Globalization of Fire Safety Legislation and Its Effects on the Fire Safety Practitioners - Coursework Example

Name of the university Name of the university department Name of the student Registration number of the student The course number The course title The academic year of study Evaluation of law, ethics and globalization Studies on globalization of fire safety legislation and its effects on the fire safety practitioners Date of submission Signature of the student Name of the course lecturer or supervisor Declaration i…surname of student..other names of registration number—registration number of the student.. declare that this academic work entitled “evaluation of law, ethics and globalization: Studies on globalization of fire safety legislation and its effects on the fire safety practitioners” is my own original work except as it has been cited in the reference section. This work has never before been published in any academic journal or magazine and has never been submitted for award of any degree or diploma in any university or college of higher learning. This work is not currently in candidature fro award of any certificate in any institution of learning. Signature of the student Academic year Date of submission Table of content Evaluation of law, ethics and globalization 1 Studies on globalization of fire safety legislation and its effects on the fire safety practitioners 1 Declaration 2 Law, ethics and globalization 5 Studies on globalization of fire safety legislation and its effects on the fire safety practitioners 5 Introduction 5 The Lancashire county council 6 The Abu Dhabi emirate 6 Analysis of law in the UK and ways the law operates internationally in the fire service 7 The role of globalization in affecting fire safety legislation and work for those in the rescue service 8 Ethical considerations that are dealt with in the fire and rescue service 9 The role of fire safety practitioner 10 Comparison of united Arab law and UK law 11 Comparison of methods of communicating fire safety policies in Abu Dhabi and UK 13 Ethical impact of the new civil defence status readiness to manage emergency incidents 14 The fire case studies 15 The fortune tower fire incident 15 The burnley warehouse fire incident 15 Conclusion 16 References 16 Books cited 19 Table 1: comparison of Lancashire county council and Abu Dhabi emirate 19 Declaration 1 Table of contents 2 Law, ethics and globalization 3 Studies on globalization of fire safety legislation and its effects on the fire safety practitioners 3 Introduction 3 The Lancashire county council 4 The Abu Dhabi emirate 5 Analysis of law in the UK and ways the law operates internationally in the fire service 5 The role of globalization in affecting fire safety legislation and work for those in the rescue service 6 Ethical considerations that are dealt with in the fire and rescue service 7 The role of fire safety practitioner 8 Comparison of united Arab law and UK law 9 Comparison of methods of communicating fire safety policies in Abu Dhabi and UK 11 Ethical impact of the new civil defence status readiness to manage emergency incidents 12 The fire case studies 13 The fortune tower fire incident 13 The burnley warehouse fire incident 13 Conclusion 13 References 14 Books cited 16 Table 1: comparison of Lancashire county council and Abu Dhabi emirate 16 Law, ethics and globalization Studies on globalization of fire safety legislation and its effects on the fire safety practitioners Introduction Fire safety practices in buildings are important in guaranteeing health and safety of the users of the building. Fire safety is provided by complying with fire safety legislation by ensuring fire risks are minimized and fire safety status of the building is known (Health and safety executives 2007). Fire safety status of a building is determined by carrying out fire risk assessment done by either the safety personnel of the building or responsible person who is appointed by the owner of the building or business to oversee fire safety risk management. Fire incidents are brought about by failure to comply with fire safety legislation (Health and safety executives 2007). This essay assesses fire safety laws in United Kingdom and how United Kingdom laws to affect efficiency of the fire and rescue service. The essay provide details on the role and responsibilities of fire safety practitioner in addressing various aspects of fire safety legislation, the role of globalization and its legislative consequences on practitioners in the fire and rescue service and ethical issues that form framework of fire and rescue service. The essay concludes by comparing case studies in Lancashire (United Kingdom) with Abu Dhabi emirate (United Arab Emirates) as a function of data presented in table 1. The Lancashire county council Lancashire had a population of 1,451,500 in mid 2007 (Moulding 2008). In 2003, from 20th October to 9th November, fire and rescue service recorded 3054 incidents and 882 of the fire incidents were as a result of bonfires. There were no deaths that were observed during that period. The main industries are pharmaceutical and electrical and non-electrical industries. Lancashire has 14 fire stations that respond to fire emergencies. The Abu Dhabi emirate Abu Dhabi emirate had a population of 1.3 million people as per 2005 population statistic census. Its primary industry is oil and natural gas that accounts for 9% and 5% respectively world output (Oxford business group 2005). From 2002 to 2007, Abu Dhabi experienced 14000 fire incidents that had very high economic costs in terms of destruction of property and loss of lives (Dani 2008). Abu Dhabi has five fire stations that respond to emergency incidents. Analysis of law in the UK and ways the law operates internationally in the fire service Fire safety in the UK is implemented through demonstration of compliance with regulatory reform (fire safety) order 2005 or fire (Scotland) Act 2005 or part 3 of the fire safety (Scotland) regulation 2006 (Health and Safety Executives 2007). The fire safety order 2005 requires fire safety responsible person to demonstrate adherence to health and safety requirements that are laid down by the Regulatory reform order 2005 legislation. Regulatory reform (fire safety) order 2005 does not require buildings to be certified for compliance with fire safety as was before required by fire certificates (Special premises) Regulation 1976 (Health and Safety Executives 2007). The regulatory reform order 2005 places onus for enforcing fire safety prevention mechanisms on the fire and rescue service but reinforcement of legislation is retained by HSE for nuclear, ship building and construction. The regulatory reform order 2005 requires responsible person to prepare fire risk assessment for the premises and maintain an updated record of fire risk assessment of the building. The fire safety order 2005 states it is responsibility of the building occupants or users to demonstrate sustainable safety practices and assist in carrying out fire risk assessment (Health and Safety Executives 2007). Fire safety in UK adopts risk based approach that was applied by fire precautions (workplace) regulation 1999 and therefore, the responsible person should be able to ensure fire safety in the building is sufficient. The role of globalization in affecting fire safety legislation and work for those in the rescue service Globalization is transfer of knowledge or expertise from a developed nation to a developing nation. Fire safety globalization involves technical transfer of fire safety legislation and standards from a developed nation to developing country (Haines 2005). Fire safety globalization brings about uniformity of fire safety prevention and control practices and helps to promote international inter-agency liaison in management of fire emergencies and use of common terms in the incident command (Black 1997). Therefore, globalization brings about international social change hence safety standards in different countries are improved. Globalization of fire safety standards helps to improve level of communication between different agencies involved in emergency response and agencies and the community that they serve with aim of providing knowledge to community of ways of managing incidents (Ayres & Braithwaite 1992). This prepares the community to take corrective measures for emergency management as the first responders to an incident. Globalization brings about central monitoring of fire safety in a building through installation of fire warning systems that communicate outbreak of fire before any property or death occurs. Globalization of fire safety brings about partnership of different authorities involved in fire management from architects to contractors with aim of building structures that have passive and active fire protection (Gunninghan & Grabosky 1998). Ethical considerations that are dealt with in the fire and rescue service Ethical factors should form part and parcel of efficient management of fire and rescue service. There should be measures and policies to ensure equal opportunity is accounted for in the employment of the staff and assigning of volunteers to the fire and rescue service. The process should comply with disability discrimination Act 1995, Gender recognition Act 2004, employment equality (age) Regulation 2006, employment equality (religion or belief) regulation 2003 and employment equality (sexual orientation) regulation 2003 (Bedfordshire and Luton fire and rescue service 2006). The recruitment of staff or volunteers should conform to race relation act 1976 and remuneration should satisfy equal pay act 1970. The employees and volunteers should be able to understand terms of their employment by having their roles and responsibilities communicated sufficiently (Humberside fire authority, 2006: ISVI org.com 2008). There should be protocols ands standards that govern employee conduct through communication of ethical issues like elimination of bullying incidents of employees or volunteers across gender, abstaining from sexual intimidation and proper use of powers (Merseyside fire and rescue service 2009) The role of fire safety practitioner The practitioner is supposed to ensure the responsible person complies with fire safety order 2005 by carrying out routine visits to the building site and providing advice on risk based approaches that the responsible person is supposed to implement in order to improve fire safety standards of the building. The practitioner should carry out fire risk assessment of the building to ensure the responsible person adheres to policies and procedures spelt by the regulatory reform order 2005 (Fire and Rescue service 2008). The responsible person should analyze the fire risk reports to check if there are wrong entries that the responsible person for fire safety might have done to demonstrate compliance with the legislation (Hemmingfire.com 2008). The practitioner should work together with the responsible person towards formulating fire safety strategies that could result into decrease of fire risks in the building. In discharging his fire safety responsibilities, the practitioner should abide by policies, protocols and procedures by demonstrating compliance with fire and rescue service statutory duties for promoting prevalence of fire safety (Lancashire fire and rescue service, n.d.). The practitioner should mentor other members of the staff and fire rescue volunteers by providing leadership on fire safety. The practitioner as a fire safety mentor should offer advice on fire safety and carry out inspection of buildings when called upon to do so and providing education to members, employees or users of the building subject to preparing and practicing emergency plans for the building. The practitioner should fire and rescue employees and any other volunteers for the rescue service have ability to demonstrate fire safety practices (Lancashire fire and rescue service, n.d.). The practitioner should partner with building control authorities to ensure buildings satisfy building regulation codes and have been constructed with fire resistive materials and that the construction materials for the buildings comply with standards spelt out by the approved document B 2007 for dwelling and non-dwelling buildings. The practitioner is supposed to enforce safety corrective action that agrees with safety policies and procedures as recommended by legislation. The practitioner should investigate cases of non-compliance with the safety legislation by collecting evidence through interviewing users or occupants of the building and preparing statements as well as preparation of safety case files (Lancashire fire and rescue service, n.d.). Comparison of united Arab law and UK law In UK, fire safety is implemented through demonstration of compliance with the regulatory reform (Fire safety) order 2005 or fire (Scotland) Act 2005 or part 3 of fire safety (Scotland) regulation 2006 (Health and Safety Executives 2007). In Abu Dhabi, fire safety is implemented through adoption of different fire safety legislations like the British Standards (BS), United States Standards (National Fire Safety Authority), Australian Standards or Hong Kong Standards For instance, developers in UAE prefer US Standards while engineers in UAE prefer British or UK standards. In UK, fire safety is enforced by the fire and rescue service while in Abu Dhabi; fire safety is enforced by police and civil defence with support from fire and rescue service. Police department in UAE delivers emergency services through Quick Intervention Response (QIT). In UK, fire safety order 2005 is implemented through periodic inspection, visits to building sites by the fire and rescue service, education of building users on practices of improving fire safety and demonstration of adhering to the legislation through user’s of the building carrying out fire risk assessment with supervision of the responsible person (Health and Safety Executives 2007). In Abu Dhabi, new buildings qualify for issuance of fire certificates but old buildings do not comply with new fire safety legislation based on costs of complying with new fire legislations. Public or government and military hospitals are not liable to fire inspections but private hospitals, hotels, residential buildings and industrial structures are subject to one formal fire safety inspection and one snap inspection in a year. In UK, buildings do not require certification for compliance but the responsible person for fire safety should have updated record of fire risk assessment of the building as a measure towards demonstrating position of fire safety in the building (Health and Safety Executives 2007). In UK, buildings have fire warning systems installed like smoke alarms and heat alarms as required by the legislation but this provision is not mandatory in UAE. UK buildings have active fire protection with installed automatic fire sprinklers while in Abu Dhabi, installation of fire sprinklers is not mandatory. Fire safety order 2005 requires buildings to have fire emergency plans and users of the building to understand measures to take in the event of fire outbreak by using the building emergency plans. In Abu Dhabi, buildings do not have fire emergency plans and users of the buildings are not adequately educated on measures to implement when fire outbreak occurs (Health and Safety Executives 2007). In UK, fire and rescue service liaises with the community through provision of education materials to the community. This measure ensures the resident understands safe practices for preventing outbreak of fire. Construction of buildings in UK is a function of fire compartments which ensures fire is contained at its room or floor of origin. In Abu Dhabi, buildings don’t have fire compartments and spread of fire occurs from one room to another through facades. This means economic costs of fire in Abu Dhabi or UAE is greater than UK. Comparison of methods of communicating fire safety policies in Abu Dhabi and UK In Abu Dhabi, fire safety policies are communicated through provision of training opportunities that are tailored towards managing fire accidents and reviewing of fire protection strategies in order to determine corrective measures that can be adopted to improve safety (ADGAS 2004). Fire safety policies are also communicated through exhibitions and trade fairs, the internet and the print media. Fire safety policies are also communicated through inter-agency joint training programs (George 2009). In UK, fire safety is communicated through fire and rescue service visits to residential buildings to educate users of buildings on fire safety practices. The fire and rescue service provide educational materials to the community which are free of charge like educational DVD’s. The fire and rescue service also installs smoke and heat alarms in buildings free of charge. The community can also visit the fire and rescue stations to be educated on fire safety measures. Ethical impact of the new civil defence status readiness to manage emergency incidents The new civil defence will improve delivery of fire safety subject to observation and implementation of human right principles, charters and treaties that safeguard human dignity, foster equality and promote social justice. The implementation the new civil defence stations will bring about sustainable fire safety protocols that respect the right of building users privacy, the right of the person’s social welfare and social security. The new civil defence stations will liaise with other safety partners and agencies towards upgrading legislation to be in line with the nation’s economic growth which may witness adoption of UK fire safety order 2005 into Abu Dhabi fire and rescue service. Abu Dhabi faces the challenge of poorly trained workforce that cannot effectively deliver sustainable fire safety hence efforts of Abu Dhabi to attain sufficient fire safety remains a problem that fire and rescue service has to address. Due to lack of enough qualified staff, the new civil defence stations will end up outsourcing skilled labour and this will open door to globalization of fire safety in Abu Dhabi. (Sell, 2007) The fire case studies The fortune tower fire incident The fire incident occurred in the 34 story fortune towers at 12:30 PM following breaking of glass and increased ventilation that fanned spread of fire. At the time of the incident, the fire alarms were not active because the building was under construction. 350 workers were in the fortune tower and 2 were killed and 37 sustained injuries (Theeb 2007). The burnley warehouse fire incident The fire incident was caused by arsonists in a disused warehouse in Lancashire. The fire incident did not have any fatalities or persons who were injured (Hopper 2009) Conclusion Fire safety in UK (Lancashire) has very low economic costs in terms of destruction of property due to compliance wit approved document B 2007, use of fire resistive construction materials and installation of active fire protection coupled with passive fire protection. The community in UK understands fire safety better than communities in Abu Dhabi Emirate through compliance with fire safety order 2005. The high fire incidents of bonfire incidents show readiness of fire and rescue service to respond to emergency cases. The fire incidents in Abu Dhabi result into destruction of property and high loss of life. The fire spread rate to other buildings is high due to lack of compliance with building regulation Act on inter-building distance as provided for in the approved document B 2007 for dwelling and non-dwelling places. Abu Dhabi therefore needs to adopt fire safety globalization in order to improve her fire safety status. References ADGAS-Abu Dhabi Gas Liquefaction Company (2004) News, Vol 19, no 212, April 2004. Retrieved from http:///www.adgas.com/portals/3/newsletterenglish/2004/april2004eng.pdf Dani (2008) our current events: 14,000 fire accidents in UAE in the last five years, wed, April 2008. Retrieved on 4th May 2009 from http://our-current-events.blogspot.com/2008/04/1400-fire-accidents-in-uae-just-in-5.html Fire and rescue service (2008). Retained fire fighter recruitment - Application information. Retrieved on 1st may 2009 from http://www.bucksfire.gov.uk/NR/rdonlyres/C68E919B-D048-40E0-88C3-98EEFFF19775/0/2RETAINEDFIREFIGHTERRECRUITMENTAPPLICATIONINFORMATIONFINAL.doc. George, A. (2009) Disaster management and crisis response, Middle East 2009; May, 31st –June 2nd 2009, Abu Dhabi UAE Health and safety executives (2007) Regulatory reform (fire safety) order 2005, Fire (Scotland) Act 2005: General enforcement guidance and advice. Operational circular, 12th march 2007health and safety executives. Retrieved on 2nd may 2009 from http://www.hse.gov.uk/foi/internalops/fod/oc/200-299/217_5.pdf. Hemmingfire.com (2008) safety at work- a must: Ready to Drop into Dubai? 01 October 2008, industrial fire journal. Retrieved on 2nd may 2009 from http://www.hemmingfire.com/news/fullstory.php/aid/445/Ready_to_drop_into_Dubai_.html Humberside fire authority (2005) humberside fire authority standards committee 5th December 2005. retrieved on 1st may 2009 from http://www.humbersidefire.gov.uk/aboutus/Fire_Authority/Agendas_and_Reports_2006-7/5_-_Standards_Committee/1_-_19_June_2006/Agenda%20and%20Reports.pdf Hopper, Chris (2009) This is Lancashire: Probe into blaze at former burnley warehouse, 17th April 2009. Retrieved on 4th may 2009 from http://www.thisislancashire.co.uk/news/4300269.Burnley_warehouse_blaze_sparks_warning_from_fire_chief/ Isviporg.com (2008) Developing policies on injury or violence prevention and safety for global action. Retrieved on 1st May 2009 from http://isviporg.datasenter.no/files/documents/isvip%20policies%208%20february.pdf. Lancashire fire and rescue service (n.d.) Job description and employee specification. Retrieved from http://www.lancsfirerescue.org.uk/files/recruitment/document_2_423.doc Merseyside fire and rescue service (2009) How to do business with Merseyside fire and rescue service: A guide for suppliers and contractors. Retrieved on 1st May 2009 from http://www.merseyfire.gov.uk/aspx/pages/procurement/pdf/how_to_do_business_with_mfrs.pdf. Oxford business group (2008) Emirates: Abu Dhabi- Country profile. Retrieved on 4th may 2009 from http://www.oxfordbusinessgroup.com/country.asp?country=36 Sell, Christopher (2007) Fire safety problems, Abu Dhabi, 22nd December 2007. Theeb, Alia Al (2007) The nation: Human error cause of fatal tower blaze, 22nd January 2007. Retrieved on 4th may 2009 from http://archive.gulfnews.com/articles/07/01/22/10098552.html Books cited Ayres, I & Braithwaite, J. (1992). Response Regulations: Transcending the deregulation debate. New York: Oxford university press. Black, J. (1997). Rules and Regulators. Oxford. Clarendon press. Gunninghan, N. & Grabosky, P. (1998) Smart Regulation: Designing Environmental policy: Oxford, Oxford university press. Haines, F. (2005) Globalization and regulatory character. Hampshire England and Burlington united states of America, Ashgate publishing limited Moulding, Bryan (2008 august) Lancashire population mid 2007. retrieved on 4th may 2009 from http://www.lancashire.gov.uk/office_of_the_chief_executive/lancashireprofile/monitors/lancspop.asp?sysredir=y Table 1: comparison of Lancashire county council and Abu Dhabi emirate Element Lancashire county Council Abu Dhabi Emirate population 1,451,500 mid 2007 1.3 million , 2005 census Number of fire stations 14 5 Number of fire incidents 3054 fire incidents, 882 were bonfire incidents 14000 Number of deaths Zero from the number of incidents period 4624 deaths 1Industry Pharmaceutical, electrical, non-electrical and aeronautics Oil and natural gas 2Method of reducing incidents Adoption of integrated risk management plan ( the fire appliances be designated to fire stations when home fire station appliances are engaged in incidents for more than 30 minutes Adoption of fire safety 0rder 2005 Appointment of responsible person to oversee fire safety by carrying fire risk assessment, determining safety corrective measures, liaising with community by providing guidance of fire safety and educating community on fire safety issues Read More