Fires in Multi-Occupancy High-Rise Buildings for Migrant Workers - Literature review Example

Fires in multi-occupancy high-rise buildings Introduction The report focuses on an effective and robust strategy to reduce the number of injuries and fatalities as a result of domestic fires in multi-occupancy high-rise buildings which are under construction and provides overpopulated temporary housing for migrant workers. The report identifies that one of the recurring problems that lead to most fire cases are due to the altering of the electricity/gas supplies by the occupants to provide several areas for cooking within a single dwelling and causing overheating and short-circuit dangers in conjunction with an increased life-risk. Further, the report would also analyse whether a single agency may solve the issue or it requires an integrated approach from the fire service, other emergency services and supporting agencies in a range of community safety events or activities. Migrant workers and living conditions Migrant workers play a significant role in the development of the cities and speedy urbanisation, especially in the developing nations. These workers either migrate from rural areas or under-developed countries in search of jobs in the urban regions. Due to rapid urbanisation, construction is in full swing in many cities of China, India, Middle-East etc. The lure of better earnings drives many of the migrants to these places to work in the construction industry (Lua and Zhoub 2008). However, despite facilitating the development of basic facilities such as housing to people, these workers themselves are denied of such facilities and often are amongst the lowest rung in the society. These workers not only face harsh working environment but are also provided with poor housing facilities. Most of the people who are being employed in the construction industry are asked to reside in the building that is under-construction. Such a proposition is not only dangerous but also violates the basic rights of a worker as well (Davis 2006). Migrant construction workers are always on move, they are often known as mobile workers shifting from one construction site to another. Therefore, these workers mostly do not have their permanent residence and live within the parameter of the construction site. Most of them also stay in the under-construction structure itself. This is a very dangerous proposition, as an under-construction building has many safety issues, which includes falling debris to fire hazards. One of the serious threats living in an under-construction building is fire hazards faced by the migrants (Lua and Zhoub 2008). It has been found that the migrant workers are all camped together inside a single unit. For instance, if in an under-construction building, a particular floor has gotten completed; all the workers would occupy that single floor. This means that a floor meant for four families would be occupied by at least 20 families. This result in putting pressure on the limited resources supplied to this floor. The workers often alter the electricity and gas supply lines so that all the occupants are being provided with the basic necessities. However, in doing so, they are not aware about the fact that such alteration might cause overheating and short-circuit and result into fire (Lua and Zhoub 2008). Further, most of these workers are not literate or aware about the fire safety and alarm features. Therefore, they are not able to respond to fire evacuation procedures or instructions properly. Moreover, most of these migrant workers come from culturally different groups and speak various languages. This creates language barrier while evacuating these workers in a fire situation. Therefore, the living conditions of migrant workers are fraught with fire hazards, which often cause subsequent loss of lives (Meyer et al 1997). Role of emergency services during evacuation In case of fires in a high-rise multiple family structures under-construction, several more factors need to be taken into consideration as compared to single family structures. While tackling with such fires, one needs to be concerned with the rapid spread of the fire, heat, gases and smoke throughout the building. Further, such buildings also have the disadvantage of dense population living within the structure and the increase in the size of the building. Also, in case the design of the structure is more vertical in approach than horizontal, than the fire hazard becomes much more fatal (Pires et al 2005). Therefore, the emergency services, especially the firefighters should be prepared to tackle various un-precedent issues that they might not face while fighting a fire in a completed building. An under-construction building contains combustible substances, very limited space to access the entire floor and especially the upper floors, shortage of water supply and high exposure to the wind and other weather conditions. As the building in the construction stage, it might be vulnerable to collapse as well if the fire spreads rapidly and causes damage to the structure. Such factors therefore, not only make it difficult to fight fires in an under-construction building but also make it almost impossible to rescue people trapped in such buildings (Boyce 1991). Further, only the firefighters may not be able to rescue the people trapped inside such a building. They would require integrated support from other emergency services such as the ambulance and hospital services and even help from the police department. As the rescued people would require immediate medical attention, it is necessary that the ambulance service should be available at all the times. Further, due to the unstable nature of the structure, debris might fall off the nearby areas as well. Thus, the police should ensure that the nearby areas are evacuated and the fire site has been roped off to prevent any un-authorised entry into the site. The police should also ensure crowd control to help firefighters execute their work without any hindrances (Pires et al 2005). The firefighters would also require help from the building management, especially the designers of the building in order to understand the current stage of construction and estimate the number of people trapped inside the building. The designers would also provide them the blueprint of the building that would help the firefighters in understanding the entry and exit routes. Many might consider that as an under-construction building does not have too many walls, it would be easier for the firefighters to rescue people. However, in reality, it is much more difficult to rescue people from such buildings, as the absence of walls results in the spread of fire in the entire structure rapidly. Further, the heat makes the structure very unstable and prone to collapse. Thus, not only the people trapped inside such a building are at risk, but even firefighters trying to rescue them might suffer fatal injuries (Pires et al 2005). Strategy to prevent fatalities The above mentioned situation might be tackled with an integrated approach and creating an effective and robust strategy to reduce the number of injuries and fatalities during such domestic fires in under-construction buildings. First and foremost, the authorities and the building management should ensure that such incidents of fires should be prevented from taking place. In order to achieve this, the officials should ensure that the workers living within the building are provided with proper education and awareness about various safety features and fire hazards of living in an under-construction high-rise building. The builders should ensure that only the permitted amount of people should live in each floor, putting lesser pressure on the gas and electricity supplies. Further, mock fire drills should be conducted on a regular basis and the workers should be told about fire hazards such as smoking and littering combustible materials on the floor (Boyce 1991). The fire department should also keep a tab on various under-construction structures. The department should be well aware of the blueprints and the construction details of such structures. This would help the department in chalking out their rescue strategy in an effective manner, as they would be aware and prepared for the circumstances. The department should gather information about the structure from time to time by visiting the construction site and accessing the fire-fighting mechanisms available at the site (Pires et al 2005). As fighting fire in a high-rise structure that is under-construction requires huge amount of resources, especially if the firefighters are required to fight the fire from the inside of the building, it is prudent to be prepared for such an incident beforehand. However, such preparedness requires added resources and in cases of a fire incident a huge group of firefighters to tackle the situation. The firefighters should also be aware of the limitations within which they have to undertake the rescue work. The strategy therefore, should be working around these limitations (Pires et al 2005). Some of the strategies that the firefighters and the building management may adopt include: Providing clear accessibility to the site: As the construction site is often strewn with vehicles, trailers and construction materials, these might pose as obstacles for the firefighters to reach the site. Therefore, as soon as the fire alarms are rung, the builders should ensure a safe passage for firefighters and fire engines by the time they reach the site (Boyce 1991). Getting to the upper floors: In case people are being trapped in the upper floors and the fire has generated from the lower floors, the fire fighters should make it their priority to reach the trapped people in the upper floors. However, reaching these people might become very tough in an under-construction structure as the fire would spread very rapidly and the firefighters may not risk taking the incomplete or wooden stairs to the upper floors. In such cases, using of construction elevators may be an option (Boyce 1991). Tackling fire at critical junctions: The firefighters should be able to identify the risk-prone areas such as the wooden coverings on the staircases and shafts which might succumb to the fire and crumble under pressure. These coverings also result in the rapid spread of the fire to other floors (Boyce 1991). Removing combustible and flammable materials: The firefighters should also make it a priority to remove the combustible building materials and flammable liquids and gases such as propane cylinders from the site. This would ensure in preventing the spread of fire to nearby buildings (Boyce 1991). Identifying the right floor: In an under-construction building, it might be difficult to identify the right floor due to lack of identification marks and numbers. However, as a general procedure, the construction workers spray the number of the floor on the sides of the elevator or on the wall near the landing of the all the staircases. The firefighters might look for such identifications to understand their current position (Pires et al 2005). Use of modern techniques in a coordinated manner: The on-ground staff and the firefighters should be constant touch with each other over walkie-talkies. Further, in order to effectively search for victims the team may use thermal imaging and oxygen cylinders to exit safely from the building (Pires et al 2005). Fighting a growing fire: The firefighters should ensure that the fire should be fought the instant it is caught as it is difficult to contain fire in an under-construction building. Therefore, attempt should be made only to fight the fire if it is small in proportion. Further, the openings at the floors would make the fire drop on the below floors. Therefore, the firefighters should be careful of such fire drops as well (Pires et al 2005). Limited water supply: The firefighters might be faced with limited water supply at the construction site. They might encounter problems with the valves and riser threads not at par with the fire fighting hoses. Such problems should be anticipated during the invigilation of the site itself and the management should be penalised in case these safety regulations are not followed (Qi 2002). Collapse of the structure: Due to the intensity of the fire and lack of supporting structures such as walls, an under-construction building may collapse as well. The firefighters should be aware of such a situation and should not attempt to enter a building that seemed unstable (Pires et al 2005). Timing of the fire: The timing of the fire is another crucial factor while tackling fire in a high-rise building that is under-construction. As the entry and exits are not clearly earmarked, the firefighters should carry flashlights, especially carrying out a night operation (Pires et al 2005). In case of evacuating migrant workers, the firefighters might face with a bigger challenge of making these workers understand the safety procedures. It has been seen that most of these workers are not native language speakers and may not be able to understand English very well (Bryan 1986). In such cases, it becomes difficult to make them understand the safety procedures such as using the harness during the evacuation. As the time is scarce during such incidents, firefighters might waste precious moments explaining the safety features to these workers. Therefore, anticipating such problems, the firefighters may accompany a translator with them to get the message across the workers (Zmud 2008). Conclusion The report clearly points out that fires in multi-occupancy high-rise buildings under-construction may result in fatal injuries and even death. Evacuation from such structures is a difficult task and requires coordinated efforts from all the agencies involved in providing emergency services. It was also seen that migrant workers are prone to these kinds of fires as they are often asked to reside in under-construction buildings due to lack of proper housing facilities for such workers. Often the builders do not pay much attention to the housing needs of their workers and camp the workers together in a single floor. This results in over-burdening on the resources available in the single floor. For instance, the workers may alter the gas and electricity supply lines to fulfill their requirements. This can be a very dangerous circumstance as it may result into short-circuit and subsequent fire in the building. In order to tackle such a situation, it is important to create a robust strategy that would focus on not only fighting the fire but also preventing the occurrence of such fire incidents. The fire fighters and the building management should adopt a strategy that would focus on conducting regular fire management checks of the building and accessing the construction of the structure as well. This would help the fire fighters in understanding the structure in a better manner in case of any eventualities. Further, the fire fighting mechanisms of the buildings should also be accessed from time-to-time. In case of a fire incident, the fire fighting department along with the ambulance services, the police and the management of the building should work in a coordinated manner to contain the fire at the earliest stages and safeguard as many lives as they can. Reference: Boyce, Roger, Sr., 1991, “Occupancies in Special Structures and High-Rise Buildings”, Fire Protection Handbook, 17th Ed., Quincy, MA : NFPA. Bryan, J. L., 1986, “Human Behaviour and Fire”, Fire Protection Handbook, 16th Ed., Quincy, MA : NFPA. Davis, M. 2006, Planet of Slums, New York, NY: Verso Books. 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