Fire Safety Policy Statement in the United Kingdom - Case Study Example

Name of Student) (Course Instructor) (Course Title) (Date of Submission) Table of Contents Fire Safety Management and legislation- Media Factory 2 1.0 Introduction 2 2.0 Fire Safety policy Statement. 2 3.0 General responsibility 2 3.1 Technical Guidance BS 9999 3 4.0 Evacuation Strategies 4 4.1 Evacuation of people with disability 4 5.0 Staff Training 5 5.1 Prevention 6 5.2 Evacuation 6 5.3 Reporting 6 6.0 Means of escape 6 6.1 Escape sighs 7 7.0 Fire Detection and Warning Systems 8 8.0 Maintenance and Testing 9 9.0 Recordkeeping 11 10.0 Alternative solutions 12 11.0 Work Cited 13 12.0 Appendices 15 Fire Safety Management and legislation- Media Factory 1.0 Introduction Every year many people have lost their life and many seriously injured because of fire outbreak in commercial properties. UK businesses have incurred millions of pounds through property damage, fines, insurance premiums and compensation due to fire menace. As a result, many businesses have been unable to absolutely recover from fire effects. UK fire safety legislation emphasises preventing fire and reducing risks associated with fire. The discussion in this work shall focus on appropriate procedures to be followed in management of fire safety in relation to required legislation in media factories. 2.0 Fire Safety policy Statement. It is important to note that UK safety legislation applies to all non-residential premises and incorporates almost all types of structure, building and open space not excluding media factories for that reason. Media factories should focus on providing and maintaining buildings, fire safety equipments and proper procedures so that in case of fire emergency; occupants are able to come out safely. Training staff on how to manage fire emergency is also key to ensuring safety of factory premises and its employees at large. These, therefore creates the need to discuss fire safety management practices and legislation in Media Factory (British standard. 2008). 3.0 General responsibility According to the legislation, an employer or any person who controls a premise shall be responsible for the safety of all the people who lawfully occupy the premise. They include employees and visitors or even members of the public who are in immediate vicinity of the premises. The responsible person should make sure that all occupants on a premise are able to escape safely in case there is a fire. In particular, he or she should pay attention to people with disability or those who may require special consideration. The following issues must be addressed by the person responsible. a) Carry out fire risk assessment and identifying possible risks and hazards. b) Take precautions on fire c) Apply principles of preventing fire outbreak d) Arrange for fire safety policies and procedures e) Consider more endangered people like children, disabled and those with special needs f) Provide warning devices in case of a fire, for example fire detection devices g) Provide enough escape routes h) Maintain all fire safety equipments and systems i) Training all employees on fire safety j) Review all processes and procedures on a regular basis 3.1 Technical Guidance BS 9999 This was developed in response to fire safety on the basis of building complexity and flexibility required on ongoing construction, occupied, multi-purposes and premises undergoing change of use and unoccupied. Its general approach entails guidance on government documents applicable to majority of buildings as a support for legislative requirements. Advanced approach account for designer role in accounting for physical and human factors. Fire safety engineering provides alternative approach to achieve satisfactory standard on complex and multi-purposes buildings. Primarily BS 9999 is intended for fire safety managers, engineers and designers. It entails regulations on wide activities from pre, during and after construction. It prescribed the rules for planning, construction, use, maintenance, alterations and extensions, change of use, demolition and when the building is empty. This is a holistic approach to fire safety management including activities, personnel and regulations. 4.0 Evacuation Strategies Traditional basis of life safety design is mainly based on physical features for means of evacuation. Evacuation safety is based on the following: a) Maximum time required to evacuate b) The number of exits available and the size of escape routes c) Management strategies to ensure escape routes are available and safe The above values can be applied to many situations but in some cases they may not be sufficient. This is why engineering approach is used in evaluating evacuation safety conditions. Engineering approaches used include ASET time quantification, identifying, designing and calculating fire scenarios and RSET time quantification. In order to realize safe evacuation, the design of routes to escape and how far they are from the area of safety and time to be taken to evacuate are very important factors to consider. 4.1 Evacuation of people with disability Means of escape in a media factory must be appropriate to allow evacuation of everyone on the premise including those with disabilities. The buildings should be constructed in a way that is not discriminatory against people with disabilities subject to Disability Discrimination Act provisions. This may need further planning and assigning of roles to staff with required training. Provisions for evacuation of people with disabilities may include: a) Evacuation lifts b) Fire fighting lift c) Horizontal evacuation d) Stairways Important to note is that such facilities need effective management practices as part of emergency plan for rescue. However, the following general matters should be considered when dealing with disabled persons in implementing fire safety and evacuation requirements (Means of Escape for Disabled People. 2007) a) Disabled persons’ views should be listened so that individual needs can be identified b) All employees in the workplace and fire marshals should be aware of special needs of employees with disabilities c) Evacuation chairs in all the buildings should be put in escape routes. d) Ramps suitable for wheel chair users should be to be provided and where possible visual or fire alarm gargets for people with hearing problem. 5.0 Staff Training Employees in the media factory must be trained on how to deal with fire at all the time. When training staff, emphasis should be put on the type of premises developed in the factory but then it should reflect the following aspects: a) Focus on risk assessment findings b) Emergency procedures should be explained precisely and accurately c) Employees’ duties and responsibilities to be identified and explained to them d) The training should be carried on during normal working hours and should be repeated after a specific period of time e) Training should be easy to understand by all participating staff f) It should be accompanied by fire drill tests It is important that employees have a clear understanding of their role when a fire emergency arises. They should be trained on the tasks they may be required to perform during the emergency. In particular, training should be done in the following areas: 5.1 Prevention Employees should be educated on specific hazards in environment of work and how to prevent fire while they are performing their duties. When employees are made aware, it helps in preventing fires. 5.2 Evacuation Members of the staff should be educated on how to manage evacuation during fire emergency. In order to carry out the task successfully, they should be able to understand evacuation plan for the building. 5.3 Reporting Employees should be taught on how to respond to fire alarms by reporting immediately to the fire department. The person calling should provide accurate information to the dispatcher and hang up only when instructed. 6.0 Means of escape When carrying out risk assessment on fire and its likely consequences, it is important to consider effect of fire on the escape routes. For instance, how faster fire could be detected, how fast it spreads through the escape routes and how fast people on the premise are able to respond to warning. It is necessary to understand the number of people who will use particular escape route so as to organize how disabled and old people will be helped to escape. All the escape routes should be short enough and free from any obstruction. Also escape route signage and emergency lighting should always be installed in escape routes. Most importantly, employees should be trained how to escape in case there is an outbreak of fire on the building (BSI. 2008). All doors should be opened in the direction from which occupants will escape and there should be a panel that is safe and visionary. This is suitable where more than sixty people are expected to use the same route to escape or when the premise is prone to high risk of fire. Important to know is that any mirrors located in escape routes should not reflect images to the extent that they confuse people escaping. 6.1 Escape sighs BS 5499 clearly explains different escape signs and their applicability. It is important to use good sigh design to communicate to premises occupants. The correct positioning of such sighs is equally significant in order to realize effective use of signing system on a premise. The size of the sign should also be considered such that they should be easily feasible. The main points to consider in building escape signs are: a) The type of the sign, its size and distance of viewing b) Durability and suitability of sign construction c) Maintaining and servicing signs d) Use of illustrations e) Using arrows to show direction of travel Media factories are supposed to design system of signing that is well coordinated throughout their buildings. The overall design of escape signs in a building should consider the following items: a) Operational needs of managers to the building b) The requirements of enforcing authorities c) How the signs are convenient to occupants of the building and the general public d) Risk assessment results 7.0 Fire Detection and Warning Systems There must be an effective system for fire detection and fire warning. This ensures that people in the premises are notified and warned so that they can escape safely, report fire incidence to an off-premise location and summon emergency services. Fire warning systems ensure detection of unwanted fire as it monitor environmental changes which are associated with combustion. They might be automatically actuated, manually or both. Alarm system are of many types suited for different applications and building types. The categories include L- designed for life protection, P- for buildings and M- for manual systems (British standard, p. 16). The system may include a temporary arrangement, electrical fire warning system or an alternative system with interconnected manual sounders and call points. Special considerations should be acknowledged for areas where people work alone, wear hearing protectors, have hearing difficulties and take into account the background noise. There is fundamental configuration of fire warning system include the control panel which monitors inputs, system integrity, relay information and controls output. A primary power supply should be set as a branch circuit, a secondary power supplies as a backup is needed in event the primary power fails. Initiating devices are input of fire warning systems which are either manually or automatically actuated. They range from pull stations, heat and smoke detectors. Notification appliances use the energy supplied to inform proximate persons the need to evacuate or take action. This is done through flashing light, electromechanical horn, bell, speaker or combination of such devices. A schematic plan should be displayed to quickly determine the location where fire is detected and show fire alarm zones. The manual call points enable a person on discovery of fire to immediately raise alarm warning other people occupying the premise of the danger. They are normally positioned at exits which can be used in case of fire. However, the travel distance should be between 45 m or nearest for people with disabilities. Automatic fire detection system is needed for various reasons. Particularly, in the areas where occupants are isolated and are remote making them unaware of fire development. This applies for areas where fire may develop unobserved like in storerooms. It also compensate for inadequate structural protection like the dead ends or extended travel distances. The system may also be enhanced by a scale extending from low-moderate through high, very high, severe, extreme to catastrophic to make a point. However, whichever warning and detection systems used, fire and rescue services should be called always and immediately when fire occurs (British standard, p. 18). 8.0 Maintenance and Testing After fire safety system have been verified, undergone test and is implemented, it need maintenance to ensure continuous performance in correct manner and adapt to the new requirements when needed. An ongoing monitoring and testing of system should be systematized so as to identify and meet the maintenance needs when necessary. Those systems for extended use require a mechanism put in place to monitor feedback from its users and determine the maintenance and modification needs. Maintenance routines may vary depending on complexity and type of facilities and technology. Those items which come with their maintenance schedules and program which the manufacturer or suppliers recommends are to be followed regularly. Purchase agreement for some hardware and software for the fire system may provide maintenance by the manufacturer. Where hardware, software and communications have undergone modifications through maintenance upgrades, it is necessary to conduct system testing and verification to ensure that the system meets the updated specifications. A maintenance schedule is of importance for a media factory. This should prescribe all fire safety installations in the premises. Specifically, it includes a record stating when every prescribed fire safety installations will be serviced, inspected and maintained. On top of the schedule, and for any reason, if the system fails it is expected that there is a temporary arrangement for warning and safety escape. There are acceptable appliances which should be used for short period as system repairs continues. Gongs, air horns, whistles combined with appropriate training are among the requirements. A specialist person with knowledge with knowledge of fire warning system should be involved in maintenance. Maintenance is critical in reducing false alarms. This is major problems experienced from automatic fire detection systems. This help in reducing unwanted calls and false alarms which if they become excessive people may become complacent and fail to respond in case of real life warning. All should be investigated and identify the problem cause to take the remedial actions. The various devices should be detected and activated. When different a room is converted into a different use for instance storeroom to staff area fitted with cooking facilities it might set off the fire detector. Similarly a manual call placed in a busy storeroom may be damaged due to continual movement of people and goods. In such cases maintenance is necessary and replaced with another hinged metal guard. This should be intensified to power supply and guarantee an operating fire warning system. For the portable fire extinguishers, they should be subjected to annual maintenance check (British standard, p. 232). 9.0 Recordkeeping As White, et al argues, the scheduled routine maintenance on facilities fire detection and alarm system is never complete without providing a record trail for the whole system. Useful records include the build system’s drawing, maintenance and operation manuals with a written sequence of other operations. This is important in providing the testing agency with the needed layout and system operation information. The information is particularly important if fire alarm and the detection system interface with other building equipment like elevator recall, door and smoke control, suppression-system actuation and HVAC shutdown. Prior inspection records helps testing agency to get full picture of fire system and provide information of previous testing on the system and the deficiencies that were encountered during testing. Fire safety management requires recordkeeping policies, following appliances testing and maintenance. This may incorporates budgets, plans, inspection and maintenance records. Monthly inspections are supposed to be carried on portable extinguishers. The annual maintenance date, last entry and lifetime of shell record should be available and available upon request. ASHA states the maintenance record is supposed to be surely fixed to their extinguisher. Tagging is the easiest way to perform visual inspection records. The recordkeeping information should include the name of persons and agency that performed the last checks and test. The serial number of appliances tested with the person signature should be included (Davies, et al. 73). 10.0 Alternative solutions According to Berry, et al, an alternative solution to fire approach is applicable as a consideration of the factory production pressure or lack of resources. The model should be implemented to manage fire processes and issues in small and medium premises. A record of alternative solutions that is applied to fire safety installation is needed in the premises. However it should be close to that of fire safety bodies and allow features similar to those applied in other premises. This still enables the compliance with set performance criteria for Fire Safety Standard set and approved by local government. The alternative solution should be intensified to assure safety and prevent accidents. It should also be improved according to fire safety laws and give more attention to processes to enhance its outcomes. In most cases, specific features should be included given the previous lessons learnt from past fire accidents. This helps learn how they can avoid potential causes in the premises. In connection with that, the factory requires a fire safety professional with training or experiences in response to fire hazards. This should also be updated at a particular duration by a team of internal and external members having high qualifications and a background for fire safety management. 11.0 Work Cited Berry, Dave, et al. "FireGrid: Integrated emergency response and fire safety engineering for the future built environment." UK e-Science Programme All Hands Meeting, 2005. British standard (2002). Fire detection and fire alarm systems for buildings. Code of practice for system design, installation, commissioning and maintenance. London: BSI. P15-16-18. British standard (2008). Code of practice for fire safety, in the design, management and use of buildings. London: BSI. P53-238-232-94. British standard. “Fire detection and fire alarm systems for buildings. Code of practice for system design, installation, commissioning and maintenance”. (2002). London: BSI. P15-16-18. British standard. Code of practice for fire safety, in the design, management and use of buildings. (2008). London: BSI. P53-238-232-94. CIBSE (2010). Fire safety engineering- Guide E. London: CIBSE. P78-96-97. Davies, Diane K., et al. "Fire information for resource management system: archiving and distributing MODIS active fire data." Geoscience and Remote Sensing, IEEE Transactions on 47.1 (2009): 72-79. HM government (2006). Fire safety risk assessment, Educational premises. London: the Department for Communities and Local Government, Eland House. P14-15. HM Government (2006). Fire safety risk assessment, large places of assembly. London: the Department for Communities and Local Government, Eland House. P37-109-21-55-56-112. HM government (2007). Fire safety risk assessment, Means of Escape for Disabled People. London: the Department for Communities and Local Government, Eland House. P6-7-20-21. UCLAN.Strategy for Fire Safety Management. Accessed 2013, Feb 6 from http://www.uclan.ac.uk/information/services/fm/safety_and_health/fire_safety/files/Fire_Safety_Strategy_Dec_2007pdf.pdf. White, Ian, et al. Information Interoperability for Coalition Operations-Status and Prospects. Defence Science and Technology Lab Farnborough (United Kingdom), 2005. 12.0 Appendices Fig. 1.0: Evaluation & Maintenance of fire safety systems. (Adopted from: White, Ian, et al. Information Interoperability for Coalition Operations-Status and Prospects. Defence Science and Technology Lab Farnborough (United Kingdom), 2005.) Fig 2.0: Evacuation Signs in Premises. (Adopted ASTS: Ace Safety Training Services Pty Ltd http://www.astspl.com.au/services/ohs- Fig. 3.0: Basic Staffs Training Program. (Adopted from: Environmental Safety & Health; Boston University Research Compliance). Read More