Fire Fighting Strategies for High Rise Buildings - Research Proposal Example

Fire fighting strategies for high rise buildings: An overview: Fighting fire in multi-storied structures or high rise buildings is considered as one of the most cumbersome challenges that the fire fighting authorities normally confront. The risk is enlarged because of the nature of high rise buildings that does not allow much of horizontal motion. So the occupants have to move vertically through the stories to find their way out of the building. The need of a dedicated fire fighting strategy, meant solely for high rise buildings is inevitable. Given the layout of an organized approach toward dealing with the hazards brought by the breakout of fire in them, the fire fighting plans can serve to dramatically decrease the number of possible fatalities and injuries if properly practiced by the concerned departments in the hours of need. Therefore, fire fighting plan is a fundamental part of fire fighting strategy that should be followed commonly by all fire fighting departments in a region. Inputs required for the development of the right kind of strategy to fight fire related hazards in the phase of construction involves knowledge of the common problems faced by the workers in the workplace, their interrelationships and interaction with the environment. Hazards arising in a place are greatly influenced by the prevailing safety culture. The fire fighting strategies should highlight the course of action for fighting fire hazards in general and the means of safe escape for the occupants of the building in particular. The development of effective and useful strategies is not practicable unless incidents of similar nature from the past are analyzed. It is an apply-analyze and modify process and requires application of strategy that involves the right use of resources and study of the outcomes that resulted from the application of strategy. Evaluation of the effectiveness of the applied strategy in case-studies is fundamental to the necessary modification of the designed strategy. This paper designs a fire fighting strategy for high rise buildings under construction in England, in an attempt to cut down the number of injuries and fatalities among the workers during the course of construction. Causes of fire breakout in high rise buildings: Before discussing fire fighting strategies for high rise buildings, it is customary to define them first. According to (www.slideshare.net, 2010), a building should be considered as a high rise building if “its roof is above the reach of a 100-foot aerial ladder and its topmost windows are too high for effective penetration of outside streams.” Generally, buildings higher than 100 ft. are referred to as high rise buildings. In order to develop strategies to mitigate fire related hazards in high rise buildings, it is imperative that the causes of fire breakout and the resulting fatalities be analyzed by studying similar cases in the history. Policies need to be upgraded to meet the changing needs of the time. Failure of authorities to realize and achieve this has caused a number of accidents in the past, particularly those related to fire. According to (www.firetactics.com, 2003), Paul Grimwood, a UK Fire Officer has carried out an extensive research on fire fighting practices in multi-storied buildings. In his 28-page report in FOG ATTACK (1991), he has referred to the standard practices in fire fighting of high rise buildings as outdated. (www.firetactics.com, 2003). A fair idea of the possible causes of fire breakout and its resulting fatalities can be gained from Grimwood’s extensive experience and writings. Some of the most common causes of fatalities occurring after breakout of fire in high rise buildings are listed below: 1. Escape routes get blocked by smoke and fire. 2. Panic causes occupants to take “bold” steps. Occupants jumping out from windows and openings get themselves either dead or seriously injured. 3. Lack of fire training of the workers. 4. Lack of fire fighting equipment in the building. 5. Electric supplies and lifts become dysfunctional. 6. Fire gets the time to cause considerable damage to life and property before fire fighting department would arrive, thus resulting in increased reaction times. Besides, there are a lot of other factors that play their role to aggravate the situation. The above discussed factors enlist the causes of fatalities once the building has caught fire. The primary reason because of which a building catches fire is the unsafe attitude or act of the workers. Before exploring the unsafe behavior of workers residing in the building under construction, it is important to discuss the general daily life trends and practices prevailing among the temporary occupants of the building. The following text includes a brief analysis of the general unsafe routine of the workers, temporarily occupying the building as it is in the phase of construction. Workers’ unsafe behaviour: The greatest risk to human life and property in high rise buildings is caused when workers develop certain portions of workplace into cooking areas for preparing tea or snacks between meals. Such needs arise because employers are generally reluctant to provide workers with ready-made tea and refreshment from outside. Because of the tough nature of construction work, workers really need energizers to boost their energy to do work. Every crew of workers tends to get a separate connection to meet its personal needs. In an attempt to locate electricity and gas connections in various areas to suffice all workers, they tend to customize the supply in their own way. Workers isolate individual connections from the main supply line and because of a lack of technical knowledge and sense of wiring, fail to employ the right kind of wiring system and do not handle the technicalities and complexities of the system well. At times, such practices result into supply imbalances. Such practices can be extremely dangerous and can not only result in the malfunctioning of equipment and machinery, but also impose huge threats to life and property. Too many connections increase the building’s vulnerability to catch fire because of increased number of unclosed valves that allow gas to leak. A number of cases have been reported in the history in which casualties have resulted from the mishandling of electric supplies. Electric shocks can both directly or indirectly cause injuries. A worker may die either by directly catching current, or striking against equipment against the pressure of shock. Besides, a large number of construction workers smoke. A lot of cigarette filters can be seen on the workplace on construction sites. Casualties may result from burning cigarettes coming in contact with gas supplies leading to fire breakout. Also, burning cigarettes can be accidentally thrown over containers of combustible materials. These have been major causes of fire breakout in construction sites, specially the high rise buildings in which the reduced floor areas call for close location of materials and equipment. Other factors: Buildings under construction are generally home to a lot of stored material that largely constitutes flammable materials and explosives like paints, chemicals, varnishes etc. Besides, there is pronounced availability of wood in buildings under construction because of the plenty of wood needed for scaffolding and other wood-works. Supply of gas and electricity is inevitable in construction sites. Adequate supply of gas and supply is vital to ensure smooth flow of work that involves working of construction machinery and equipment, cutting and welding operations. “The Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA) requires facilities with more than 10 employees to have a written emergency plan.” (www.marshriskconsulting.com, 2004). Although health and safety bodies like Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA) have laid down certain guidelines and rules for the appropriate placement of construction equipment and storage of combustible and flammable materials, but workers are quite reluctant to follow these rules and often fail to comply to the specifications laid down by health and safety bodies. Remedial measures: Responsibility of the state: The government should necessitate the inclusion of a clause in the contract document which necessitates the owner to execute the work as per the standards of Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA) because of its unique and safe approach toward ensuring site safety against the hazards of fire which it mentions in OSHA Subpart F namely, “Fire protection and prevention”. According to OSHA 1962.150 (a)(1), “The employer shall be responsible for the development of a fire protection program to be followed throughout all phases of the construction and demolition work, and he shall provide for the firefighting equipment as specified in this subpart. As fire hazards occur, there shall be no delay in providing the necessary equipment.” (www.ehso.com, 2005). It is evident from the above mentioned clause of OSHA that OSHA rests the responsibility of providing a safe environment to work with the employers. Besides, OSHA also lays down safe site layout, location of combustible and flammable chemicals, maximum storage limits, number of fire extinguishers or equivalent required with respect to area, the need of a sprinkler system, fire walls and an alarm system in the building. Besides, OSHA has mentioned safe distances between containers of combustible chemicals both within and outside the building. Specially in context of multi-storied buildings, OSHA has necessitated the availability of at least one fire extinguisher beside the stairway in its provision 1926.150(c)(1)(iv). (www.osha.gov, n.d.). Workers’ safety and education programmes: Besides incorporating safety in the design and layout of building, owners should understand the importance of workers’ education on matters related to safety. It is the employers’ duty to offer their workers safety training programmes so that they can adopt a safe approach toward their work. Like compliance to OSHA clause of contract, workers’ safety training should also be made an integral clause of the conditions of contract. The Fire Intervention Response Education Scheme (FIRES) of the Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service is a very relevant example of such programmes, that specially aims at developing a sense of personal safety in teenage-workers who have had severe exposure to fire in the past or typically, have been playing with fire in their childhood. Such workers tend to be bold and undergo risky jobs in an attempt to prove their skills. Such behaviour is considered as one of the most fundamental causes of on-site accidents and is typical of young workers. The training is offered personally by Fire and Rescue Service personnel because young workers tend to be more understanding toward professional people dealing in fire rescue services than other agencies. “In broad terms FIRES is utilised to protect life and property and/or eliminate further fire-setting and anti-social behaviour.” (www.lancsfirerescue.org.uk, 2006). In order to cater for the works beyond their areas of expertise, the Fire and Rescue Service personnel work in collaboration with other organizations to ensure a holistic approach toward workers’ physical and psychological training and education. The scheme educates the workers not only on how to prevent fire breakout from occurring, but also the course of action to be adopted in case of occurrence. Problem oriented partnerships: The concept of problem oriented partnerships is to eliminate site hazards by not just handling emergencies but also recognizing the root-cause of injuries so as to eliminate the chances of occurrence of similar injuries in the future. It projects more of an active approach than a reactive approach toward making the workplace safe. The process is quite related to the modern trends of health and safety practices that focus more on the development of coordination and awareness among the concerned parties through conducting an organized analysis of the problem so that measures can be taken to make the work more organized and intrinsically safe. A community based effort for the implementation of health and safety principles in workplace is one of the most fundamental pre-requisites of a holistic approach toward the development of the fire fighting strategy. Owner’s role: Any misconduct or unsafe behaviour on the part of workers should be considered as the slackness of owner. Workers make private cooking areas because they are not provided with refreshment from the owner. No safety is achievable without the commitment and collaboration of the owners. Owners should hire a registered electric inspector to check the cables and wiring in the high rise building. The inspector should visit the building at least once in every 7 days and point out any dangerous wiring. Workers should strictly be warned not to smoke, and should be expelled from job upon noncompliance. Workplace should be free of cigarette filters and trash. Materials should be located as per OSHA’s Subpart H, namely, “Materials Handling, Storage, Use, and Disposal”, which would minimize injuries because of properly organized and appropriately located materials. Owners should make sure that a fire escape route is mapped and displayed on public notice boards with contact numbers of all concerned managers. Also, it should be ensured that every worker hired has seen the map. Fire drills carried out twice a year can be very educating. Owners should provide the workers with adequate amount of life lines and training to use them in case of emergencies. Fire escape plan: The first and foremost principle to follow is to remain calm and avoid panic. Doors and corridors should be cleared and every worker should hurry to reach the assembly point marked on the map described above. Alarm system should be used to alert all personnel. Through knowledge of past experience of fire drills, responsible workers should only attempt to use fire extinguishers if they are confident that they will be able to put off the fire successfully. Emergency fire services should be called. The nominated fire officers should count the number of workers gathered in the assembly point, work out the missing and notify to the emergency services personnel. Ventilation is very essential for the entrapped workers. However, it should never be achieved by opening windows of the area caught in fire, or this may lead to further expansion of fire. (www.usfa.dhs.gov, 20-). Because of their design and nature, H.V.A.C. systems of high rise buildings provided to monitor flow of air are more complex. Personnel should be trained in using them for good ventilation of the smoke-filled area. Stairs should primarily be used as a means of escape. “For stairs used as a means of egress in fires, the record has been very good but not without incident.” (Bukowski, 20-). This may be possible because of overcrowding on stairs in times of emergency. Therefore, stairs should be designed wide enough to accommodate large crowds. Because high rise buildings are too high for the rescue team to reach inside using aerial ladders, alternate strategies need to be developed to get inside the building. “Firefighters must extinguish the fire using handheld hose streams advanced through heat and smoke from an inside stairway.” (www.iklimnet.com, n.d.). If escape routes are obstructed by fire and smoke, life lines should be used to escape from windows and openings as a last option in case of high rise buildings. Any injured worker should immediately be given first aid treatment. Operation should be conducted to ensure complete evacuation of the building. “A full evacuation necessitates the evacuation of all occupants from the building simultaneously or via a phased evacuation whereby the alarm is cascaded to each level in a predetermined sequence.” (www.mfb.vic.gov.au, 2010). Flow chart: Steps involved in post-fire planning are diagrammatically shown as follows: Conclusion: In order to combat the risks of fire breakout arising from unsafe practices of workers and employers’ negligence, several parties need to unite and play their respective roles. It is neither the responsibility of a single party, nor is a single party sufficient to handle every matter. Development and implementation of an effective firefighting strategy needs involvement of government agencies, regulatory bodies, owners and workers. References: Bukowski, 20-. “Emergency egress strategies for buildings”. Available at: http://www.fire.nist.gov/bfrlpubs/fire07/PDF/f07054.pdf. [Accessed: 18 June 2010]. www.firetactics.com, 2003. “Operational aspects of high-rise fighting”. Available at: http://www.firetactics.com/HIGH-RISE1.pdf. [Accessed: 18 June 2010]. www.ehso.com, 2005. “OSHA Health & Safety Construction-related Regulations - F - 150 to 199”. Available at: http://www.ehso.com/oshaConstruction_F.htm. [Accessed: 18 June 2010]. [Accessed: 18 June 2010]. www.iklimnet.com, n.d. “High Rise Fires”. Available at: http://www.iklimnet.com/hotelfires/highrisefire.html. [Accessed: 18 June 2010]. www.marshriskconsulting.com, 2004. “Special Emergency Protocols for High-Rise Buildings”. Available at: http://www.marshriskconsulting.com/st/PDEv_C_370_NR_306_PI_233070.htm. [Accessed: 18 June 2010]. www.mfb.vic.gov.au, 2010. “Community Safety”. Available at: http://www.mfb.vic.gov.au/Community-Safety/Workplace/Fire-Safety-Guidelines/GL-18.html. [Accessed: 18 June 2010]. www.osha.gov, n.d. “Occupational Safety and Health Administration”. Available at: http://www.osha.gov/pls/oshaweb/owadisp.show_document?p_table=STANDARDS&p_id=10671. [Accessed: 18 June 2010]. www.lancsfirerescue.org.uk, 2006. “FIRES”. Available at: http://www.lancsfirerescue.org.uk/lfrs/firesafety/face.php. [Accessed: 18 June 2010]. www.slideshare.net, 2010. “High-Rise Firefighting”. Available at: http://www.slideshare.net/tsweat08/highrise-firefighting-presentation. [Accessed: 18 June 2010]. www.usfa.dhs.gov, 20-. “High-rise firefighting- An analysis of procedures for operational effectiveness”. Available at: http://www.usfa.dhs.gov/pdf/efop/efo36392.pdf. [Accessed: 18 June 2010]. Read More