Community Safety Strategies - Essay Example

Community Safety Table of Contents Introduction 3 Related Services 3 Community Safety Strategies 4 HSE role in Fire Safety 5 Fire Safety Strategies and Measures 7 Fire Safety Strategy and Protection Measures Selection Process 9 Fire Safety Analysis Model 11 Conclusion 15 References 16 Bibliography 18 Introduction Community is an aggregation of interacting peoples. It can be segregated based on geographical areas, language, culture, tradition, and religion or global, and can also be in modern day scenario be connected through internet like social networking communities. Safety is what every individual yearns for. Community safety as the name says deals with every individual safety belonging to a community. It’s a way of building safe environment for all living beings. It is also helpful in reducing opportunity and likelihood of crime (Northern Territory Government, n.d.). Related Services Related services deal with the overall welfare of employees by providing them safety in both personal and professional environments. Home security to low income communities is a service which is been provided by American Corps under Safe Neighbourhood AmeriCorps Partnership (SNAP). They provide free demonstration security assessments and hardware instalments and provide instruments on demand. This helps them in saving their money on training and resident feel secure. Probability of failure is negligible as only one among all accessed house has faced this problem (SNAP, 2000). Fire Safety is a process by which measures are taken for preventing and reducing fire disasters. It can be implemented during and after construction of building. Its education is also required to individuals for their premises safety. Workplace fire safety is a non - domestic area safety. In England, it is done under supervision of Communities and Local Government (CLG) and in Scotland and Wales under Scottish Government and Wales Assembly Government. HSE (Health and Safety Executive) looks after cases responsible for fire safety. Community Safety Strategies Good Neighbourhood Watch Schemes is a strategy which helps in reducing crime in local areas by motivating individuals to accept their responsibilities towards self safety and community safety. CCTV and Radio link are been used for reducing crime taking place in retail shops and streets. Education and promotions of diversionary related to youth are implemented for reducing rate of crime and offences related to young people. It also helps in overcoming hatred and prejudice. For this protection schemes are also been formulated and implemented. Agencies are established and many schemes and policies are adopted for stopping distribution of drugs and alcohols among young generation. Online services and many agencies and policies are been adopted for stopping domestic violence and sexual assault. Stay Safe Stay Secure Scheme is been adopted for helping older people. It helps them to feel safe in their home (BCSP, 2008). There are many issues faced by fire safety departments. They can be budget, quality and availability of fire safety equipments, space, area location, community, culture, governmental policies, backup plans, inefficient and non tactful workforce. HSE role in Fire Safety HSE plays a crucial role in fire safety like in process of fire precaution measures, regulations of building and information source. Under the process of fire precautions measures, special precautions are implied for the reduction of the probability of fire break out and if fire occurs, then to reduce its spread and intensity e.g. storage of flammable liquids in process areas, workrooms, laboratories and similar working areas, ventilation, selection of anti inflated equipments, efficient extraction system. Process fire precautions are enforced by HSE or the local authority, under the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 (HSW Act); the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 (MHSWR); and further specifically health and safety legislation such as the Dangerous Substances and Explosive Atmospheres Regulations 2002 (DSEAR). DSEAR is implemented for an assessment of risk attached with measures adopted for the measurement of risk caused with fire and explosive elements like petrol or paints at workplace. Regulations regarding building is been used for the purpose of controlling of buildings in new premises. The assigned duty is to define building designs and all construction related controls. This is done in context of safety measure for the users, access facilities which are disabled can also access, conservation of energy and safety from fire. Information source is very crucial part among the processes conducted by HSE as it is an assistance granted by government for the assessment attached with fire risk. It includes five-step checklist for risk assessment for businesses with full guidance. Online advices are also been granted by government to all business parties. Fire Protection Association of UK provides information and advices through advertisement using advertising measures like leaflets, and visual aids (HSE, n.d.). Health and Safety Legislation are been formed for regulating safety process efficiently and effectively. Some of the legislation established is: The Health and Safety at Work, etc Act 1974 The Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2007 The Education (School Premises) Regulations 1999 The Manual Handling Operations Regulations 1992 The Electricity at Work Regulations 1989 The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 The Control of Asbestos at Work Regulations 2006 A fire safety measures adopted by engineers during project Risk Management Strategies for development of Balanced Fire Protection Strategy The Health and Safety (Display Screen Equipment) Regulations 1992 The Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 1995 The Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations 2002 The Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 Disability Discrimination Act 1995 The Health and Safety (First Aid) Regulations 1981 (ATL, n.d.). Risk Management Strategies for development of Balanced Fire Protection Strategy The Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992 Fire Safety Strategies and Measures Utilization plan of one or cluster of protection measures for achieving safety objectives is known as fire safety strategy. Some of the strategies related to fire safety can be safe occupants’ building, protection of contents and property, protecting adjacent property and protection from environmental factors. Strategies adopted need to be flexible in nature so that it can be modified if there is a change in safety objectives. NFPA Fire Safety Concept Tree is a measure adopted for the qualitative analysis of fire safety factors. This method includes all the equipments used within fire safety facilitations. The Tree structure is used to analyse the relationship between strategies adopted for fire prevention and fire damages. Issues that are in relation to fire protection engineering involves development, delivery process, and administration work on national, state and also local level are been administered by the use of professional recognized as Fire Protection Engineer City of Appleton. Its responsibility is ensuring proper compliance of fire safety measures along with life safety measures in all building related projects. Prevent fire ignition branch is a branch in fire department that measures for not letting any fire ignite. And, if the fire occurs then the branch that deals with it becomes the manage fire impact branch. According to prevent fire ignition branch, fire can be avoided by utilizing three ways: 1) Fuel control through elimination process where fuel or any ignitable element will be eliminated 2) Controlling interaction between any more than one source of ignition 3) Controlling rate of heat released by controlling source of heat and energy. Whereas, manage exposed branch use two ways like 1) moving exposed elements to safe pace and 2) defending place where they maintain building for sufficient period so that it can be acceptable. But since no measures are 100 %, effective backup is always necessary. Measures used by Manage exposed branch for moving exposed can be implementation of Fire detection system, emergency light, system for fire alarm, egress system, fire resistance elements, smoke management system, and exit signs and defending the place measures used are fire suspension system, emergency lighting and intercommunication system. Fire Safety Strategy and Protection Measures Selection Process Fire protection engineers always consider strategy related to fire should always be given the priority because research has proved that this measure helps in reducing fire accidents. But which measures to be adopted between moving the exposed or defend in place is a major issue. This depends upon the kind of project. Every project has its own demand and priorities so; measures should be adopted according to those priorities. E.g. “moving the exposed” cannot be adopted during strategic level on projects like hospital’s intensive care unit, and nursing homes. There can be some project where both the measures implementation is compulsory. Quantitative method is proved to be more effective in this selection process. Steps involve in qualitative methods are as follows: Identification of fire hazards Analysis of risk associated with fire Evaluation of risk. For identification of fire hazards many process are in use. It can be done through checklist process or HAZOP study. This step is adopted for identifying potential sources of fire ignition, load quantity and arrangements that may result into big fire and also in identification of hardware and software loop holes. Under the process of risk analysis, the scenario is created by identifying all the probability and consequence related to fire. It also analyses the total time of event. Due to large number of scenario, scenario cluster are been used for evaluation process. For estimation of event frequency many factors are studied like initial ignition, spreading time of fire, failure probability in system related to fire protection. Many parameters used in analysis can be uncertain too e.g. frequencies of statistics, errors in process of simplification and methods of calculation. Fire Safety Analysis Model There can be various models for analysis of fire safety as follows: Basic Series Model: In this model fire safety system has n independent components with reliability factor ranging from 0 to 100 denoted by “R”. Where 0 indicate total unreliability and 100 indicate total reliability. E.g. Smoke management system. In this system variables can be signals send during fire detection, power of transmission and the failure rate of the components used in it. Active Redundancy Model: In this model measuring reliability, R has two independent components, R1 and R2. In this model operation is leading towards satisfaction. This satisfaction can be achieved by one part functioning or both parts. E.g. Fire detection system enclosed with many dectector components. If there are n numnet of independent components present then the formula applied is; Standby Redudancy Model: It is a model used when there are components where one unit operates only during the failure of the primary unit. In this R has two independent units both having equal failure rate denoted by . Condition applied in this system is that there should be no failure of components in non operating switching and sensing system. Here t refers to the time factor. If an n number of components are considered then After calculating relibility next step towards analysis is calculation of two factors, probability (P) of fire and frequency(f) of its . this can be calculated by utilizing fire scenario. To calculate risk factor is the next step. Two factors considered for risk calculation are frequency(f) and concecquences denoted by C. When cluster of scenarios are been under use, risk can be calculated by For evaluation process total risk calculated in different strategies adopted for fire risk needs to be compared. After conducting an evaluation of the entire scenario decision can be made on which one depends on active and which part of the assessment is on passive fire protection system (Hui, n.d.). Fire Risk Management is a management process for identification of risk associated with fire, evaluation of those risk, implement to measures for reducing and controlling the effect of fire and transferring of all residual risk for making it risk free space. In such a scenario, an audit is conducted at shop floor level to check the reliability of fire pump and its back up plans. It also consists of maintenance and repair process of fire detecting and controlling devices. Here, checklist process is utilised for the proper implementation of fire safety process. This consists of staff participation, waste management, clean management so that components and devices can be kept clean, also 5 S strategy of quality management, smoking zone separate from workplace and all management related activities that can work as a helping element in fire safety process (Paswan & Mukhopadhyay, 2009). Lancashire Fire and Rescue Services (LFRS) have used POP (Problem oriented partnership) mechanism for solving many problems related to pump. Under this method SARA methodology is been used which means scanning, analysis, response and assessment. POP has a database system. This database is used for the recording and evaluation of problems both in small scale and large scale. Database should be recorded with full details so that anyone can understand. After recording of all databases scanning process is been done by analysing the area of event happening, problem, affect of problem on LFRS, other effected parties, core of problem, evidence. During scanning, following questions get an answer: what, where, when and who. After this process analysis on occurrence of problem is started. It is done to find out the root cause of the issue. In analysis process PAT (Problem Analysis Triangle) strategy is been utilized. It gives answer about why does problem occurred. Once both the process is over, we are out with more than root cause and response to every root cause need to be different. Response job is to reduce the effect of root cause to a manageable level. Then, assessment is been conducted which consists of an overview of actions undergone in the process and its result. It also takes feedback from victims, partners and all others related parties and lesson learned during this process (LFRS. n.d.). Fire and Rescue Service (FRS) is also dedicated towards environmental protection. This is done to protect environmental hazards caused by fire disasters. For achieving good practices related to environment FRSs works on three areas like first one is area related to emergency incidence by reducing the impact of firewater runoff and spillages that contains environmental hazardous elements. This is done by safeguarding public drinking water sources like lake, and ponds. It also participates in population control program for public safety. Second one is training events. In FRS training program risk is balanced with realism for reducing pollution caused by instrument during training process. And the third area is FRS Premises and activities management. This is done by proper utilization of resources, efficient waste management. (FRS. 2008). Conclusion Community safety is a process of making people feel safe in their home, premises, streets and motivating them to lead good life without involving in any criminal activities. It’s an application of certain safety measures so that future disasters can be controlled and if it occurs its effect can be reduced. Fire safety department plays a major part in protecting community form fire disasters. They apply many models for quantitative analysis of causes related to fire ignition and its probability and frequency of occurrence. This quantitative analysis helps in preparing the cluster of scenario that helps in coming out with the measure for further prevention of this events. For implementing all fire safety implications, proper engineering work has to be done under supervision of Fire Protection Engineer City of Appleton. Fire and Rescue service has utilised many models for analysis fire events one of them is POP. FRS has also taken measures for protecting environmental hazards caused by utilization of toxic material in fire safety devices. For this, three steps are adopted like safeguarding drinking water area from pollution caused by their equipments, also they try to balance realism and risk in their training program and implement total quality management in their department for efficient utilization of resources and waste management. References ATL. No Date. Health and Safety legislation. The legal framework. [Online] Available at: http://www.atl.org.uk/health-and-safety/legal-framework/health-safety-legislation.asp [Accessed June 15, 2010]. BCSP. 2008. Community safety Strategy. Ballymena Community Safety Partnership. [Online] Available at: http://www.communitysafetyni.gov.uk/documents/csu_bmena_document.pdf [Accessed June 16, 2010]. FRS. 2008. Fire Service Operations. Fire and Rescue Manual. HSE, No Date. Workplace fire safety. Guidance. [Online] Available at: http://www.hse.gov.uk/fireandexplosion/workplace.htm [Accessed June 15, 2010]. Hui, C. No Date. How Can a Fire Risk Approach Be Applied to Develop a Balanced Fire Protection Strategy. Cover story. [Online] Available at: http://www.fpemag.com/archives/article.asp?issue_id=10&i=207 [Accessed June 15, 2010]. LFRS. No Date. Problem oriented partnership quick guide. Lancashire Fire and Rescue Services. Northern Territory Government. No Date. Community Safety Design Guide. Northern Territory Planning Scheme. [Online] Available at: http://www.plumberslicensing.nt.gov.au/lands/planning/scheme/documents/commsafedesignguide.pdf . [Accessed June 14, 2010]. Paswan, M & Mukhopadhyay, A. 2009. Fire Prevention in Industry. Engineering: Indu. [Online] Available at: http://www.arabrise.org/articles/A050108P.pdf [Accessed June 15, 2010]. SNAP. 2000. Providing home security and community safety services to residents of low-income communities. AmeriCorps. [Online] Available at: http://www.americorpsconnect.org/content/providing-home-security-and-community-safety-services-residents-low-income-communities [Accessed June 14, 2010]. The University of Chicago. No Date. Community Safety Resources. Civic Engagement. [Online] Available at: http://www.uchicago.edu/safety/resources.shtml [Accessed June 14, 2010]. Bibliography Northern Ireland. No Date. Fire Safety. Protecting our Community. [Online] Available at: http://www.nifrs.org/fire_safety.php?sec=1159 [Accessed June 15, 2010]. Read More