Elements of Fire Safety in Commercial Premises in the UK - Case Study Example

FIRE SAFETY (Name) (Course) (Institution) (Tutor’s name) 31 July 2008. Fire safety is an essential component of building safety. It is concerned with safety measures for preventing fire initiation, growth or minimizing fire effects in an occurrence of a fire. In the United Kingdom, 500 deaths every year occur from fire and the greater number occurs in residential premises. The damages and loss caused by fire in commercial premises are severe and dangerous. Fire safety in a commercial premise is important in reducing loss and damage of property as well as loss of life. Inadequate fire safety measures in any premises therefore can be very destructive and deadly. Elements of fire safety in commercial premises There are certain key elements that can be applied in commercial premises and residential premises, which can help in fire safety. Among these elements include; Building or constructing a facility in a building according to the version of the local building code available at the building time. Maintaining of facilities available for fire safety. One should also conduct him or her self in accordance with the provision of the premises fire code after occupying the building. The owner should ensure that all the occupants and operators of the premise are aware of the applicable regulations that should be followed. The occupants should not exceed the maximum occupancy in any part of the building, which will help to reduce fire risk and enhance safety in case of fire occurrence. They should also maintain good fire exits and signs, which are appropriate to work in absence of power. The occupancies of the commercial premises should place and maintain fire extinguishers in appropriate points for easy accessibility. The occupants should prohibit the storage of flammable materials at some points in the building. This is avoided at the exit points and at vulnerable places in the building such as kitchen. The owners of the premise should also ensure that there is regular inspection of the building and facilities for violation of regulations. The relevant authorities should also issue orders to comply with all occupants in the building. Failure to comply with this order leads to the closure of the building until necessary measures are taken. Fire alarm systems should be installed and maintained for fire detection and warnings within the facility. A complete fire stops inventory should be obtained and maintained in the buildings. Fireproofing spray should remain undamaged. High level training and awareness of fire safety measures to all occupants Building regulations and fire risk The United Kingdom government legislation of 2006 demands all business premises to have a fire risk assessment that will enhance fire risk assessment and reduction measures in the business premises. Unlike in the past where the fire safety systems in the UK depended upon certificates proved that a premise was safe or not, the shift in legislation focuses mostly on the fire reduction risks in the work place. It is therefore the duly responsibility of the person who has been deemed responsible for the business premise such as a manager to ensure that the building has the necessary fire safety measures. This is to ensure that the workers inhabiting the premise are safe in a day-to-day basis. Business premises fire risk assessment involves finding out the chances of fire occurrence and the types of dangers that are likely to be faced by workers in the event of a blaze. Assessors work hand in hand with the health and safety legislations in practice in order to comply with the government's regulation on fire safety assessment. A five-step methodology is applied in the assessment of a commercial facility. The first step involves the identification of a hazardous that may catch fire and cause a blaze in the premise, the second step aims at establishing which employee or workers are at a greater risk should a fire occur. Thirdly, it is important to understand where the current fire precautions could be inefficient, and fourthly the findings in the assessment should be recorded conscientiously and finally the assessment should include a schedule of when the future assessment will take place. I carrying out an assessment, it is important for the manager to use this knowledge and experience to improve the safety of the workers in the premise. (www.london-fire.gov.uk/fire_safety/at_work/risk_assessment.asp) The manager understands more about the business and should involve the members of staff in the assessment process as they may have important contributions concerning their work place, which could be overlooked by the assessor. Assessment of commercial premises is important as it helps in the identification of fire occurrence risks in the premises. The assessment is involved in the inspection of all the points in the building in various vulnerable points that are likely to be hazardous in the work place. Assessment helps the assessors to identify the fire risk areas in a building. By so doing, necessary measures and precautions are taken to minimize the risks of fire. Every occupant in the building should be cautioned appropriately of the high-risk areas of fire in the premises. This should be done with signs and relevant training of how fire can arise from the building. The building regulations in England and Wales, which are under the Building Act -1984, and the Building Regulations 2000 apply to the commercial premises new buildings and to building works, which includes the erection or extension of a building and alteration of materials or material change in already existing premises. The regulation imposes several requirements regarding fire safety in these premises. The regulations requires the premises to have access for fire equipment and assistance to the fire service department which is meant to ensure the safety of the workers occupying the facility at any time should a fire occur. It also requires the buildings to have sufficient compartments to reduce the risks of fire spreading. By having compartments, the occupants will have safety when exiting in an occurrence of fire. According to these regulations, buildings should be built using materials with elements that are fire resistant in nature. In this case, therefore it will be difficult for the building to easily succumb to fire. This also reduces the magnitude of fire in case there is fire. The buildings regulations require all buildings to have proper means of escape in the case of fire. This helps in evacuation of the workers in the building premise to escape fire safely and minimize risks of occupants using elevators and lifts as fire exits. The exits should be safe to enable fast movement of people thus avoiding congestion that may lead to stampedes. Buildings are also required to have surfaces that reduces the risk of fire spread on the ceiling and surface walls. This is minimized through the reduced hanging of fabric and papers on the walls and use of paints that are highly flammable on ceilings and walls of the business premise. The building regulations also determine the space between two buildings. This is done to reduce the risk of fire spreading to another building due to closeness in distance. Buildings are therefore required to have a reasonable space from each other to minimize fire spread risk. Creating a distance is also helpful as it allows firefighters to be able to handle fire in one building. If space between buildings is limited, it might hinder the efforts of firefighter and emergency rescue teams in case of fire. Commercial premises and residential premises should also be stable in their structure to avoid collapsing easily in case a fire blazes them. A strong structural building is safer for evacuation and firefighting exercises thus it is safer than weak structural buildings, which are dangerous and may lead to other accidents in the case of fire occurrence. Weak structural buildings often collapse faster in an occurrence of fire thus may interfere with the rescue efforts. The building acts regulations have helped in the minimizing of fire cases over the last two decades in the United Kingdom. The government recommends all contractors and individuals to apply to the local building control council before erecting a new building or any other building works in a commercial premise for approval. It is a requirement for the fire service to be informed of any changes made in a commercial building that has fire certificates. This is done to improve their services in fire control (www.suffolk.gov.uk/PolicingAndPublicSafety/FireAndRescueServices/FireSafety/BuildingRegulationsForFireSafety.htm) Means of escape in a commercial building in case of fire outbreak differ depending on the building where the fire has occurred. Staircases are safe exit ways for fire as they are located at a strategic place where fire does not attack easily. Stairs are however dangerous ways of exit especially when people panic in an event of fire occurrence. It is dangerous as people can break their limbs upon falling due to haste. People should move in an organized manner from the building to avoid stampede. Fire alarms are meant to alert people of an emergency fire outbreak and should not make anyone panic. Regular drills carried out in the commercial buildings at work place are meant to prepare the workers on how to respond to fire outbreaks emergencies. It is therefore good to relax and leave the premise as quickly as possible without causing risks to oneself or to others. Commercial buildings are designed differently and they may have varying fire escape facilities. There are normally two types of fire escape exits in a commercial building. These are vertical and horizontal escape. A horizontal escape design provides an escape routes and final exits based upon travel distances, level of fire protection and maximum occupancy of the premises while the vertical escape design is the number and protection of staircases based upon the building type and the number of occupancy of the building. As a rule in fire escape, alternative escape routes should be provided at all points of the building to prevent occupants from being trapped by fire or smoke. Emergency exit routes should be used in case of fire except under special circumstances. Escape routes should have enough artificial lighting but it is recommended for escape routes in buildings to have escape lighting, which illuminates when the power supply fails due to fire. Training of occupants working in a commercial premise is important. Orientation should be done to each employee in a new building and to all new workers. They should also be trained on how to avoid fire in the building. Every occupant should be shown on how to operate the different available fire extinguishing devices in the building. Training on fire safety should be done both internally and externally in fire safety seminars organized by fire service department within the county. Important signs and warning should be placed as appropriate. Smoking for example is a risk practice in an office where papers are involved. Papers are vulnerable to igniting when they are exposed to fire, and therefore such signs should be erected in a strategic point for the occupants to see. Workers should also learn to be responsible in their day-to-day duties. Without responsibility, the efforts of reducing risks of fire can be useless. Cooperation of the employees and their clients can enhance fire escape in a commercial building. Since some occupants can be new to the building as clients, the workers are responsible for guiding them through the fire exit tunnels. Communication by mouth can also help people during escape of fire. During fire outbreak people are advised to shout 'fire' to alert others around them. However, unnecessary noise can inhibit the process of evacuation as it leads to confusion. There are different fire fighting foams available in the market and they differ from one manufacturer to the other. These foams are designed to fight specific types of fire. It is therefore important for the premise management to determine the correct type of fire extinguisher appropriate for the premise depending on the kind of activities carried in the commercial premise. The premise should have an emergency response team within them to help in the process of evacuation. Special training is important for this group which is through voluntary. References Carter, E. (2006), Management in the fire service, (London, Sage) Harmathy, T. (1999), Fire safety, science and engineering, (London, Oxford University Press) John, R. and John, C. (2000), Safety at Work, (New York, New York Press) Kussler, S. (2000), Safety and Health at Work: Avoiding fire risks, (New York, McMillan publishers) London Fire Brigade available online at: www.londonfire.gov.uk/fire_safety/at_work/risk_assessment.asp (Retrieved on 31 July 2008) Suffolk county council, Building regulations for fire safety available online www.suffolk.gov.uk/PolicingAndPublicSafety/FireAndRescueServices/FireSafety/BuildingRegulationsForFireSafety.htm (Retrieved on 31 July 2008) Rasbash, G. and Ramachadran, B. (2004), Evaluation of fire safety, (London, Sage) Tricker R. and Rozz, A. (2006), Building regulations in Britain, (London, McMillan Publishers) Read More