Fire Safety - Means of Escape, Warnings, and Building Regulations - Term Paper Example

FIRE SAFETY (Means of Escape, Warnings, and Building Regulations) 1. Introduction “Fire prevention is a major aspect of a total fire protection program” (Davletshina 1998). Well-organized fire prevention activities can save lives and millions of dollars by preventing the destructiveness of fire. Fire safety inspections in the workplace may help produce a fire safe working environment. They are conducted to evaluate the attempt being made to control and reduce plant or factory fire hazards. Our research will focus on the on significance of identifying fire risks in the workplace. It will attempt to explain the principles of means of escape throughout a building and methods of warning people when an outbreak occurs. More importantly, it will explain why buildings are built in accordance with the Building Regulations in the United Kingdom. 2. Fire Safety 2.1 Significance of Fire Risk Assessment Fire is the most intricate physical phenomenon happening in nature covering all field of scientific study such as thermodynamics, reaction chemistry, combustion, and fluid mechanics, to mention a few (Rasbash et. al. 2004, p. 255) A Fire Risk Assessment is a review of the workplace and work activities to identify how probable a fire is to start, where it would start, how critical it its effect, people and property that would be affected and how people can escape or get out of the building safely in an emergency. It is a planned way of looking at the danger and probability linked with fire and the products of fire (Perry 2003, p.24). Workers must be safe in the workplace. Laws, regulations, and policies require it. Inspectors and administrators should regularly evaluate workplace safety by walking around and looking for cables traversing walkways, unsafe equipment position, lack of safety equipment in areas such as loading docks, overloaded electrical connectors, unsafe elevators, and many more. Good management of fire safety is indispensable to guarantee that fire is unlikely to happen. However, if they arise, they are expected to be neutralized or suppressed rapidly, efficiently and securely. Given that fire does occur and escalate, every person in the building will be able to escape to a place of absolute safety smoothly and swiftly. Fire risk assessment helps us make sure that buildings and structures fire safety procedure, fire prevention measure, and fire precautions are sufficient and functioning appropriately (Odpm 2005). 2.2 Means of Escape There are in most cases legislative requirements for the provision of escape routing in all but the extremely undemanding single-story structures. Such requirements are based on the theory of the maximum length of escape route to a safe place, be it an exterior fire door or a protected fire-escape stairwell. The maximum lengths are based on the kind of occupancy and are reliant on the means of escape, whether along a hallway or through the fire compartment. There are also requirements on the total quantity of fire-escapes and the size of escape routes which are usually functions of the building type, the quantity of people likely to be within the premises at any given time and the potential mobility of these people. The escape routes are dimensioned to provide a comprehensive evacuation from the fire compartment into either a protected area or the exterior of the structure in some 2-5 minutes with a basic travel velocity on staircases of roughly 150 persons per minute per metre width of escape route. It should nevertheless be accepted that staircases are built in discrete widths that doubling the staircase width will not double the throughput, as an individual person requires finite space, and the minimum widths have to be specified. The historical background for imposing requirements on escape routes and evacuation according to Purkiss (1996) is from a string of devastating fires over a period of some fifty years from 1881, when a theatre fire in Vienna was accountable for some 450 people being killed, to a fire in Coventry in 1931. A lot of the background to present legislation in the UK is given in a Ministry of Works Report (1952) which was based on then current international system. All escape routes must also be lined with non-flammable, non-toxic material. It should be recognized that the fire doors opening on to escape routes might have lesser fire resistance performance requirement than the structure itself, because they are only required to be efficient in the very early phases of the fire where foremost concern is with evacuation rather than structural strength. The provision of a sufficient means of escape is therefore essential to the design of new buildings, and to the modification, change of use or expansion of existing buildings. 2.3 Warnings It is likewise significant that the resident of the structure be knowledgeable to react to the warnings of any fire. In domestic situations, where the occupants are in a familiar situation, reaction may be quicker than in an indefinite behaviour in a fire. Any warning system must to use idiomatic expression and user friendly. It has still not been determined agreeably whether alarm bells or sirens should be employed by broadcast instructions or graphical display on the best method of exit. It is in any case, necessary that all escape routes are completely light up with independent emergency lighting and that emergency power supplies supply all signs. Although it is hard to believe but there are some cases, whereby people have completely disregard warnings to carry on whatever they were doing before the alarms are legion. This is because there are substantiations that suggest persons will carry on as long as possible acting as if the fire is not real or there was no alarm (Purkiss 1996). The learning process must also extend to the owners and lessees of any structural complex. This process must form part of any fire safety management policy adopted. For buildings where the occupancy is controlled, part of the learning process can take form of fire drill procedure. However, caution should be taken, as the more people know when the drills are to occur, the more probable it is that the drill will be evaded and its efficiency vanished. For instance, there have been individuals going in the reverse direction to the flow of evacuees to gather bits and pieces from offices, and when questioned persuasively react with words to the effect that it is only a drill. Heat detectors that function at a predetermined temperature or if the rate of heat rises surpass a specified rate are the major warning devices that are called ‘fire detectors’. There are also ‘fire alarms’ set up in other buildings that either activated by fire detectors or by manual actuation. Numerous warnings are focused on the ignition process. For instance, the warning signs on a self-service gasoline pump warn the user ‘No Smoking’ in appreciation that the gasoline fumes can be ignited by a cigarette. The warning signs in factories often forbid welding or cutting in specific zones where flammable supplies are being handled or kept. The fire hazard in these circumstances is typically understandable to the person, and the sign can be considered a form of a reminder. The graphic warning is a significant part of several fire warnings. Various people do not know the idea of fire growth and spread and it is repeatedly required to show graphic illustration to communicate the nature of the danger. For instance, a graphic sign that demonstrate the risk of a fire or explosion from the ignition of the fumes from flammable liquids by the pilot light of a hot water heater is essential. The graphic symbols in this warning sign are designed to show schematically the way the fumes travel to the pilot light, but in addition, there is a shape of a person in the flame as well as the well-known red prevention symbol on the shape of the open flammable liquid container (Wogalter 2006). Graphic fire warning is intended to caution a person who does not have any particular understanding of fire safety. Conversely, there are a number of special warning systems to caution professionals of fire hazards. These warning systems give them with the essential information to fire fighting, emergency, and other personnel when they initially go in a particular facility. This permits them to choose whether to abandon the area or to start emergency control procedures. It also provides them with information to help in selecting fire-fighting strategy and emergency measures. These graphic symbols can be displayed on the exterior of a building, or it can be shown on the door of an internal space (Wogalter 2006). 2.4 Building Regulations in Great Britain The process of implementing a fire risk assessment is comparable to that of a general risk assessment except that the classification of hazards is limited to fire matters. Under the Fire Precautions (Workplace) Regulations 1997 cited by Ridley and Channing (2003), the findings of a fire risk assessment must be recorded. The fire risk assessment should cover a distinct area of the workplace. The term”fire precautions” is normally accepted to comprise matters that are subject of legal requirements under explicit fire precaution legislation. This legislation deals with universal fire precautions that include means of detection and giving warning in case of fire. It deals with provision of means of escape and means of fighting fire, training of staff in fire safety, linings that reduce the spread of fire, means to provide structural stability, and means to withstand the spread of fire within and between buildings (Christian 2003). The Fire Precautions (Workplace) Regulations 1997 as amended by the Fire Precautions (Workplace) Regulations 1999 according to Billington (2005) require the provision of minimum fire safety standards in workplaces and enforce duties on employers and on others in control of places of work pertaining to the provision of minimum fire safety standards. They relate to any place of work where people are employed counting those covered by other fire-specific fire-safety legislation such as those for which a Fire Certificate is in force, or has been applied for under the Fire Precautions Act 1971. Under the Fire Services Act on the other hand, fire authorities are required to acquire information about buildings in their area. This information is designed to help them in organizing fire-fighting strategy for the building and to make certain that they are accustomed with access points, water supplies, and any unusual hazards that the building have. The Fire Precautions (Workplace) Regulations place mutual responsibility on residents to coordinate with the local fire brigade and enable them to become familiar with the building. In addition, to make certain that when the fire brigade go to an incident, someone can direct them to the cause of the fire, report on the evacuation of occupiers and be a point of contact for any question. Building Regulations are interested with the structure and construction of buildings and are implemented by local authorities who have tasks to guarantee that the fire safety arrangements in new and altered buildings conform to the appropriate standard. For buildings which will be put to a designated use under the FPA, the local authority are required to confer with the Fire Authority prior to approving plans and are required to issue a completion certificate when they are contented that the completed work conforms with the Regulations (Ridley and Channing 2003). 3. Conclusion Since fire can impose an intolerable high cost of human sufferings and economic losses, understanding its threat to people, property, and economic activity is important. It is therefore essential to identify fire risk particularly in the workplace to ensure the safety of the workers. A fire risk assessment can help identify fire hazards and safe route for people in case of emergency. Good management of fire safety can help reduce the occurrence of fire and if a fire still occur, everyone in the premises will be able to escape unharmed and quickly. Warning signs and devices play a very important role in fire safety management since they can notify people in advance of the potential hazards and outbreak. Alarms, heat detectors, and graphical display help increase fire safety in addition to illuminated escape routes and emergency lighting. There are legislations that deal with fire precautions that include means of detection, warning, and escape. Industrial buildings are required by these legislations to have the required provision of minimum fire safety standards. Building regulations are to ensure that buildings and structures are built in accordance with appropriate standards. Thus, local fire authority must approve plans and other details of the building before and after construction to ensure the completed work complies with the fire safety regulations. 4. Bibliography Billington M. J., 2005, Using The Building Regulations: Administrative Procedures, Published by Butterworth-Heinemann, ISBN: 0750662573 Christian S., A Guide to Fire Safety Engineering: BIP2007, Published by BSI British Standards Institution, ISBN: 0580418960 ODPM, 2005, Fire Safety Risk Assessment, Office of the Defence Minister, Published by the Stationary Office, ISBN: 1851128166 Perry Pat, 2003, Fire Safety: A Practical Approach, Published by Thomas Telford, ISBN: 0727732390 Purkiss J. A., 1996, Fire Safety Engineering Design of Structures: Design of Structures, Published by Elsevier, ISBN: 0750606096 Rasbash D., Ramachandran G., Kandola B., Watts J., and Law M., 2004, Evaluation of Fire Safety, Published by John Wiley and Sons, ISBN: 0471493821 Ridley John and Channing John, 2003, Safety at Work, Published by Butterworth-Heinemann, ISBN: 0750654937 Wogalter Michael S., Handbook of Warnings, Published by Routledge, ISBN: 0805847243     Read More