A Project to Develop Ways of Getting More Sprinklers into the Homes of Those Most at Risk of Fires - Assignment Example

A project to develop ways of getting more sprinklers into the homes of those most at risk of fires Table of Contents Contents Contents 2 1. Aim The aim of this project is to enhance community safety by encouraging installation of sprinklers in homes of those that are more at risk from fire. 2. Objectives This project applies to all Fire and Rescue Service who needs to enhance existing fire safety initiatives. Considering that a good project should be Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Timed, the following are the objectives of this project: To develop ways of encouraging people to install fire sprinklers in their homes particularly those that are more at risk such as the elderly, disabled, and others. To develop a new prevention and risk-based fire safety strategy in line with Fire and Rescue Service duty to promote fire safety under the Fire and Rescue Service Act 2004. To increase the number of homes with fire sprinklers by mid April 2011. 3. Benefits Reduction in the probability of fire, reduction of property damage by fire, and improved life safety are the main benefits of installing fire sprinklers in homes. Moreover, installation of fire sprinklers is more beneficial to those that are more at risk such as old people living alone and those with disability. People living in homes or units with sprinklers are safer as the probability of death or injury from fire is less. For instance, the 10 minutes of fire suppression sprinklers provide can protect and the lives of those that are escaping. Fire sprinklers restrict fire spread by suppressing the fire in its early stage (Department for Communities and Local Government 2006. p.57) thus more effective in reducing injuries and deaths. Considering the advantage of sprinklers over other fire safety means, the project intends to intensify the use of sprinklers particularly in homes occupied by people with physical or other disabilities that will likely prevent them from escaping the fire. Benefits of fire sprinkler can be achieved in two ways. One is the reality that suppressing fire after ignition is much better than waiting for the fire and rescue to suppress the source of the fire because damage to property is more likely minimal. Second is the fact that if the fire is effectively suppressed and did not spread, those that are more at risk no longer have to panic, escape, and being rescued. Clearly, fire sprinkler not only can reduce the damage cause by fire but eliminate unnecessary trauma or suffering by the elderly and disabled members of the community. Since the fire would not spread, the work and expenditure of the fire and rescue service is less. Moreover, because there is more free time for the fire and rescue service to promote fire safety prevention programmes, the community will be safer. 4. Cost The cost of delivering the sprinkler promotion project is shown in the table below: (See tasks, staffing and precedence chart for details) Cost of the Project Project Staff Personnel Required Rate per day (£) Week 1 Week 2 Week 3 Week 4 Week 5 Total Project Manager 300 1500 Project Coordinator 250 1250 Fire Sprinkler Campaign Managers 200 1000 Sprinkler Campaign Officers 150 750 Fire Sprinkler Technical Consultant 450 1800 Sub Total 6250 Project Materials and Equipment Materials/Equipment Rate (£) 1 2 3 4 5 ICT 400 2000 Stationary 100 500 Printing 200 800 Office 200 1000 Sub Total 4300 Grand Total 10550 5. Business Case Fire damage can range from total destruction of the property, loss of lives and injury to others (Crosbie & Winter 2002, p.148). In the United Kingdom, the 2008 National Fire Statistics suggest that the majority of fire-related death in 2008 occurred in dwelling fires and most of the fatalities are people with age 80 or over. Thirty eight percent of these dwellings have no fire alarms or automatic sprinklers. Twenty-four percent of alarms failed to operate and 49% of fire alarms did not activate because the fire products did not reach them. Moreover, in 3,700 fires, 58% of the alarm was not raised by the smoke detectors but by people who sensed the fire (Communities and Local Government 2008, p.41). The purpose of the alarm is generally to warn people of fire so they can call the Fire and Rescue to suppress the fire. Therefore, the interval between ignition, discovery of the fire, and the arrival of the Fire and Rescue Service determine the rate of death or injury from fire (Communities and Local Government 2008, p.42). Considering the disadvantages of smoke or fire alarms, installing fire sprinklers can have a number of advantages and the most important one is automatically suppressing the fire just after ignition. Apparently, automatic fire suppression do not need discovery time and to wait for the Fire and Rescue Service to arrive. Fire sprinklers are more preferable for the following reasons (House of Commons 2007, p.234): Sprinklers have a good track record of controlling fires and there have been no fire deaths recorded in the UK in buildings fitted with well-maintained sprinklers. Insurance companies reduced premiums on buildings with fitter sprinklers. Sprinkler systems eliminate the need for additional partition walls or protection on escape routes thus reducing building costs. An effective fire sprinkler minimise disruption of community functioning Since there is less fire with fire sprinkler systems in homes, there will be more savings for the Fire and Rescue Service. The advantage and disadvantages of installing a fire sprinkler may be demonstrated as an event tree below: Figure 1 - Event tree of sprinkler analysis (Hasofer et al. 2007, p.81) The event tree demonstrates the different events that might occur in a sprinklered and unsprinklered building. Apparently, those with sprinklers have to ensure that the sprinkler will operate so it can contain the fire otherwise fire will spread. In contrast, those that do not have sprinklers have two options- contain the fire by other means or let the fire spread. The cost of the project as presented earlier is only 10,500 which compared to the damages that may incurred when a fire broke out particularly in homes where the most vulnerable members of the community reside is only small. Fire sprinkler is a proven technology that can suppress a fire immediately after ignition resulting to none or minimal damage to life and property. Compared to smoke alarms, fire sprinkler eliminate the need to sound the alarm or wait for the fire and rescue service to suppress the fire when it already spreads. Fire sprinkler eliminate the considerable delay between ignition, detection or discovery; calling the fire and rescue service, response, and fire suppression thereby minimizing the damage significantly. 6. Tasks The following tasks are required to complete the project. Preparation of PID Submission and Acceptance by the Project Director (Milestone 1) Review similar initiative in other organizations Planning the Project Determine Activities and Participants Discuss roles of participants Presentation to Project Director (Milestone 2) Discuss and determine funding requirements Submit for approval (Milestone 3) Final review and preparation Implement Project Monitor Progress and Assess Performance 7. Precedence Chart Precedence Chart Tasks Week 1 Week 2 Week 3 Week 4 Week 5 Preparation of PID Submission and Acceptance Review of similar initiatives Planning Determine Activities & Participants Discuss Roles of Participants Presentation to Project Director Determine Funding Submit for Approval Final review and preparation Implement Project Monitoring and Assessment 8. Staffing The project staff requirement is in agreement with tasks required to complete project. Generally, the project will have a project manager that will supervise the work of the project coordinator, fire sprinkler campaign managers, and fire sprinkler campaign officers. A fire sprinkler consultant is also required and will work as a resource person for technical matters. The community safety officers’ responsibility is to explore issues concerning the vulnerability of people leaving alone, disabled, and the elderly who are most at risks during a fire. The community safety campaign managers on the other hand are responsible for directing, monitoring, and assessing the activities of the community safety officers. They are also required to compile data obtained from the field and report to the project manager the progress of their activities. The details of their duties and responsibilities in line with the development of ways to increase fire sprinkler use in homes are below: Project Manager He will direct and manage the project from start to end. He will be responsible for ensuring that all aspects of the project are considered, reviewed, and executed according to the plan. Project Coordinator He will report directly to the project manager and coordinate project requirements. He will be responsible to ensuring that resources needed by the project are delivered and used according to plan. He will be coordinating with other agencies and the community that may be required by the project from time to time. Fire Sprinkler Campaign Manager The campaign manager will supervise the fire sprinkler campaign officers who will collect essential information from the community. He will make sure that their activities are systematic and conforming to the requirements set in the plan. He is responsible for compiling information gathered from the field and reviews it with the project manager. Fire Sprinkler Campaign Officers The fire sprinkler officers will generally conduct a survey of fire sprinkler use in homes of those most at risks of fire. They get the views of these specific people about their safety and possibility of installing fire sprinkler in their homes. Fire Sprinkler Consultant The fire sprinkler consultant will act as a technical resource person specifically matters concerning fire sprinkler specifications, requirements, and home installation. 9. Risk Management Plan Risk management can greatly help this project identify, analyze, and respond to risk throughout the project’s life cycle. The reason for creating and evaluating the plan is to determine its relevance to the project vision and scope, enable the project to determine the most realistic resource it needs, determine stakeholder’s expectations, and define the strength and weakness of the project itself (Hunt et al. 2004, p.131). The following is a SWOT analysis demonstrating the strength, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats that may be encountered by the project. SWOT ANALYSIS of the Project Strength Increase use of fire sprinkler. Provide protection to the most vulnerable members of the community. Reduce cost for the fire and rescue service. Weaknesses Residents may not be encouraged due to high cost of installation. Those that are most at risk may not be identified correctly Cost reduction may be minimal if sprinkler installation is not adopted by the majority. Opportunities Reduce occurrence of fire Reduce deaths and injuries Reduce damage to property Threats Project may fail to reach more households. Benefits of sprinkler may not be explained correctly. Some members of the community may not like the idea of sprinkling water into their furniture. To mitigate these risks, the project intends to actively perform the following: Ensure that all members of the project, particularly those that who would collect the data for analysis are well-informed and aware of these risks. Ensure that all the recipients of the initiative are identified through census and statistics. Ensure that all risks are identified, evaluated, and understood by all concern and solutions are well-established before finalizing the project. 10. Documents Management Plan Since this project will document the strategy of getting more sprinklers in the homes, it is thus necessary to maintain the integrity of the document and ensure that only the official version in released. Moreover, since the project is all about encouraging the most vulnerable members of the community to install fire sprinkler then the documents that will be produce by this project must be compiled and presented in such a way that is convincing and clear to all that would read it. The following will be part of this project’s documents management plan: Documents from the field survey should be compiled and submitted to the project manager All documents should be mark accordingly to avoid confusion The initial version of the document should be reviewed and evaluated by all members of the project and any errors in the document should be made known and revised accordingly. The final version should be submitted for approval of the project director. 11. Bibliography Communities and Local Government, 2008, Fire Statistics United Kingdom 2008, Department of Communities and Local Government, United Kingdom Crosbie M. & Winter S., 2002, Home Rehab Handbook, McGraw-Hill Professional, United States of America Department of Communities and Local Government, 2006, Fire Safety Risk Assessment: Residential Care Premises, The Stationery Office, United Kingdom Hasofer A., Beck V., & Bennetts D., 2007, Risk Analysis in Building Fire Safety Engineering, Butterworth-Heinemann, United Kingdom House of Commons, 2007, Sustainable schools: Are we building schools for the future? Seventh Report of Session 2006-07, Vol. 2, Oral and written evidence, The Stationery Office, United Kingdom Hunt E., Sproat S., & Kitzmiller R., 2004, The Nursing Informatics Implementation Guide, Springer, United States of America Lock D., 2007a, Project Management: Ninth Edition, Gower Publishing, United Kingdom Lock D., 2007b, The Essentials of Project Management, Gower Publishing, United Kingdom Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, 2004, Fire and Rescue Services Act 2004 Factsheet, Office of the Deputy Minister, United Kingdom US Fire Administration, 1989, Residential Fire Sprinklers Retrofit Demonstration Project, FEMA, United States of America Other readings for lecture notes: Commercial Realities for Project Management (1) Planning and Control (1) Project Organization and Behaviour (3) Project to Develop and Implement New HR Strategy for the Lancashire Constabulary Read More