighting. The performance expected in the requirements for compartmentation and the minimum standards for fire resistance state that all the compartmentation in a building should done in a way that all the doors are close to the fire escape. The material that should be used in partitions should be strong and fire resistant to prevent more spread of fire. The corridors should be wide enough to accommodate many people (All security Limited 2005). There have been other warehouse fire disasters and two examples of similar fire disasters include the Baltimore warehouse fire that was experienced on 9th May 2007 on Dillon and Grundy streets. It left two firefighters injured after being fought by 40 fire engines and 175 firefighters (Fire/Rescue news 2007). The other similar incident was the fire that broke out in an abandoned warehouse at Stamford where there were no injuries though the fire had spread to six other homes before it was controlled. This happened in November 2008 on Cedar Street. Contrary to the Stratford incident, the fires in these warehouses did not cause an overnight destruction and there was no crumbling of structures and roofs (Boston News 2008). The adequacy of the performance requirements included in the official guidance document is not enough to regulate most of the fire safety measures that have been implemented in most of the building in London and other places in the world. This is because the guidance document provides only for the building that are being built at the moment and the alterations that are taking place. They do not consider the building that have been in existence for many years and which do not comply with the safety measures that have been recommended in the guidance document. The document should make it mandatory for the old building to make adjustments for fire escape facilities and they should also install fire fighting equipment in the building. For the old building that cannot hold strong tremors, they should be brought down and rebuilt again from the start since they are hazards in case of fire as they concrete blocks can collapse causing deaths. References Boston news 2008, Stamford warehouse fire spreads to other building Available from http://www.boston.com/news/local/connecticut/articles/2008/11/16/stamford_warehouse_fire_spreads_to_other_buildings/ [9th December 2008] Fire/Rescue news 2007, 4 alarms fire breaks out at Baltimore warehouse available from http://cms.firehouse.com/web/online/News/4-Alarm-Fire-Breaks-Out-at-Baltimore-Warehouse/46$55274 [9th December 2008] U K government Publication 2006, Workplace fire Safety available from http://www.hse.gov.uk/fireandexplosion/workplace.htm [9th December 2008] Waltham Forest Building Regulations Summary available from http://www.walthamforest.gov.uk/index/environment/building-control/information-guide/building-control-summary.htm [9th December 2008] All security Limited 2005, Fire Safety Awareness available from http://www.allsecurityltd.co.uk/pages/Fire_Safety.html [9th December 2008] Sky news 2007, In Pictures: Warehouse fire Available from http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_pictures/7076420.stm [9th December 2008] Read More