Fire safety strategies

Although these generalized criteria for safety times are a simplified statement, they describe well the main objectives of a fire safety strategy. 

Most national fire safety strategies are based on prescriptive approaches that have been developed historically to meet fire safety needs, often in the wake of major fire disasters. Building regulations of most countries have codes that can be stated in very general terms, as seeking to insure that [111] ... 

In addition to being responsible for daily checks of the premises, it is the management s responsibility to ensure that all fire safety equipment is adequately and routinely maintained and tested. The fire safety of the occupants is dependent upon a large number of interrelated features. Failure to maintain any one of the fire safety provisions in effective working order could negate the whole fire safety strategy. 

Fire safety codes and regulations have requirements that are based on small heat source ignition tests. The objective of these requirements is to greatly reduce the probability of a relatively benign ignition source causing a major catastrophic lire (first strategy in the NFPA 550 Fire Concepts Tree). 

FIGURE 20.7 Comparison of measured and modeled HRR in room/corner test with wood lining materials. (Adapted from Carlsson, J., Computational strategies in flame-spread modelling involving wooden surfaces—An evaluation study, Lund University Department of Fire Safety Engineering, Lund, Sweden, Report 1028, 2003.)... 

The challenge was to avoid the use of hazardous brominated fire retardants such as polybrominated biphenyl (PBB) and pentabromodiphenyl ether (PBDE). The first strategy was to replace PBB and PBDE with tetrabromo-bisphenol-A (TBBA). This has a much lower toxicity, but is still a brominated fire retardant with safety concerns. An improvement... 

For the first years of operation there were no flammables in the area. However, the company changed its strategy and started storing Class IC flammable liquids (crude sulfate turpentine) several months before the fire. Specific safety systems were requested by the permitting agencies. These safety requests were accepted by the owners. However, several safety systems were incompletely installed or not installed by the time of the incident. 

Risk management seeks to identify and reduce all types of losses either completely or to an acceptable level at the lowest possible cost. Some organizations have risk managers, who analyze potential losses, such as financial losses and fire, weather, operations, security, legal, and other losses. They often purchase insurance to transfer potential losses. They work for banks, insurance companies, hospitals, health care facilities, and other businesses. They may also work with safety and health specialists on preventive strategies and approaches. 

Working at heights was common and the environment was noisy and hot. There had been a long-term commitment to safety management that predated the Health and Safety at Work Act. Full-time safety advisers and fire officers were employed on the site and welfare facilities included a surgery staffed by an occupational health nurse during the day. First aid cover was provided, in the first instance, by employees trained to Health and Safety Executive standards. The company claimed that approximately 20 per cent of its capital expenditure had been safety-related for many years previously. As part of its strategy of continuous improvement the plant had been accredited to ISO 9000. 

Intervention design should include data drawn from process safety. This is particularly important. Many organizations do not make the critical distinction between employee safety and process safety. Personal injury and illness rates are considered paramount and process safety data is often neglected. Data from significant operational upsets, design flaws, catastrophic fires and other related variables should inform the strategy. 

To support the safety culture within the organisation > To ensure the success of any safety programmes and support the safety management system > To ensure compliance with risk control strategies, e.g. fire wardens training to assist in the safe evacuation of a building. 

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