Fire Safety: Significance of Fire Risk Assessment in the Workplace - Coursework Example

Fire Safety Name: Roll No: Class: Subject: Teacher: Date: 18th July 2008 University Table of Contents Table of Contents 2 Fire Safety 3 Significance of Fire Risk Assessment in the Workplace 3 'Means of Escape' Within a Commercial Building 5 Means for Protecting a Building from an Outbreak of Fire 7 Methods of Warning in Case of Fire 8 For warning people about the outbreak of fire, various warning methods can be employed. In case of absence of any warning methods, people will have to face the risks and hazards of fire outbreak in a workplace or in a residential area. Warning methods include arrangement and configuration of smoke detectors, call points, heat detectors, alarm sounders and beam detectors in buildings where there are risks in terms of outbreak of fire. 8 Smoke Detector 8 Call Point 9 Heat Detector 9 Alarm sounder 10 Beam Detector 10 Role of Building Regulations in Preventing a Fire spread 10 References 11 Fire Safety Significance of Fire Risk Assessment in the Workplace Risk assessment is a job that should be compulsorily done while constructing a building as there are many risks that can effect the building negatively. Out of all the other risks, the spread of fire is the most damaging as people working or living at a place can be affected. There can be dangers of life as well. Fire risk assessment in a workplace is essential to prevent any kind of health or life risk concerning the outbreak of fire. In a workplace, the life of more people is at risk in case of fire (Derek, 1986). Therefore, a full-fledged risk assessment should be done in order to highlight all the probable risks related to outbreak of fire. The evaluation should be done keeping in consideration the health and safety aspects of the people working in a workplace (Shields and Silcock, 1987). The workplace for which, risk assessment is done should be properly and wholly surveyed in order to analyze any possible risks concerning fire outbreak. Risk evaluation takes into consideration five stages (Langdon-Thomas, 1972), which are All the probable risks and hazards related to fire outbreak in a workplace should be identified in the first place. People who can be affected from the outbreak of fire should be identified. In case of a commercial working place, the people can be the employees, visitors and callers. The question, ‘what the location of the people is’ should also be answered by proper assessment. The hazards and risks concerning fire outbreak should be appropriately assessed. Precautionary measures should be fully assessed in order to check the need of implementation of further precautionary measures. Assessment should be done for the improvement and betterment of precautionary measures for fire outbreak. All the findings related to the assessment done in terms of risk identification and improvement of precautionary measures, should be documented and the employees should be given full knowledge concerning all the findings. The employees should be trained in order to confront a risky situation concerning fire. The assessment should be reviewed continuously on the basis of further improvement and integration. The management is best aware about the business, its working and its workers. The management of any building should develop a strategy to manage all the probable risks and hazards (Butcher and Parnell, 1983). The risks and hazards should be identified in terms of the location of the building or premises, related people, business, ethos and other details concerning risk management (Shields and Silcock, 1987). In terms of risk assessment, the employees should be concerned and their views concerning probable risks should be identified. Expected hazards and risks should be identified in order to safeguard the workplace working in a workplace (Shields and Silcock, 1987). Evaluation of risks and hazards cannot be done with proper preparation. All the needed transformations should be judged. A systematic approach should be applied for risk assessment. While assessment procedure, the whole workplace should be taken into consideration, not a single part or area of the workplace should be ignored (Read and Morris, 1983). Even the places and locations, which are taken into use negligibly, should also be considered important. In case of large buildings set for a large workplace, the building should be divided into sections for risk evaluation. The set risk strategy should be properly documented and the employees should be fully informed (The Aqua Group, 1984). 'Means of Escape' Within a Commercial Building For a commercial building, there should be well-planned and well-designed means of escape in terms of fire safety. While designing a commercial building, there should be well-established and full-fledged means of escape for fire safety (Greater London Council, 1976). All the probable hazards and risks should be identified during designing a commercial building. People working in a commercial building and other related persons should be identified and should be informed in terms of fire safety and means of escape (Langdon-Thomas, 1972). Moreover, the attitude of people in case of an outbreak of fire must also be thought over to know the outcome and method of escape. It is regarded generally that a common or standardized method for the escape of people at the time of fire outbreak is quite impossible (Greater London Council, 1976). Therefore, fire safety in terms of building design varies with the building needs and requirements. People involved in designing a fire safety building take into consideration various aspects such as dimension, allocation, utilization, facilitation and construction planning (Butcher and Parnell, 1983). Escape Designed Horizontally: While designing a horizontal escape design for a building, proper escape courses and exits are designed horizontally. The distance that is to be covered is not much. There is maximum fire safety in terms of possession of the building (Derek, 1986). Escape Designed Vertically: While designing a vertical escape design for a building, staircases are designed in the whole building vertically as a means of escape. It also provides maximum fire safety in terms of possession of the building (Derek, 1986). In case of fire outbreak, every commercial and residential building should have substituted escape routes (Langdon-Thomas, 1972). Management should inform the people working in a workplace about escape routes and other strategies that should be adopted for escaping from a building in case of outbreak of fire (Fire Safety Engineering, 1995). Lighted escape routes: There should be proper lighting and illumination arrangements in all the escape routes of all buildings as to prevent from any other harm because of dark. In case of dark escape routes, there can be problems in terms of proper escape of people from those routes (Butcher and Parnell, 1983). If the main electricity supply is not able to provide illumination in case of fire outbreak, there should be a substituted electric supply system for all the stairways, passageways, engaged areas where no windows are present and toilet places (Read and Morris, 1983). Fire detection: There should be proper fire detection and alarm systems for the buildings that can work in time of outbreak of fire. There should be proper alarm systems for different buildings (Derek, 1986). Escape routes should also have proper escape strategies. Alarms should be smoke detectable. The alarm systems and fire detection systems should work automatically in case of any fire outbreak. Escape design includes the fixation of fire alarms and fire detection systems that work automatically (Greater London Council, 1976). Management should make sure that alarm systems and detection systems should work properly and they must be evaluated in terms of their performance (The Aqua Group, 1984). Means for Protecting a Building from an Outbreak of Fire The designing and construction of a building is very important in terms of its being protected from the outbreak of fire. In case of a good structure, the building will offer lesser chances of damage to people present in it while in the opposite case, people’s lives will be endangered because of their presence in that building (Derek, 1986). The buildings should comprise automatic and mechanical fire detectors such as heat detectors and smoke detectors that can give alarms in proper time to the people present in a building. The equipment used for generating alarms and detecting fire are for informing the fire departments about the outbreak of fire in a locality or building (Greater London Council, 1976). The systems that are implemented in the buildings for alarming are also employed for shutting the doors located in the location from where the fire originated (Butcher and Parnell, 1983). The doors should also be able to resist the fire. These doors make use of electromagnetic latches for letting the doors not opened (Fire Safety Engineering, 1995). The gaps that are present in these doors should also be sealed before time so that the fire cannot spread in all over the building. This reduces the loss of property and other losses as the fire is blocked to a small region. In that time, the fire department staff can reach to handle and control the fire (Langdon-Thomas, 1972). Automatic fire fighting systems are also very effective as they are also able to extinguish fire to a large extent (Langdon-Thomas, 1972). Fire extinguishers are used in such fire fighting systems. They are found workable in terms of many cases of outbreak of fire. They are also helpful for the fire fighting staff as they make the procedure of fire extinguishing to an adequate limit. They make use of non-combustible liquids for extinguishing fire (Read and Morris, 1983). To protect a building from an outbreak of fire, automated and computerized sprinklers are also used to control the spreading fire. It is a type of fire fighting system, which sprinkles water on the fireplaces automatically from its points (Derek, 1986). There are slow in terms of their performance but according to fire fighters and other fire personnel, is has been suggested that these sprinkling systems are effectual in terms of their slow performance as they fight with fire to a great extent (Read and Morris, 1983). For discharging of water, suitable routes are made, so that water may not spoil electronics and other stuff. Methods of Warning in Case of Fire For warning people about the outbreak of fire, various warning methods can be employed. In case of absence of any warning methods, people will have to face the risks and hazards of fire outbreak in a workplace or in a residential area. Warning methods include arrangement and configuration of smoke detectors, call points, heat detectors, alarm sounders and beam detectors in buildings where there are risks in terms of outbreak of fire. Smoke Detector There are various kinds of smoke detectors such as optical smoke detectors, ionization smoke detectors, aspirating smoke detectors and combined smoke detectors. Nowadays, the smoke detector that is used most commonly as it is capable to detect even small combustions with more smoke (Butcher and Parnell, 1983). As far as ionization smoke detectors are concerned, they detect largely set fires that spread within no time and give less smoke and increased heat. Aspirating smoke detectors are used in buildings, which keep the capability of sensing small amount of smoke and fire. It is a highly responsive smoke detector and is present in form of a piped network (Derek, 1986). For areas, which contain electronics and other networked equipment, aspirating smoke detectors are the most appropriate. Combined smoke detectors are capable of sensing both high temperature and smoke. It works similar to ionization smoke detector as ionization smoke detector also senses both heat and smoke like the combined smoke detector (Shields and Silcock, 1987). Call Point Call point is the red box that is placed on the wall for warning in case of outbreak of fire. It is a well-known method adopted for a long time in terms of outbreak of fire. This red box contains an alarm button that can be pushed in case of outbreak of fire (Butcher and Parnell, 1983). This call point is located near all the outlets of a building. Heat Detector Heat detectors are also used for warning people in a workplace as well as in a residential area about the outbreak of fire. They are mostly probably arranged and configured in places such as boiler rooms, contaminated places and kitchens (Butcher and Parnell, 1983). They are placed to sense an increase in temperature in the particular areas where they are fixed. They activate and start an alarm as soon as they detect an increase in normal heat in the location (The Aqua Group, 1984). Alarm sounder Alarm sounders are usually used for making enough sound as a means of alarming people about an unusual condition such as outbreak of fire. They are used in places where there are enough other voices. Red lights are also used to indicate towards some alarming fire outbreak (Derek, 1986). Sometimes, the alarm sounder is assimilated and incorporated with heat detectors and heat detectors in order to help the systems in terms of creating an alarm that is audible enough for everyone to listen. Beam Detector Beam detectors are also employed for alarming people about the outset of fire. They are sensitive detectors that can detect and sense smoke and can cause the fire alarm to start beeping (Derek, 1986). The beam detector keeps the capacity of sensing smoke from a large distance due to which, it is considered very effective in terms of alarming people about the outbreak of fire. Role of Building Regulations in Preventing a Fire spread The role of building regulations in preventing a fire spread within a building and to other buildings cannot be negated as it plays an important role in setting rules for new constructed buildings. It has been considered that the buildings that are three storied are at a grand risk as compared to other buildings such as one storey or two storeys in terms of fire outbreak (Langdon-Thomas, 1972). In terms of transforming a building into more storied building, there should be adequate precautionary measures taken according to the building regulations. If the owner of a building takes into consideration all the building regulations and during construction follows them, there are fewer problems in terms of fire outbreak (Read and Morris, 1983). Building regulations include implementation of smoke detectors, constructing escape routes and methods for escaping, interior configuration in terms of spreading of fire and exterior configuration in terms of spreading of fire (Langdon-Thomas, 1972). Building regulations take into consideration proper strategies and rules for doorways, windows, ceilings, walls, staircases, corridors and other places (Fire Safety Engineering, 1995). If a builder follows all the rules and regulations, the chance of fire spreading is reduced to a greater extent. Fire safety is the most important aspect that should be considered while constructing a building. The probable risks and hazards regarding the fire outbreak in a workplace as well as in a residential area should be identified completely. Workplace is more in need of fire safety because more people are accommodated there. There should be proper escape routes for the people in a building so that in case of outbreak of fire, they can get out of the building safely. Smoke and heat detectors can be used for alarming people about outbreak of fire. Building regulations play an important role in prevention of fire spread and they should be acted upon to reduce the risks from fire outbreak. References Butcher, E.G. & Parnell, A.C. (1983). Designing for Fire Safety. John Wiley, Chichester. Derek, J. (1986). Fire Prevention Handbook. Butterworth & Co. Ltd., London. FSE (Fire Safety Engineering). (1995). A Research for the Fire Safety Engineering Design of Buildings. BRE Publications, Watford. GLC (Greater London Council). (1976). Code of Practice Means of Escape in Case of Fire. Greater London Council, London. Langdon-Thomas, G.J. (1972). Fire Safety in Buildings: Principles & Practice. A & C Black Limited, London. Read, R.E.H. & Morris, W.A. (1983). Aspects of Fire Precautions in Buildings. BRE Publications, Watford. Shields, T.J. & Silcock, G.W.H. (1987). Buildings and Fire. Longman Scientific & Technical, New York. The Aqua Group (1984). Fire and Building. Granada Publishing Ltd., London. Read More