Fire prevention program

How do the elements of a Fire Prevention Program integrate with other Management Systems ... 

Fire Prevention—Activities whose purpose is to prevent fires from starting. Fire protection and fire prevention go hand-in-hand. All fire protection programs include a fire prevention program. For example, control of ignition sources is very important in minimizing the risk of fire, but does not meet the definition of fire protection in this Guideline. 

A fire prevention program is essential for the continued safe, successful, and profitable operation of a processing facility. Fire prevention is also a critical part of a process facility s overall loss prevention and control program and is closely linked to process safety and overall Health, Safety, and Environmental (HSE) programs. 

Since fires are frequently identified as the dominant type of loss event in many process facilities, the fire prevention program should be considered an essential part of a Risk Management System. Fire prevention often includes procedures and features to support other types of emergency management and loss prevention efforts. 

Fires in the workplace continue to be caused by matches, lighters, and carelessly discarded cigarettes and other smoking materials that ignite near combustible materials. Control of these potential ignition sources is essential for an effective fire prevention program. Facility management should consider... 

Cleaning materials and their methods of use can present significant and, frequently, undetected fire hazards. Any cleaning chemical or material brought into a facility should be reviewed for potential hazards using Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS) information as a part of the material s hazard identification element of the overall fire prevention program. Cleaning activities should not be allowed to add unreasonable hazards to a facility. 

Fire protection system impairment occurs when a fire alarm or supervisory system is shut-off, damaged, fails, or is otherwise taken out-of-service completely or in part. These out-of-service conditions are called impairments. While process monitoring, control, safety, and security-entry systems also provide protective functions, this element of the fire prevention program is only concerned with impairments to fire protection systems and equipment. An essential element of the fire prevention program is a procedure for fire protection impairment handling. 

NFPA 45, 4.1-4.6 4.3.3 All laboratory units shall be provided with fire protection appropriate to the fire hazard, including automatic fire extinguishing systems, standpipe and hose systems, portable fire extinguishers, fire alarm systems, fire prevention programs, and emergency plans. 

Start your fire prevention program by answering the following questions ... 

Fire is one of the most hazardous situations encountered on a facility/workplace because of the potential for large losses. Prompt reaction to and rapid control of any fire are essential. (Name of Company) Is responsible to provide fire protection procedures for each worksite to assure that they are followed. It is the supervisor /foreperson s responsibility to review all aspects of the firefighting and fire prevention program with his or her workers. The program should provide tor effective firefighting equipment to be available without delay and be designed to effectively meet all fire hazards as they occur. 

Risk sensitivity results are also very useful in identifying key elements in your existing loss prevention program. For example, suppose your fire protection system was assumed to have a very low probability of failure because you test it weekly. Fire protection failures may not show up as an important contributor to your total risk (because failure is so unlikely), but your total risk estimate may be extremely sensitive to any change in the probability of fire protection failures. Flence you should not divert resources away from testing the fire protection system unless the alternate use of funds will decrease risk more than the reduced testing will increase risk. 

Engineering Controls, Work Praetiees, and Personal Proteetive Equipment for Employee Proteetion Monitoring Deeontamination Emergeney Response Heat Stress Program Hotwork Fire Prevention and Proteetion Loekout/Tagout Confined Spaee Program Ineinerator Proeess Safety... 

A nonprofit organization that is the authoritative source for developing standards for minimizing the possibility and effects of fire and explosion conducts fire safety programs provides information on fire protection, prevention, and suppression develops systems for prevention and suppression offire and explosions arising from hazardous substances. 

The first step in minimizing accidents in a chemical phuit is to evaluate the facility for potential fires, explosions, and vulnerability to other liazards, particularly those of a chemical miture. This calls for a detailed study of plant site and layout, materials, processes, operations, equipment, and training, plus an effective loss prevention program. The technical nature of industry requires detailed data and a broad range of experience. Tliis complex task, today becoming the most important in plant design, is facilitated by the safety codes, standiu ds, and practice information available. The technical approach to evaluating die consequences of hazards is discussed later in tliis cliapter and in Part V (Chapters 20 and 21). 

A successful loss prevention and control program should include the following fire prevention elements ... 

On the other hand, there are a number of elements of fire prevention that overlap with elements of other programs. For example. Incident Investigation, Management of Change (MOC), Process Safety Information (PSI), and Process Hazard Analysis (PHA) input required for fire prevention can be derived from these same elements of the Process Safety Management (PSM) program. 

The fire protection audit element can be conducted with the scope of the audit focused only on fire protection. However, many companies in the process industries audit fire prevention as an integral part of the overall loss prevention effort and combine it into audits with other programs. 

To develop a good housekeeping program as an element of fire prevention, the following actions should be taken ... 

Most facilities already have an established Incident Investigation Program as part of the Process Safety Management program. These existing Incident Investigation Programs should incorporate fire prevention requirements. 

Overall plant-wide maintenance is an element of fire prevention. It is shared with the business need to maintain the production process, as well as with Process Safety Management and other health, safety, and environmental programs. 

A program is necessary for identifying all materials in the workplace, and making employees aware of the hazards of these materials and the necessary precautions to be taken to prevent or control personnel exposure. Materials Hazard Identification and information gathering is an essential element of fire prevention. The hazardous properties of all chemical substances used in the workplace should be known in order to develop the appropriate design, routine handling practices, and fire prevention plan. 

Flammability properties of materials are clearly important for fire prevention but there are other properties that are also significant. There have been a number of severe fire incidents initiated by a material s reactivity properties that were previously unrecognized or unknown to the user. The development of a Materials Hazard Identification program requires knowledge of a material s toxicity and reactivity, as well as flammability. 

The other aspect of a realistic fire protection program is limitation of loss due to a fire which includes a provision for the prompt discovery and equally prompt extinguishment of the fire. It is certain that everyone has at one time or another wondered why a particularly destructive fire was allowed to happen, when supposedly a great deal of effort is constantly being devoted to the prevention of such fires... 

Fire Prevention Fire protection activities that deal with preventing fires starting by eliminating fire hazards through inspection and education programs. 

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