Fire Management at the University of Central Lancashire - Case Study Example

Fire safety management plan Name Date Course Fire Safety Management Plan Introduction The University of Central Lancashire in Preston has opened a multi-purposes start of the art sport facility that will have four floors. The Sports facility has been named Sir Tom Finney Sports Center (STFSC). The Sports facility will be used by the members of staff, students and the members of the public. It is the responsibility of the University to ensure the safety of the people using the sports facility in the event of fire. A fire safety management plan is therefore required for the purposes of ensuring that deaths and injuries can be prevented in the case of a fire. This is considering that it is a legal requirement for the building to have a fire safety management plan. BS9999: 2008 Code of practice for fire safety in the design is useful during the design of a fire management plan (Billington, et al. 2014). The code of practice is widely acceptable, and it is used in the United Kingdom and other parts of the world. BS9999: 2008 is effective in the design of fire management as it was developed for a period of about ten years. The paper is thus a fire management for STFSC at the University of Central Lancashire using BS9999: 2008. Fire safety policy statement The College is committed to ensuring that the health and safety of all the students, staff members and members of the public using the sports facility is of high standards of at times. The university takes seriously its fire safety responsibility at the stadium. As such, University intends to maintain high standards of fire safety in order to ensure that it is fully prepared to handle any emergencies. This will help avoid loss of life and destruction of property in the event of a fire at the sports facility. Fire safety management structure Evacuation Strategies In the event of a fire, the fire alarm should be sounded immediately, and all the occupants of the sports facility should retreat from the fire. Once the fire alarm has been sounded, the fire fighters should be called immediately. The fire exit should be used during the evacuations and process, and the fire marshal will have to provide instructions for guiding the occupants during the process. No one should disobey the instructions of the marshals as it may endanger their lives. The marshals have to ensure that everyone in the vicinity of the building is evacuated. This includes the disabled who may not be in a position to move easily by themselves. During the evacuation process no one should stop to collect their personal belongings but should focus on moving away from the fire (Gerard, et al. 2013). Everyone should then proceed directly to the car park that will be the assembly point in case of fire. All the occupants once at the car park should remain there until further instructions are given to them by the fire marshals. The fire marshals play an important role during the evacuation process. Emergency Response During an emergency, the first step involves sounding the fire alarm so as to ensure that everyone is aware of the fire (Della-Giustina, 2014). The fire alarm at the sports facility should not only be audio, but it should also be in a position to alert the people with visual and hearing impairment. This is for the purposes of ensuring that everyone is aware of the fire. The next step is to call the firefighters so that they can come immediately to contain the fire. However, the fire marshals that are trained should ensure that the building is fully evacuated and they can use the mechanisms that are in place to try and reduce the spread of the fire before the arrival of the firefighters. Fire Alarm and Detection The design of the fire alarm and detection system will be based on the BS9999: 2008 standards. An electrical service contractor shall be responsible for the provision of the fire alarm and detection system. The commissioning will be carried out by a company that is a member of BAFE, to SP203 and BSI registered for design, verification and installation. The basement service void detectors shall be composed of smoke, heat and carbon dioxide devices (Part, 2014). The strict requirement has to be met due to the potential damages and loss of lives that may take place in the event of a fire. The fire alarm system will be comprised of sounder bases, xenon strobes and deaf alert systems. The fire alarm system shall be installed with a mechanical service control for the purposes of ensuring that it can shut down mechanical engineering services installations. 1.5mm² cables with red sheath will be used in the installation works of the fire alarm. An analogue addressable control analogue panel will be part of the installation. The optical smoke censor will have a sounder base and slow response heat sensors should also be part of the system. The fire alarm accessories shall be mounted in the following heights; Control and Indicator Panels at1500mm AFFL to centre, Break Glass Call Points at 1000mm AFFL to centre and Wall mounted sounder at 2100mm AFFL/directly below the ceiling (Lay, 2013). An identification label should also be fitted in the system so as to ensure that it can be identified by the occupants. Fire Prevention and Arson Awareness Fire prevention is an important aspect and has to be considered in every aspect of the building (Akadiri, et al, 2013). Fire proof materials will be used for the purposes of constructing the building in order to slow down the spread of fire in the building. Advanced electric and safety technologies will also be put in place for the purposes of preventing electric fires. On the other hand, all the electric systems and components should be well maintained so as to prevent electric faults which results to electric fires. The fire marshals will also create awareness among the users of the facilities of the dangers of arson in the facility. The users will be provided with information regarding what they should not do so as to prevent fire incidences. Routine Procedures for Staff The staff has to inspect the system on a routine basis for the purposes of ensuring that it is in good working conditions. Inspections should be carried out to determine whether equipment used for fighting the fire is in good conditions. The staff is also required to ensure that all the switches are function and this should be carried out on a routine basis. The smoke alarm has to be tested every month for the purposes of ensuring that it is functioning well. The batteries for the emergency lighting system which are self contained should also be checked on a routine basis to determine its capacity (Quiel & Marjanishvili, 2011). The routine procedures by the staff members are useful in ensuring that a swift response is put in place in case of a fire. Selection and Control of Materials The selection and control of materials is an important aspect that has to be carried out in order to prevent the rapid spread of fire within the building. The materials will be selected based on their abilities to resist fire and its spread. However, it is also important to note that as a sporting facility, some of the materials may support combustion and may contribute to the spread of fire at a higher rate. The structural features will ensure that the building is fire resistance so as to prevent the fast spread of fire. The materials for the construction of the fire escape will also have to be fire proof (Hu, et al, 2012). The materials for the interior doors will also be well selected to ensure that the occupants are able to leave the building easily in the events of a fire. Fire dampers will also be fitted in the local exhaust ventilation system ductwork when it passes through the fire resistant construction. Effective housekeeping practices will also be carried out on a daily basis within the building. This is for the purposes of removing rubbish which supports burning. As a sports facility, it is expected that the place will be littered with a lot of plastic materials and bottles from the drinks. Such materials support burning and have to be removed on a daily basis. Maintenance and Testing of Fire Safety Systems The maintenance and testing of the fire systems will be carried out in accordance with BS9999: 2008. Testing and maintain the system is important in ensuring that it is in good working condition at all times. This is important for the purposes of avoiding the incidences of being caught offguard (Babrauskas, et al, 2012). The fire marshals will play an important role in carrying out the process as they are familiar with its use. A fire maintenance contract will also be prepared for the purposes of ensuring that companies with adequate expertise can carry out the maintenance process from time to time. However the contractors have to be supervised by the university and the fire marshals should be present during the process. All the relevant legislation related to the fire safety order will also need to be considered during the maintenance and testing process. The electrical system will also be maintained for the purposes of ensuring that it reduces the risk of fires. The fire extinguishers that are not working Decoration, Alterations and Extensions The extension cords will only be used under particular conditions. The extension cords will only be used for temporary basis as it will not be used permanently. The decorations will also be minimized as some of the decorations may support combustion and hence promoting the spread of fire within the building. The alterations will be carried out in order to limit the spread of fire. The alterations will also be put in place in order to create more space that will enable the effective evacuation process to take place. The decorations may, however, be put on the exterior of the building as opposed to the interior so as to avoid the spread of fire within the interior of the building. The oil-based paints that support combustion should be avoided in the interior of the building (Tricker & Alford, 2013). Staff Training and Fire Drills Staff training is important to the purposes of ensuring that they are fully equipped with the knowledge and skills of dealing with an emergency in case of a fire outbreak. The staff members should be trained on how to use the firefighting equipment. The staff members should also be trained on the different classes of fire so as to know the right equipment to use when fighting the fire (Woodrow, et al. 2013). The aspects of environment, health and safety should be part of the training for the staff members. Evacuating the disabled may prove to be challenging in the event of a fire. This should form part of the training as it will impact positively on the ability of saving the lives of the disabled people in the event of a fire. The staff should be trained on how to carry out their inspection duties. This is considering that they will be required to carry out inspections on a regular basis. Refresher training should also be carried out after every three years so as to enhance the knowledge and skills of the staff members. The fire drills have to be carried out at least twice a year or on an annual basis. The fire drills will be important in preparing the staff members as well as the users of the sports facility. Fire risk Assessments The fire risk assessment will have to be carried at least once in every two years and in accordance with the legislations. On the other hand, the fire risk assessment will be carried out in case of any changes to the fire management plan. In the event of a major fire at the sports facility, a fire risk assessment will have t be carried out. Fire risk assessments are useful in terms of ensuring that adequate measures are put in place for the purposes of avoiding the outbreak of a fire (Hu, Y, et al, 2012). Record Keeping The records with regards to preventing, detecting and fighting fire will be kept. The records will also have accurate dates of when different activities were carried out including the fire drills. In case of any fire incident at the building the record has to be kept for the purposes of future reference (Billington, et al, 2014). The fire records should be availed to the fire inspectors at any time that they require it. On the other hand, it is important to note that the record should be prepared by experts so as to ensure that it is accurate. Audit and Updating of this Manual An audit will be carried out on a yearly basis for the purposes of determining the effectiveness of the manual. Experts should be involved during the auditing process (Woodrow, et al, 2013). The results of the audit can be used for the purposes of making improvements with regards to the manual. List of References Billington, M, et al, 2014, New Approaches 1: BS 9999: Part 1 Means of Escape, Means of Escape from Fire, 212-220. Part, B, 2014, Fire Safety Design Guide, Health, 2. Lay, S, 2013, Fire Safety and Evacuation, The Tall Buildings Reference Book, 293. Gerard, R, et al, 2013, Fire Safety Challenges of Tall Wood Buildings, National Fire Protection Research Foundation. Della-Giustina, D, 2014, Fire Safety Management Handbook, CRC Press. Akadiri, P, et al, 2013, Multi-criteria evaluation model for the selection of sustainable materials for building projects, Automation in Construction, 30, 113-125. Quiel, S, & Marjanishvili, S, 2011, Fire resistance of a damaged steel building frame designed to resist progressive collapse, Journal of Performance of Constructed Facilities, 26(4), 402-409. Hu, Y, et al, 2012, An overview of agent-based evacuation models for building fires, In Networking, Sensing and Control (ICNSC), 2012 9th IEEE International Conference on (pp. 382-386). IEEE. Babrauskas, V, et al, 2012, Flame retardants in building insulation: a case for re-evaluating building codes, Building Research & Information, 40(6), 738-755. Tricker, R, & Alford, S, 2013, Building regulations in brief, Routledge. Woodrow, M, et al, 2013, A nascent educational framework for fire safety engineering, Fire Safety Journal, 58, 180-194. Read More