Fire protection strategy

Corporate Leadership—Senior executives define the basis for the development of fire protection philosophies. Their commitment and recognition of the value of fire protection is vital to integration into an RMS and implementation of fire protection strategies. 

The objectives of this Chapter are to clarify the considerations involved in developing a fire protection strategy and provide guidance on how that strategy can be integrated into other management systems. 

Section 3.1 discusses key factors a company may consider in the development of their fire protection strategy. Section 3.2 discusses how to develop a fire protection strategy. Section 3.3 discusses the need for integration with other facility management systems and Section 3.4 outlines the need for fire protection through the lifecycle of the facility. 

Key factors that should be reviewed by a company in determining their fire protection strategy are discussed in this section. These factors will assist company... 

These factors can be highly interrelated and should not be considered individually. Figure 3-2 illustrates key factors of a fire protection strategy that will be discussed in this guideline. 

One approach in beginning the development of a fire protection strategy is to define the level of risk that the company is able or willing to accept. Acceptable loss is defined as the cost of a loss event (repair/replacement, including demolition and debris removal, plus consequential business loss) that is within the capability of the company, business unit, or division to absorb financially and culturally. This loss can be retained within the company or partially transferred to others through insurance. 

It is important that a company maintains a consistent philosophy for estimating potential fire loss in their facilities to establish fire protection strategies. There are different approaches for estimating fire loss, but most are a combination of insurance and industry approaches. 

While complex in detail, a basic understanding of insurance coverage is necessary in determining a company s fire protection strategy. The insurer is, in effect, wagering that a company will not have a loss or that it will be smaller than the maximum estimated. The company, on the other hand, buys insurance (peace-of-mind) to protect investments in the event something happens. 

Emergency response has a significant influence on a company s fire protection strategy. The question is "to fight, or not to fight" fires at a facility. Emergency response is one of the last layers of protection available to a facility (CCPS, 2001a). 

A fire protection strategy is a systematic approach to identifying, reducing, and managing fire hazards. The objective of a fire protection strategy is to ensure that ... 

A common aspect of any fire protection strategy is defining how hazards are managed and describing the order of priority for managing those fire hazards. Table 3-1 identifies the priority of how hazards should be managed. 

A fire protection strategy serves as a bridge between the company s perceptions of fire-related risks and the details of howto manage specific risks. The fire protection strategy should be considered as the tool that defines when certain protection levels are required for a facility. The fire protection strategy should attempt to define general performance requirements or controls for specific situations. Below are examples of the types of statements that could be used in the fire protection strategy. 

Prioritizing Hazard Management Approaches in a Fire Protection Strategy... 

Note that the above statements define when a specific control should be implemented. The fire protection strategy should avoid using general statements about how something should be protected. As shown in Figure 3-1, the fire protection procedures are intended to describe how to implement the fire... 

Additionally, changes in insurance companies (hence changes in protection desired) or a change in ownership that requires different levels of protection can impact the facility s fire protection strategy. 

Manual fire suppression is not normally dependable as a primary fire protection strategy for chemical storage warehouses. Fires may grow to uncontrollable size before effective manual response can be employed, and may pose severe risks to firefighters. In warehouses, manual suppression usually involves far more water application than automatic systems, aggravating problems of disposal of fire water runoff. 

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