Importance of Fire Risk Assessment of the Building - Coursework Example

1 Fire Safety Throughout the lifetime of a building, managing fire safety is a continuous process that starts with its initial design which aims to ensure that fire incidents are minimized, and even if a fire does occur, the fire safety systems, that include active, passive, and procedural systems, are in the right condition and fully operational. Thus fire safety management is an essential part of measures used to avert disasters in the event of fire eventualities. Although the present legislation for buildings ensures that there will never be life threatening fires, it is imperative that fire safety procedures be adopted for every building. Fire management techniques aim at accelerating rescue procedures amongst occupants of buildings in the event of a fire so as to minimize the threat. It is believed that the design and regulated engineering in buildings can be effective for fire safety only if the building can be managed and tested by trained staff for the entire life of the building, which is a key criteria for fire safety. If the management of the building is effective, the occupants of a building in the case of a fire can be protected and saved from other losses also. In this context it is essential to carry out a fire risk assessment of the building in question so as to help in identifying all fire hazards and risks to the premises. Only a fire trained professional who has good experience and knowledge of fire safety should do the risk assessment, which involves identifying fire hazards in the building, and the number of people that may be exposed to such risks. The risks are evaluated, reviewed and finally a strategy is made for the building to be safe from fire hazards. All sources of ignition, fuel and inflammable substances are identified, and if they are in close proximity, preventive measures have to be taken. During a fire the greatest danger is from heat and smoke in the premises and when this happens occupants can be incapacitated while escaping, hence assessment has to be made in regard to the likely speed of spread of fire along with the associated heat and smoke, as also the number of people in the building at such times. There has to be a system that warns people of fire immediately, and ways and means to escape during fire have to be devised by the fire risk assessment team. Additionally the 2 effect of other hazardous materials in the building has to be ascertained so as to reduce the possibility of ignition and minimize the fuel present in the building. Fire safety management systems and means of escape have to be provided for, along with adequate staff training, fire warning systems and other means of fire fighting equipment. Fire risk assessment also requires to ensure that a proper license under the enactments is in force and that all fire regulations are complied with for the building. The workplace has to be examined from the point of view of people at risk and about the adequacy of available control measures during work hours. The floor plan of the building has to be included in the fire risk assessment to record fire hazards and control measures on different floors of the building. It is very important that since fire risk assessment is a continuous process, it must be constantly monitored on a regular basis. Any changes or introduction of new control measures must be incorporated within the action plan for the fire safety measures. It is essential for every building to have provision for an adequate means of escape from fire, which is also required by new legislation in almost all countries. Whether there is change of use or extension or any alteration in a building, it is fundamentally required that means of escape is provided for in the earliest stage of the project since alterations for the same cannot be made at a later stage. There are several legislations, regulations and guidelines on providing for means of escape, which is required by way of certification and building and regulation compliance in most countries. Means of escape is defined as a “Structural means whereby a safe route is provided for persons to travel from any point in a building to a place of safety.” In this context place of safety refers to being in the open air beyond the building and does not imply that going to the roof top from where there is no link to the street will lead to safety from the fire. Means of escape for disabled people is essential to be provided by way of providing a suitable escape lift, if other means of escape are not available. The ideal principle of designing escape routes as a means of escape is that a person should be able to walk away to safety the moment a fire is detected in any part of the commercial building. Principally all the escape routes must not be only in one direction, but where there is no other alternative, it can be 3 provided as an exception. Alternative escape routes should be available to overcome difficulties in case one route is cut off by fire, and dead ends must be avoided. Such alternative routes should be sufficiently separated by direction and space or by fire resistant construction so that at least one is available in case of the other being under the grip of fire. In any room of the building, two exits should be separated by direction so that they are alternatives and that the angle between the exits should be at least 45 degrees so that if one is not usable, the other could be used giving the occupant an alternative. While planning means of escape the prime points of consideration are the travel distances, escape route and exit capacities and the number of occupants for whom means of escape has to be provided. These factors also determine the configuration and number of staircases and exits of the building. In the event of a fire in a commercial building the safety of occupants depends on the successful operation of the safety systems installed in the building that may be passive or active, as also the proper implementation of safety procedures. Since a fire can never be predicted in advance, it is the duty of the fire safety officer of the building to ensure that all in built safety systems are in operation at all times for which regular checks and mock exercises have to be conducted. Active Fire Protection implies fire protection and includes systems which require motion and response to work, which is in contrast to passive fire protection systems. Fire can be suppressed manually and automatically. In big commercial buildings automatic means of extinguishing fires have to be adopted, which may include sprinkler systems, gaseous agents and foam systems. Fire detection is done by identifying the location of the smoke, flames, and heat, due to which an alarm is set off to enable awareness of fire and evacuation of occupants, as also to requisition the fire brigade. There are a number of ways for fire detection and alarm system and in a typical commercial building there has to be provision for a control panel, which is said to be the brain of the fire detection and alarm system. It is designed to detect fires by monitoring environmental changes related with combustion and smoke. The alarm system consists of initiating devices and notification appliances that can notify people of the emergency and hence to evacuate and to call for relief measures to control the fire. 4 When present , humans are excellent fire detectors and a healthy person is able to sense the fire , heat, smoke and smells. It is for this reason that most fire alarm systems are designed and equipped with a manual control to set of the alarm in the event of a fire. In the absence of people at the spot of fire occurrence, automatic fire detectors have to be relied upon to ward of the risk of extensive damage and loss of human life. Automatic detectors are designed to function as the human senses of touch, smell and sight and that is primarily the reason for their success and reliability. There are thermal detectors which resemble our abilities to sense high temperatures and smoke detectors replicate the human ability to smell, while flame detectors are virtually electronic eyes that see the flames and set of the alarm. Hence automatic fire detecting systems are installed keeping in view these characteristics, and a properly selected and installed automatic detector proves to be a very reliable means of sensing the fire. For most fires, water is the ideal extinguishing agent and is excessively used during fire eventualities to put out fires. An important fire protection means is the fire sprinkler system used in commercial buildings, which makes use of water with reasonable pressure in different directions that is sprinkled on the fire, which is eventually doused. Sprinklers are also used with mixture of water and foam as a special application that sprays foam from the sprinkler. The building regulations provide that it is a mandatory duty to take general fire precautions that ensure reasonably safety of all employees. Such precautions pertain to reducing the risk of fire and the risk of its spreading. The building owner must take measures in relation to the means of escape from the premises and ensure the appropriate availability of means of fire fighting on the premises. Measures must be taken to provide means of detection of fire and giving warning in case of fire as also to arrange for action to be taken in the event of a fire and to arrange for training of employees and measures to mitigate the effects of fire. The regulations provide for the building to be equipped with fire fighting equipment and with fire detectors and alarms and in order to safeguard the safety of people present in the building all non-automatic equipment for fire fighting must be easily accessible, simple to use and indicated by signs. Keeping in view the 5 nature of activities being carried out in the building, the fire fighting measures should be provided so that they can be adapted to the nature of such activities. Appropriate preventive measures are required to be taken in regard to dangerous substances liable to be present in the building. Such fire safety regulations apply immediately once the building is ready for occupation, and horizontal, vertical and general provisions apply in regard to means of escape and early warning in case of fire. Wall and ceiling are required to be such that they inhibit the spread of fire within the building due to surface linings, and can resist spread of fire over their surfaces. The structure of the building has to be fire resistance and able to prevent internal fire from spreading, buildings have to be separated by vertical fire resistant separation party wall so as to protect means of escape and keep the fire small for fire fighting purposes. To prevent fire and smoke spread through concealed surfaces, cavity barriers and fire stopping, the structure has to be designed accordingly. To prevent external fire spread between one building and another, construction of external walls, space separation and roof coverings have to be complied with as required by the regulation. In complex commercial buildings extra facilities are required to be installed such as fire fighting shafts, basement below ground level along with lift and access to fire fighters for the entire height of the building. Provision has also to be made for means to vent heat and smoke from the basement by way of natural smoke outlets and mechanical extraction. 6 References Carbone, Quality Fire Protection, 1982, http://www.hydrocarbons-technology.com/contractors/fire DEY M. K. performance-based fire protection program, 2007, http://cat.inist.fr/?aModele=afficheN&cpsidt=1467536 Fire Precautions in the Design, Construction and Use of Buildings, 2004, British Standard BS 5588-12 Mahalo, best Fire protection Techniques, 2007, National Fire Protection Association. Marie Flanagan, New Facility Means Better Fire Protection, 2007, Natural Resources Information Centre Means of Escape, 2003, Means of Escape Publications Ltd Nick Artim, An Introduction to Fire Detection, Alarm, and Automatic Fire Sprinklers, 2007, Fire Safety Network, Middlebury, Vermont Read More