Environmental Management - Fires in High-Rise Temporary Housing - Assignment Example

Community Safety Fires in High-Rise Temporary Housing Fires in Overpopulated Temporary High-Rise Housing SARA METHOD TABLE SCANNING Problem is coming from workers ignorance and neglect of fire safety while cooking. Electrical fires because of workers tampering electrical supplies resulting to short circuit and overloading. Management little or no regard to fire safety regulations. Local authorities and fire departments shortcomings in implementing fire safety legislations. ANALYSIS The problem is occurring because workers do not have fire safety education. Cooking near combustible materials. Altering electrical and supplies because there is insufficient facilities. Overcrowding and management disregard to workers safety. RESPONSE Eradicate ignorance through effective fire safety education. ASSESSMENT Fire safety education effectively contribute in reducing fire incidents in the UK 1. Fire and Community Safety The total cost of a fire to a community is huge as it includes direct toll of life and injury and the actual financial losses caused by fire. Moreover, it also includes the indirect or consequential effects due to disruption of facilities, loss of trade, employment, anxiety, and inconvenience. Community safety is any form of health promotion including prevention of fires and it works best when coordinated at the local community level. The term ‘community safety’ also presents a positive goal, rather than merely preventing negative events. In literature, the injury prevention of aspect of community focuses on unintentional injuries caused by vehicular and pedestrian accidents, poisons, falls and fires because safety is recognize as a fundamental right and a basic precondition for individual and community health and well-being, economic and social development, peace and justice, and realization of higher aspirations (Whitzman 2008, p.13). Our report focus is to identify and effective method to reduce the number of injuries and fatalities because of fires in temporary high-rise housing that are still under construction. It will discuss and identify the problems using SARA methodology and conclude with an evaluation of fire prevention strategies. 2. SARAH Methodology Herman Goldstein developed the SARA (scanning, analysis, response, and assessment) method in the early 1990s. SARA involves sets of activities for acquiring knowledge, designing analysis and solution, making decisions and communications (Chu 2001, p.34). Scanning is normally about observation of more than two incidents of a similar nature that are linked by time, location, and type of disorder. Analysis on the other hand is evaluation of who, what, when, where, and why incidents happened. Response in SARA is a strategic action plan involving the local authority and the community concern. Assessment is the post-facto assessment of issues. It allows the authorities to re-examine the problem and evaluate various responses and the effectiveness of analytical methods (Leipnik and Albert 2003, p.128). 3. Scanning “The use or function of a building has considerable influence on fire life safety” (Craighead 2003, p.10). It is important to ensure that cooking activity is only ever carried out in designated areas in which appropriate automatic detection such as heat detectors and appropriate ventilation measures, have been installed (DOH 2007, p.10). However, none of these requirements is present in an overpopulated temporary high-rise housing since it is under construction thus do not have appropriate cooking facilities and fire suppression devices. Fires on residential building mostly occur while cooking and usually a product of human negligence and carelessness. In an overcrowded temporary high-rise housing that are still under construction thus no sufficient facilities available, it is very likely that other workers cook their food outside designated cooking area like living room or bedroom where highly combustible materials are present. Cooking processes can operate with high temperatures, involving large quantities of oil and combustible foodstuffs. Heat sources used for cooking processes include gas, electric, and microwave. The main causes of fire are ignition of cooking oil, combustion of crumbs and sediment deposits. Cooking processes close to combustible materials can lead to likely ignition and rapid fire spread to other parts of the building (ODPM 2006, p.44). Moreover, the building is under construction thus no fire detection or suppression devices are installed increasing the chances of fire occurrence. When a fire actually occurs due to negligence and ignorance on fire safety, migrant workers are being injured or killed. Furthermore, since high-rise fires are exceptionally difficult to manage, fire fighters also suffered injuries and deaths. The workers themselves and employer who have little concern on fire safety caused fires in this type of building. Moreover, the local authority, the government, and those agencies responsible for fire safety regulations and prevention campaigns are also partly responsible since they are apparently not effective. 4. Analysis In England and Wales, the total cost of fire damage is around £7.03 billion in 2004 alone and £2.77 billion were incurred in anticipation of fire. The cost of the Fire and Rescue Service responding to fires was approximately £1.74 billion. In domestic fires, the average cost is approximately 24,900 which is about £14,600 is accounted for by the economic cost of injuries and fatalities and property damage (Office of the Deputy Prime Minister 2006, p.5). The most critical risks among others in high-rise structures according to Craighead (2003, p.24) is fire and explosion. High-rise buildings differ from low-rise buildings since the existence of multiple, occupied floors, one on top of another, means a greater concentration of occupants and therefore greater concentration of personal property, thus greater potential fuel load of the building. More importantly, the more individuals assembled in one location at any one time, the more likely it is that some of these people could be injured or killed, particularly by fire occurring close to them. Electrical supplies and equipment particularly in overpopulated high-rise housing has a direct bearing on fire safety due to the high incidence of fires started by electrical sources. Many electrical fires are caused by the use of improper or incomplete equipment. There are fires originating within the electrical distribution system, electric equipment, and electrical appliances (Ferry 1988, p.213). Like electricity, natural and liquefied petroleum or LPG can become dangerous if not handled properly. Appliances are designed and built as to operate safely and present no danger to persons, domestic animals or property (Furness and Muckett 2007, p.378). However, a fire can start when appliances and electrical supply in buildings are exposed to tampering and misuse. Workers in overpopulated temporary high-rise housing tend to alter electrical supply because of insufficient outlet resulting to overload. They use extension cords that can become potential ignition source. They may also try to tamper safety devices to ensure uninterrupted power. Short circuit is created when two conductors with different electrical potentials come in contact producing sparks that can ignite flammable materials. Electrical fires according to the International Association of Fire Chiefs (2004, p.965) results from an accidental misuse or oversight, such as unintentionally leaving a cooking appliance turned on or short circuit caused by tampering. In addition, electrical overload causes overheating of wire and can cause a fire (Siegel 2006, p.486). Electrical equipment can be a significant cause of accidental fires such as overheating cables and equipment due to overloading circuits, bunched or coiled cables or impaired cooling fans. Incorrect installation or use of equipment, damaged or inadequate insulation on cables or wiring, combustible material being placed too close to electrical equipment which may give off heat even when operating normally or may become hot due to a fault (ODPM 2006, p.45). The only way to break the cycle of ignorance is to communicate effectively the significance of fire safety education (Waite 2007, p.34). However, fire safety programs should ensure that dwellers know the significance of fire safety and the effect of their participation in increasing the level of fire safety in their homes. This can only be accomplished by an effective and continuous education. Workers should understand the significance of the fire prevention and the results of tampering electrical and gas supply. With the considerable number of fire incidents in dwellings, it has become essential to educate people concerning safety measures. One effective way of making people aware of safety measures is to launch a safety campaign since it can help effectively reduce incident rate. 5. Response All people are responsible for their personal safety and the safety of every other person. Ignorance or perhaps simply denying the traits of human beings particularly in safe processes is the line between the true culture of safety and a safety program that may be designed to fail (Okray and Labnau 20004, p.25). Evidence from field investigation suggest that influence of people’s actions in causing or contributing to a fire’s initiation or impending subsequent escape from it. These actions can be categorize as thoughtlessness, disobedient, neglectful, and ignorant (Harmathy p.413). Most serious fire damage according to Gandert (1982, p.3) happened because people do know basic fire safety precautions and absence of early warning devices. Some people are simply careless about fire as a personal threat. It takes the careless or unwise action of a human being, in most cases, to begin a destructive fire. In their home environments, people live their daily lives amid flammable materials, close to potential sources of ignition. Though people are arouse to issues of safety, it is not one of their prime concerns and often when fire strikes, ignorance of what to do leads to panic behaviour and aggravation of the hazards rather than to a successful escape. The fire problem therefore must be address as a personal threat, personal behaviour before and during fire emergencies must be changed so that individuals will know how to prevent fires, protect themselves in the event of a fire does occur and to persuade others to prevent and protect themselves from fire (Haessler 1989, p.238). Safety threat results from human negligence and ignorance (Demkin 2004, p.22). Many organizations discontinue their fire safety programs after many years without incident, and consider sprinklers to be sufficient protection. However, sprinklers save buildings not loves, equipment, or documents. Sometimes the damage caused by sprinklers is more costly than the fire they suppressed. The most const-effective approach is always prevention. Fire prevention takes two forms- reduction of combustibles and avoidance of fire hazards. Simple neglect is at the root of most fire incidents (Demkin 2004, p.23). Most of the incidents happen due to lack of proper education and training about safety measure and because of negligence and ignorance on the part of either the worker or management or both (Ghalot and Dir 1992, p.134). Most dwelling fires were started in the kitchen when grease is ignited during cooking. Moreover, improper use of lit candles also causes many dwelling fires each year (Towson 2004, p. 517). Fire safety planning, training, and drills that involves building occupants are one of the most effective methods of improving the chances for appropriate response from building occupants in case of a fire emergency. However, even the best efforts do no ensure whole-heated participation from building occupants. Sometimes it takes a real fire to bring the very real possibility of an emergency into clear focus (Diamantes 2004, p.172). Fire prevention is a major aspect of a total fire protection program. Well-planned fire prevention activities can save millions of dollars by preventing the destructiveness of fire, as well as saving lives of the public. Fire prevention activities include education that promotes fire safety consciousness among people. This is done by educating the public how to recognize and eliminate fire hazards on their homes (Davletshina 1998, p.1). Since fires start because of people’s actions or lack of actions, developing a fire safe aware culture will significantly reduce risks of fire and will be a major part of the fire prevention strategy. Fires are not inevitable and proper fire prevention will reduce or eliminate the likelihood of a fire starting that would greatly reduced risk (Perry 2003, p.103). The greater part of the fire loss is traceable to carelessness, and a large part is due to ignorance. Fire safety education is therefore very important to ensure public awareness. This is because there would be less carelessness if people were properly acquainted with the probable result of their acts. Effective fire safety education can be accomplished by keeping fire prevention constantly before the public mind through programme and the press. Although it may be viewed that the most effective method of imparting fire safety information is in a one-on-one setting, this method is impractical except in specific situation. Largely, fire safety programs should reach as broad an audience as possible. In this case, the press or media can help fire departments to reach more people in the community in less time. The department can develop a rapport with the local media so they become familiar with fire safety measures and to integrate them into their regular stories. The media can play a very important role in fire safety education since they can actually deliver fire safety information in a wider scale. Radio and television is a very effective medium in delivering fire prevention guidelines as people used them on a daily basis. Television, newspapers and radio stations inform, educate and influence public opinion. The reach large numbers of families and can command attention, especially when they report the aftermath of serious fire. Although recent incidents of fire will get the attention of media, working with them to promote fire safety and fire prevention messages when there is no fire can greatly help motivate people to take fire prevention seriously and change their behaviour before a fire occurs (Carter and Rausch 2006, p.189). 6. Assessment While planning is essential to fire safety education programme, it is also critically important to measure the effectiveness of fire safety education programmes. This is because measurement provides the motivation for further programme financing, development, and adjustment where necessary. During implementation, the program may have to be adjusted or tweaked to adjust for conditions that were not anticipated or expected. Public fire safety educators must be able to think on their feet and make adjustments to ensure the message is delivered, received, and accepted. Without some method of evaluation, the effectiveness of programs cannot be measured. Assessment provides a view of how program affected changes in awareness, knowledge, or behaviour. It provides mechanism for program managers to make changes that will increase the effectiveness of the program (Diamantes 2004, p.168). In the United States, assessment of fire safety programmes suggest that smoke detecting devices and fire safety campaigns are the main reason in reduced home fire occurrence (Stellman 1998, p.41). According to Hashagen (2002, p.241), increase fire safety education in the past several years and the simultaneous decline in civilian fire fatalities suggest a strong correlation between education and safety. In England, there was a 13% decrease of fire occurrence in 2007 compared to 2006 statistics. The number of accidental dwelling fires also went down in 2007- a 6% fall compared to 2006. Deaths in accidental dwelling fires fell by 18% (Communities and Local Government 2008a, p.1-14). The ‘Fire Kills’ campaign started a decade ago was intended to reduce the number of fatalities of fires in homes through fire safety awareness and education. Apparently, if we are to base its effectiveness on the above statistics and the downward trend of dwelling fires in the United Kingdom from 1998, then fire safety education is working. Moreover, statistics on misuse of equipment and careless handling of fire in dwellings also dropped. Although gradual, fire safety education certainly works in preventing fire occurrence and fatalities. It is therefore essential to intensify fire prevention programs through effective fire safety education. 7. Bibliography Carter Harry R. and Rausch Erwin. 2006. Management in the Fire Service, Jones & Bartlett Publishers, US Chu Jim. 2001, Law Enforcement Information Technology a Managerial, Operational, and Practitioner Guide: A Managerial, Operational, and Practical Guide. CRC Press, US Craighead Geoff. 2003, High-rise Security and Fire Life Safety. 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Fire Service Leadership: Theories and Practices. Jones & Bartlett Publishers, US Whitzman Carolyn. 2008, The Handbook of Community Safety, Gender and Violence Prevention: Practical Planning Tools. Earthscan, UK Read More