Risks and Hazards Faced by the Fire Investigator, Management Concerns, and Arson Prevention Measures - Case Study Example

Fire Investigation Name: Roll No: Class: Subject: Teacher: Date: 16th July 2008 University Table of Contents Table of Contents 2 Fire Investigation 3 Risks and Hazards Faced by the Fire Investigator 3 Process of Information Gathering 6 Identification of Deliberately Set Fire 9 Management Concerns and Arson Prevention Measures 9 References 12 Fire Investigation Risks and Hazards Faced by the Fire Investigator There has been development in terms of science and technology in the field of fire investigation and management since the last decade but still there are needs for improvement. Fire investigators go through various problems and health hazards during investigating details about fire accidents. These hazards may cause injuries, illnesses, physical disturbances and even deaths (Ide, 2000b). There have been many cases in history related to fire scenes and accidents when fire investigators met with serious accidents and were predicted to have bodily disability, incapacitating, incurable, and long lasting health problems and disorders. Fire investigators have to suffer from the same consequences and troubles that come in the forefront of fire fighters (National Fire Protection Association, 2001). They reach the location where a fire incident has happened after the incident is over but they have to confront hazards and safety lapses like the fire fighters. Their main duty is to judge the cause and origin of the fire accident. The fire investigators have to think over their security and safety issues before starting to investigate the whole accident. They must be fully aware of the hazards and risks that they are likely going to face during their investigation procedure (National Institute of Justice, 2000). When they are informed about a fire accident and are asked to investigate the nature of fire, they should be considerate about themselves in order to perform their duty actively and to safeguard themselves from physical and other injuries and disorders. They should take precautionary measures to prevent any kind of illnesses, disabilities, injuries and losses (Thatcher, 2000a). There are many hazardous and risky matters such as inadequate knowledge and experience concerning fire investigation, ignorance about standard operating procedures (SOPs) and lack of enough training (National Fire Protection Association, 2001). All the previously mentioned risks or hazards cannot be negated as they can prove themselves a reason for jeopardizing fire investigators’ health as well as their lives. Many other hazards are there that can compel a fire investigator to be a captive at home or any other rehabilitation centre because of his being exposed to some hazard or risk (Thatcher, 2000b). To eradicate any threat or to minimize it, the fire investigators are in need of appropriate safety and precautionary measures (Thatcher and Kelleher, 2000b). The bodily hazards that the fire investigators have to face are many in number such as falling due to wreckage, locations that are blasted of, wrecked glasses of windows, doors or any other glass stuff at the location, fallen nails, tattered metal, floor gaps, lynching light fittings, uncovered electric cabling that may be located secretively underground, above the heads or in inhabited places, destructed electric devices or applications such as transformers, fridges, overall boards, destructed gas pipelines, increasing noise conditions, environmental disruptions such as increasing cold or hot weathers, stormy weathers and others, damaged staircases, greasy floors, overhanging objects, inflammable devices, uncovered manholes and many other hazardous conditions (National Institute of Justice, 2000). There are dangers of oxygen deficiency, subjection to toxics, gas leakage and environmental disruption because of harmful gases (Ide, 2000a). All these conditions appear as a hindrance towards investigation. They not only affect badly the health conditions of the fire investigators but also they are the reason behind incomplete or delayed fire investigation (Thatcher, 2000a). All fire locations must have some hazards and risks. It is a truth that should not be ignored by the fire investigators. Personal protective equipment (PPE) is not needed only by the fire fighters but also for those who work after extinguishing of fire, as there are still many dangers present there (Thatcher, 2000b). Personal protective equipment (PPE) consists of a range of clothing and equipment, which is worn by workers, students, contractors and visitors to protect their bodies from workplace hazards. According to HSE (Health and Safety Executive), personal protection equipment is obligatory for any work environment for the security and health of the employees of the institution (National Fire Protection Association, 2001). As far as fire investigators are concerned, they are doing a job that is considered as dangerous as the job of fire fighters, due to which, it is necessary for them to make use of the protective equipment and clothing designed for them. An initial survey should be conducted that must contain all the information related to probable perils at the fire scene. Chances of all possible stresses and pressure situations should also be highlighted in the survey (Thatcher and Kelleher, 2000a). The personal protective equipment designed for fire investigators, keeps the capability of handling voice, vision, auditory and movement troubles. Therefore, fire investigators should make use of personal protective equipment designed for them and they should conduct a full-fledged survey in order to judge unhealthy, risky or periled conditions (Ide, 2000b). Process of Information Gathering After identification of hazards and risks involved in fire investigation, the fire investigators have to collect relevant information in order to investigate the whole accident, the cause behind it and the nature of fire (National Institute of Justice, 2000). All the potential injuries and harms should be documented in order to highlight precautionary measures that should be followed to prevent the probable harms and dangers. The bystanders and onlookers should be interviewed to collect appropriate and required information about the fire accident. The property holders and residents should be interviewed to know causes and nature of fire to reach to the depth of fire reasoning. The fire department workers like fire fighters, fire brigade drivers and other fire-handling professionals that were present at the fire scene should be interviewed. Law enforcement professionals should also be interviewed in order to get their judgement regarding the fire accident (Thatcher, 2000a). Other people, who are related to the incident or who are present near the fire scene should also be interviewed. Along with interviews, all the information regarding the interviews should be noted in some written state, as it is beneficial for further information collection procedure. The risks identified by the risk management department or personnel should also be assessed in order to judge what kinds of risks the building was thought to encounter. Material safety datasheets (MSDSs) are very compulsory to be made while information collection procedure as they are a part of information collection (National Fire Protection Association, 2001). This information plays a crucial role in the development of a safety plan for the site. Structuring of a safety plan is compulsory as it highlights all the working procedure of the fire investigator (Ide, 2000a). A site plan should consider and note all the details concerning probable security measures that should be taken into consideration for investigating appropriately. The information that needs to be collected for the fire investigation purpose includes following concerned details (Thatcher, 2000b): The personnel who are responsible for the security and management of the fire site need to be identified in the collected information. The risks and perils related to the site management that were identified before the fire accident, need to be included in the collected information. The personal protective equipment including the clothing and respiratory masks should be highlighted in the collected information. The therapeutic and medicinal needs and requirements related to the fire site should also be included in the collected information. Photographs should be taken of the fire scenes in order to investigate thoroughly about the fire origin and nature. The photographs should be pasted along with the documentation. Interview details should be included in the information collection procedure as they play a crucial role in the investigation procedure. Future risks and hazards related to the fire site should be identified and relative measures should be suggested in order to control future accidents related to fire. A site map should be developed for the fire scene to judge the causes and nature of the fire. All the assessment details should also be documented to inform higher authorities about the nature and cause of fire. Decontamination procedures should be highlighted so that the place can be wholly cleansed from the harmful affects of fire. The persons related to the fire accident such as the security people, the management, the police officers, affected people and their relatives, survivors of fire, guards, building owners, authorized personnel and eyewitnesses of fire accident should be questioned in order to collect relevant information regarding the nature and reason of the fire accident (Thatcher, 2000a). All the collected information should be documented in order to inform related personnel about the cause and nature of fire. The indicators to the outbreak of fire should be properly analyzed by the fire investigators to capture the reason behind the incident. The fire investigators have to assess all the objects that can be a reason for outbreak of fire such as electric boards, gas pipelines, suffocation, risen temperature, leaked lines and other causes that can be there behind outbreak of fire (Thatcher, 2000b). Identification of Deliberately Set Fire For identification of origin and cause of fires, there has been lack of technological and scientific advancement. To identify the deliberately set fire, the fire investigators need to scrutinize even the minor details concerning the accident (Thatcher, 2000b). For deliberately set fire, many ways of identification are adopted by the fire investigators such as forensic methods for identification of flammable liquids or other combustible matters, for identification of intentional electrical problems such as creating some problem in the electrical boards and other locations (National Fire Protection Association, 2001). Fire investigators also scrutinize molten marks in order to assess the details concerning arson. The fire investigators make use of hidden cameras if they are fixed in the building and are saved after the accident of fire, they make use of forensic reports, they interview people and security personnel to find out the fact related to fire combustion (Thatcher and Kelleher, 2000a). They also get details in case of suspicion from the authorities concerning the set fire. Management Concerns and Arson Prevention Measures The fires that are set deliberately are more injurious as compared to other fire accidents as the intention of the arsonist is to harm the building, people or the organizational data (Thatcher and Kelleher, 2000a). There can be other purposes for setting fire deliberately. For controlling all the arson attacks, the management should take effective measures that keep the capability to prevent the future risk of setting fire. In case of any fire accident, report must be given in order to safeguard losses presently as well as in future concerns. The first step that should be taken in terms of preventive measure is the identification of locations and premises where there are chances of arson attacks. Health care locations such as hospitals, health care centres and rehabilitation centres can be vulnerable places. Stores can also be targeted in terms of stealing and setting fire to conceal the act of larceny (Thatcher, 2000a). Arson attacks can be pointed towards such buildings that keep track of frauds, stock disruptions and other harmful data about the people involved in embezzlement. The management of any building should develop a strategy to manage all the probable risks and hazards. The risks and hazards should be identified in terms of the location of the building or premises, related people, business, ethos and other details concerning risk management (National Institute of Justice, 2000). Training should be given to the staff members of any business organization. The management should provide training opportunities to the staff members about the fire alarm and its sound, they should be informed about the escape routes and they should be trained about the use of the personal protective equipment needed during the file extinguishing operation. A small group of employees should be assigned the duty of calling the fire brigade. Employees should also be given training in terms of providing assistance to other employees who are unable to safeguard themselves during combustion (National Fire Protection Association, 2001). The management of a building should take good security measures so that the arson attack can be prevented fully. The security personnel who are appointed in places that need security should be trained in order to prevent irrelevant entry of people (National Fire Protection Association, 2001). The confidential places of the building should be secured by people who are fully trained and they should be alert in terms of their duty to prevent any arson attack. It is very important for any building to be safeguarded from any arson attack to secure the lives of people and the building’s positive features. The employees should be given training in order to take security measures in routine working to prevent themselves as well the building or premises from fire setting situations. They should not allow unauthorized or unofficial persons to enter the premises for any reasons. The management is responsible for informing the employees about the safe procedures for discarding waste products (Thatcher, 2000b). They should be properly informed about the harmful affects related to any material. The employees should be properly informed about any arson attack and they should be trained about all such situations in order to handle any troublesome situation. They should be fully informed about the impending menace to life, failure in terms of occupation and business loss (Ide, 2000b). Management should establish good links to their employees in order to secure it from an arson attack or any other attack from outside. The management should also develop good links with the fire brigade, law enforcement professionals and insuring companies in order to reduce the risk involved in terms of arson attack. Fire investigation is a job that is not easy to perform, as there are many hazards and risks involved in it. A fire investigator has to assess all the risks involved. He should collect all the relevant information regarding fire investigation. He should also be able to identify whether the fire was set intentionally as arson or by some mistake or failure. In case of its being arson, the fire investigator should propose solutions to the management. The management should take preventive measures to avoid the risk of arson and other failures in terms of fire accidents. References National Institute of Justice. (2000). Fire and Arson Scene Evidence: A Guide for Public Safety Personnel. Washington (DC): NIJ Research Report. National Fire Protection Association. (2001). NFPA 921: Guide for Fire and Explosion Investigations, 2001 Edition. Quincy (MA): National Fire Protection Association. Thatcher P. (2000a). Fire Investigation. Ed. Freckelton I and Selby H. Expert Evidence. Sydney: Lawbook Company. Thatcher PJ. (2000b). Fire Investigation: Chemistry of Fire. Ed. Siegel JA, Saukko PJ, Knupfer GC. Encyclopaedia of Forensic Science. London: Academic Press. pp. 900- 905. Thatcher PJ and Kelleher JD. (2000a). Fire Investigation: Evidence Recovery at the Fire-Scene. Ed. Siegel JA, Saukko PJ and Knupfer GC. Encyclopedia of Forensic Science. London: Academic Press. pp. 905-911. Ide, RH. (2000a). Fire Investigation: Fire-Scene. Ed. Siegel JA, Saukko PJ and Knupfer GC. Encyclopaedia of Forensic Science. London: Academic Press. pp. 911-916. Ide RH. (2000b). Fire Investigation: Fire-Scene Patterns. Ed. Siegel JA, Saukko PJ and Knupfer GC. Encyclopaedia of Forensic Science. London: Academic Press. pp. 916- 922. Thatcher PJ and Kelleher JD. (2000b). Fire Investigation: Laboratory. Ed. Siegel JA, Saukko PJ and Knupfer GC. Encyclopaedia of Forensic Science. London: Academic Press. pp. 922-928. Read More