Risks of Fire in the Residence Premises of Migrant Workers in the United Kingdom - Literature review Example

Name : xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Tutor :xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Title : Community Safety case study Institution : xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Date :xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx @ 2011 Introduction Risks involving fires have been reported to take place in residential problems for over a long time in the United Kingdom. Many of the fires reported have been fount to involve migrant workers in the UK. Since these fires can lead to death, injuries and loss of property it is important for them to be controlled. This happens under the watch of various organizations partnering to help the migrant workers who may be too vulnerable to these fires. Migrant workers suffer high levels of risk because of their living conditions. Fire rescue services involve no less than one organization. In the UK issues to do with fire are handled by local authorities’ fire departments in cooperation with the police and ambulance services. Other organizations providing fire services include home office, civil defense, marine services agency, and her majesty’s coast guard Yeoh, Brenda S.A (2007). Issues to do with risks of fire in the residence premises of migrant workers are common in the UK. A study done in the UK in 2002 showed that many of the fire accidents are not caused by faulty products. Faulty behavior was blamed for many of the domestic fire accidents. Migrant workers in most cases live in expensive housing that is in most cases crowded. Crowding exposes them to the risk of fire and little escape possibilities in times of fire. All of the emergency agencies have statutory duties requiring them to perform certain tasks when there are emergencies Athukorala, Prema-Chandra; Chris Manning (2000). Various fire service providers Fire service organizations work in coordination and close cooperation because the tasks involved are massive and complex. They cannot be successfully handled by one agency or organization. One of the groups involve in fire emergencies in the UK are the police. Their role is to perform among other things; scene coordination. They go in to coordinate all the other organizations involved so that everything can work well. For them to accomplish this task they form “a strategic coordinating group” in which each organization is given representation in major decision making meetings Yeoh, Brenda S.A (2007). The police cordon the area of the fire in order to prevent people from accessing the affected area. Cordons may be made with both the outer and inner ones with traffic control points spread over a wide area. The police are also involved in criminal investigation since many of the fires may be cause by negligence or malicious events linked to organizations or individuals. The role of police at the scene now becomes on of collecting relevant information to help in further investigations. Incase of serious incidents in which people are missing or injured the police may establish a casualty bureau to help in collecting and processing information about the injured or dead people Athukorala, Prema-Chandra; Chris Manning (2000). The ambulance service does the coordination of all NHS resources involved in the control of fire at the scene. At the scene there may be medical teams from hospitals, doctors, paramedics as well ‘voluntary ambulance services.’ The ambulance service therefore makes an assessment of the incident and its possible effects on the health service. This information is then communicated to the health partners upon which response plans already put in place are initiated. They also prioritize the best treatment to be given in such emergencies and the subsequent transportation of the injured people to the hospital. Ambulance services have adequate training which enables them to complement the fire service in decontamination activities Yeoh, Brenda S.A (2007). Local authorities are also instrumental in emergency situations caused by fire. They work hand in hand with the ambulance by the provision of the normal services provided by the council. They assist in community housing and welfare, structure or building safety advice and traffic management on highways. They also help in coordinating the activities of support organizations like WRVS, St. John Ambulance Brigade and the British Red Cross. They can take care of the survivors and evacuees welfare. Those local authorities involved convene a recovery working group to help bring things around the incident back to normalcy. The fire service provides rescue and fire fighting. They control the inner cordon and oversee its safety as well as the establishment of safe practices of working. The fire service is also responsible for carrying out safety risk assessment and decontamination of many people. Fire services lead emergency services to make substances at the scene safe Athukorala, Prema-Chandra; Chris Manning (2000). Another important organization involved in fire incidents is the environment agency which protects the public and the rest of the environment. It considers the source of the fire and finds out if an offence violating environmental laws has been done. It may gather information that can help in prosecution. Utility companies like electricity, gas and water and telecommunications are expected to act in cases of emergency. They can variably be involved in the incident depending on what type of incident has occurred Yeoh, Brenda S.A (2007). In big incidents it is the responsibility of police officers to take the leadership position in matters of control and coordination. They are usually busy controlling the outer cordon to prevent unauthorized access to the area with the fire incident. They can also be found controlling the inner cordons especially if the fire brigade is not very much in need of the area. Fire brigades may take control of the inner cordon depending on type of incident and only in specific areas. An ‘ambulance control point’ is operated from the outer or inner cordon by the ambulance service depending on the type of incident. This ambulance service takes care of every NHS or medical personnel working at the scene of the fire Yeoh, Brenda S.A (2007). Principles of working together Fore there to be successful rescue activities there is need for proper coordination amongst the organizations involved. Team playing and cooperation is necessary in order for rescue operations to succeed. Since the each group supplements the efforts of the other it is important for them to cooperate so that each individual does their best. Every organization or team needs to understand its responsibility and area of operation and then be effective and vigilant in carrying out its role. Combined effort by various organizations and authorities working together in cooperation is important in order to achieve success. For this to be realized in the time there is a fire incident it is important for all the groups to undergo training in their respective areas and also together. Discipline will enable the personnel to respect one another, obey orders and work tirelessly even without supervision Athukorala, Prema-Chandra; Chris Manning (2000). Fire risks to migrant workers Since migrant workers are in a foreign country in the United Kingdom, many of them are found living in environments that are not very much conducive to human habitation. Their problems come from the fact that they are foreign and unable to secure good employment immediately they come in. Some of them never secure employment because of their lack of proper education or other inhibiting factors. What comes out of all these is that they are forced to look for the cheapest accommodation with poor facilities and living conditions. In an effort to help each other they may overcrowd in small houses Yeoh, Brenda S.A (2007). Their houses lack the right fire fighting equipment like smoke alarms and fire extinguishers. As a result they are exposed to many risks coming from fires. Fires are caused by in most cases the negligence of the people concerned. They may be lacking in the right knowledge as pertains to fire accidents, their causes and how to control them. Many immigrants may not have lived in the United Kingdom to get to understand the laws and regulations governing matters of community housing and personal safety of. They violate these rules and what comes out is the exposure they have to various fire hazards. Fire hazards result from lack of knowledge on how to keep them a way from the home and how to behave in times of fire incidents Athukorala, Prema-Chandra; Chris Manning (2000). Many houses occupied by migrant workers have no escape routes to be used in cases of fire. In addition well tested and conditioned equipment like fire or smoke alarms, fire sprinklers and fire blankets are lacking. Most fires occur due to improper use of deep fryers when cooking. Due to lack of awareness about domestic fires in the UK immigrant workers do not take enough care of their households. They may accept to live in crowded homes and at the same time lack the necessary fire control equipment. They do not remember to check the fire safety and security like electrics in the home before retiring to sleep. Negligence and reckless behavior may lead some of them to smoke in bed, leave candles lit when they sleep, do not use fire guards and may expose lighters and match boxes to children. Improving fire safety Migrant workers could be helped to understand the dangers of reckless behavior in the home when it comes to fire. This can easily be done through various methods that are appropriate to them depending on their circumstances. If I was to create awareness about fire among my fellow migrant workers I would use a number of resources in order to reach them Yeoh, Brenda S.A (2007). For me to reach the people that I need to partner with in my efforts I would first approach my fellow migrant workers and present to them the problem of fire safety. The intention here is to convince as many migrant workers as possible that there is a problem that affects only us and our families. This is crucial since a single person’s effort is bound to succeed if only it can receive support and strong backing from like minded individuals and groups Athukorala, Prema-Chandra; Chris Manning (2000). I will also stress the point that because of our relatively poor economic status and living conditions we will do good to help ourselves since other people are minding their own business. A group of enthusiastic migrant workers will then start forming with the single agenda of creating awareness about fire. We can then approach various migrant worker welfare groups and from there make a bigger force. This growing force can then have a starting point in terms of resources and manpower Yeoh, Brenda S.A (2007). We can also seek to establish community based groups called fire volunteers who can go around planning and organizing for fire drills. These will seek to teach migrant workers on a small scale and in small groups how to avoid fires and how to deal with them before they can grow big. Chris Manning (2000). As we educate our fellow migrant workers through the welfare groups we can seek the assistance of various agencies and organizations to help us get the right equipment for fire safety control in the home. This group of migrant workers may adopt a closer method of reaching the people through distributing pamphlets. We can come together as a group and marshal resources which we can use to print the pamphlets to be distributed to the people from house to house. These pamphlets will carry information on how to avoid domestic fire risks in the kitchen or the home in general. They will also be carrying statistics of those accidents that have taken place every year in the United Kingdom involving migrant workers. Chris Manning (2000). Condensed information on the dangers of carelessness and negligence when working with fire will also be printed on the pamphlets. From this simple level I can then move on to exploring means and ways of reaching those workers who could not be reached through pamphlets. Even though this might be a challenging venture it is possible with the little contributions of money that the migrant workers can collect Yeoh, Brenda S.A (2007). One of the most effective resources I could use is both the print and audio visual media through which vigorous campaigns can be launched. Bill boards are also important in this effort since they can be seen by all people using roads and public places. Since all these methods will involve substantial amounts of money that an ordinary migrant worker cannot afford it will be wise to partner with other willing parties and groups in order to achieve the desired end. I would definitely try my best to find a way through which I can secure funding from non governmental organizations working within the community. Alternatively I would work on selling the idea to the non governmental organizations so that they can take the lead. In cases where community based organizations are involved campaigns can be done within the areas with a huge presence of migrant workers. House to house campaigns can be carried out as well as street and open air activities. Through the residential premises we could organize peaceful demonstrations which have the potential of hitting the media McVeigh, Karen; Taylor, Matthew (2010). These demonstrations can become more meaningful if many more migrant workers are involved. I would therefore seek to recruit more migrant workers into the group with the agenda of enlightening our fellow migrant workers about the dangers of fires in the homes Athukorala, Prema-Chandra; Chris Manning (2000). This strategy is potentially workable because at the moment the issue of fire has become a common thing and many migrant workers have been affected. An effort to unite them and fight the problem would be successful if they are made to understand the strategy and mode of working around it Baker, Steve (2001). Conclusion Risks resulting from domestic fires are common in the UK. The fire service works in conjunction with various agencies, organizations and local authorities to control the fire problem. Those involved in fire control are the ambulance service, the police, and environmental agencies among others. They work in close cooperation with the fire service depending on the nature of the fire to achieve their objectives. Coordination and cooperation are important if the efforts to control fires and return things to normal are to succeed. All the groups involved must be disciplined, responsible and be able to play team work so that emergencies can be taken care of with the urgency they deserve. A good percentage of risks involving fires have been found to be involving migrant workers in the country Yeoh, Brenda S.A (2007). The reason is that many of them are ignorant of the fire safety regulations that need to be observed in the home. They lack awareness on how to prevent fires from arising. This is coupled by the bad living conditions they have. Many are crowded in small houses and lack the right cooking equipment and fire control equipment like fire extinguishers and fire smoke alarms. For this situation to be rectified migrant workers need to be educated through welfare groups and associations in which they come together. Through this bigger resourceful groups can be formed which can work with non governmental organizations and to do bigger campaigns through the media Yeoh, Brenda S.A (2007). References Chan M, Campo E, Esteve D, et al. 2009; Smart homes - current features and future perspectives. Maturitas. Oct 20; 64(2):90-7. Epub 2009 Sep 2. Department of Health (1999) Saving Lives: Our Healthier Nation. The Stationery Office, London. Fontana, G. 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