Fire Safety and Carbon Emission - Case Study Example

Fire Safety and Carbon Emission Name Institution Date Course Fire Safety and Carbon Emission Part 1: Fire Incident at an Aerosol Storage Warehouse - Stiller Warehousing and Distribution Depot – on 5th Nov 2010 The fire and explosion incident occurred at a Top Tier Seveso site that is operated by an established warehouse and transportation company in the UK. The company served as a UK distribution centre for a big EU manufacturer of liquid hair, anti-perspirant aerosols and shampoos. The accident occurred at the company’s warehouse which contained about 4,000 pallets of aerosol; typical aerosol composition at the facility was LPG/Ethanol 60/40 %w/w. Also contained were similar number of pallets of liquid hair colourings and shampoos in plastic containers. The fire started around midday, a day when the warehouse and the entire site was fully operational. The fire service had attended after a few minutes but by this time, the warehouse was well alight already and in a few more minutes, it had burned to the ground. CCTV records and witnesses reports showed that the warehouse was smoke logged extremely rapidly once the fire started. Also heard were two large explosions which blew off a portion of the roof and shook cameras installed on neighbouring buildings. Water was used to cool surrounding buildings in an effort to prevent the spread of fire to these buildings. Such cooling was not used on the burning building since the fire service understood properly the extent of the spread of the fire and this was already beyond the point where extinguishment was a possibility. The controlled use of water avoided large scale dispersal of environmentally damaging detergents and products into the surrounding rivers. Cause of the fire Several witnesses confirmed the location of ignition of the fire. They observed a small flame at the ground level on a full pallet of aerosol. Since this pallet was not close to any lighting point or fixed electrical equipment, it was unlikely that these were the ignition sources. The possible cause was found to be the fork lift trucks used in the facility. First, these trucks are not suitable for use in places where there is high risk of a flammable gas cloud. The motor brushes as well as other high current contactors regularly produce highly incendiary sparks. Since these sparking components are not fully covered, flammable gas around the truck could easily come into contact with the sparking components and result into ignition. The Fire Service eliminated possibilities of arson and smoking, as the source of the fire and convincingly agreed that the truck was the most probable cause of the fire. The nature of the ignition also suggests that there was spilled liquid within the pallet. Fire Safety Engineering Issues on the Case Regulations for fire safety in such chemical storage warehouses include several guidelines that aim at minimizing the spread of the fire, enabling easy escape routes and enhancing smoke ventilation. The warehouse for this case was designed as an empty hall where packaged products are stored. This was a major design failure since any fires within the facility is able to easily spread to all the corners of the house. As Hietaniemi and Mikkola (1996) point out, the warehouse building is supposed to be divided into compartments using internal walls. This must be done given that in these facilities, fire loads are readily high. This compartmentation must also be done to agree with the national legislation. The fact that the entire building came down in minutes clearly indicates that the structure itself was not fire resistant. Regulations require that for the framework, reinforced concrete should be preferred instead of unprotected steel frames. Those steel members baring load should be protected against heat, e.g. by using sprayed insulation. The internal wall divisions should themselves be fire resistant to able to prevent the spread of fire and should have a resistance of 90 minutes or more. Such materials provide sufficient structural strength and solidity and include solid brick and concrete. Openings for cabling, etc. should not be made on these walls while the doors must be fire resistant. Escape routes that could be used to access place of safety should be provided on every location of the building. In large warehouses, several exits should be available other than the main entrance. It is important to ensure that for anyone within the building, the nearest exit is not more than 30 m. These exists need to be clearly marked and at any time of operation of the warehouse, they should not be blocked. In case of a fire, design arrangements must be made to ensure adequate smoke and heat relief. There should be a ventilation opening on the roof of the warehouse, one which should be at least 2% of the floor area. The need for these panels to be open in case of a fire may mean that they remain permanently open or get opened automatically. Great concern in chemical warehouses is the damage caused by pollution of water-ways that are located around the facility. This pollution can be minimised or totally avoided by having an equipment to retain any spills and fire-fighting water. To permit installation of affordable and smaller water container, the system should be built with alarm systems and automatic suppression systems within the warehouse. Further reduction of the water requirements can be realised by installing a water mist system instead of the sprinkler system. As was the case for the case, in extreme cases, it is advisable to minimise impact on the environment by allowing the warehouse burn freely while efforts are focused on protecting the surrounding buildings (Hietaniemi & Mikkola, 1996). Recommendations The case exposes several shortcomings in the prevention requirements as well as fires suppression system. There should be installed a system that emphasises prevention of spread of the fire by all means. The use of fire resistant external perimeter as well as dividing walls that contain the fire close to the ignition point should have been priority. To effectively keep fire effects and destruction to a minimum, the warehouse should be constructed with automatic suppression system that will turn to action the moment any heating is detected. The facility had an alarm system that alerted other employees on the danger of fire. While this was beneficial, it was difficult to fight the fire due to the speed with which smoke accumulated in the warehouse. The warehouse should have efficient ventilations on the roof which should either remain open or automatically open and direct smoke to the outside. Part 2: Low carbon emissions building with a BREEAM ‘Excellent’ rating. The carbon footprint of an on-site house construction calculation may be considered under construction, energy performance and maintenance (Heinonen et al, 2011). When constructing a building, it is important to consider the material and product requirements, contingency ordering, over-ordering and waste. Of greater importance is the understanding that different materials exhibit considerable variation in their emissions of carbon dioxide. For Aluminium, one tonne emits approximately 6 times higher than one tonne of steel. A good way to start for the storey building is to extensively use steel and minimize the use of aluminium in its construction. As Heinonen et al (2011) says, it is important to enhance the energy efficiency of the building and finding the significance of temporal allocation of emissions. The carbon effective buildings have the potential of reducing the inhabitants’ use phase as compared to the use phase emissions that is experienced within the average housing stock. While reducing use-phase carbon emission is important, efforts for its reduction on construction phase are also significant, to minimize the construction phase emission, the building would be designed to take as little building materials as possible. This directly reduces the emission since the sources of the emission have been reduced. The second effort would be to ensure that the materials used are low carbon intensity materials as opposed to the high carbon intensity materials. Again, the energy used during the construction can be replaced with one which is a low carbon alternative. Researchers have found out that concrete and steel when combined account for about 19% of construction phase carbon emissions (Heinonen et al, 2011). When they are replaced by wood up to 50%, this emission reduces to about 10%. While 50 % is too large a percentage to reduce for the 10 storey building, great effort would be made to replace as much as will be possible (about 10%). To further reduce emissions, I would ensure that the building does not consume much energy, but reduce its consumptions to about 50kWh/m2 . The reduction could be further achieved by ensuring that there was more use of renewable fuels within the facility, about 30 % of the total energy requirements of the building. While running the project, best practice efforts would be directed to ensuring efficient energy use and minimum carbon dioxide emission, sound management by observing policy and requirements for proper commissioning, procurement and site management. The site would be run with minimum noise, and reduced impact on air, light and personal wellbeing. Efficiency will also be enhanced by minimizing wastages in resources and time, proper land use with strict adherence to requirement for environmental conservation and enhancement of the site. The fire protection efforts in the building would employ passive and active protection. The building would be designed with effective natural and mechanical smoke ventilation systems that would greatly increase chances of occupants to escape the building in the event of a fire. As Sicherheitssysteme (2009) points out, these systems would prevent smoke filling up the rooms and reducing the chances of occupants escaping. Also installed would be detection and warning systems in the building. There would be installed on independent mains-wired smoke detectors within the hallway, outside the kitchens, and immediately inside the hallways front entrance. This will be linked to a general fire alarm system that would sound warning sounds for all the floors. Fire extinguishers would also be provided at each floor and on strategic points along the hallway (Barlow, 2012). Conclusion and recommendations As has been seen in the discussion above, fire safety is very important. The UK has managed to ensure that buildings constructed observe regulation and standards that have been laid down to guide fire protection. Different building facilities have specific requirements that must be followed to ensure safety of occupants. While fire protection has attracted concern from the government, the government has also become concerned by the level of emissions from buildings as carbon levels continue to increase in the atmosphere. Builders should therefore, take these considerations and build structures that will be safe and with low carbon emissions. The choice of the right construction materials will affect both the fire protection and carbon emission. This therefore remains a great factor for builders and one which will determine whether or not the country will achieve its objects. Builders must again realise that fulfilling the regulations is not enough; fire protection will need continued care and assessment of the structures to ensure that they remain in proper shape. List of References Barrett J & Wiedmann T, 2007, A Comparative Carbon Footprint Analysis of On-Site Construction and an Off-Site Manufactured House, York: Stockholm Environment Institute. Barlow S, 2012, Guide to BREEAM, London: Riba publishing Heinonen J., Säynäjoki A. & Junnila S, 2011, A Longitudinal Study on the Carbon Emissions of a New Residential Development, Sustainability; 3, 1170-1189. Hietaniemi J. & Mikkola E, 1997, Minimising fire risks at chemical storage facilities. Basis for the guidelines for safety engineers. Technical Research Centre of Finland, VTT Tiedotteita – Meddelanden – Research Notes 1811. 32 p. + app. 16 p. Malhotra HL, 1993, Proposed code for Fire Safety in Buildings for the State of Sao Paulo. Sao Paulo: British Consulate. Sicherheitssysteme F, 2009, Maintenance of smoke and heat ventilation systems: Preventive fire protection ; legal aspects ; economic aspects ; maintenance and service. Frankfurt, M: ZVEI, Specialist Group for Electrically Driven Smoke Ventilation and Natural Ventilation. International code council, 2007, International Building Code 2006, New Jersey Edition, New Jersey: International code council, Inc. Read More