Risk Management at the Sheraton Hotel in Abu Dhabi - Case Study Example

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Risk Management has been emerging studies in the field of Business Administration. No business in this world is risk free, however the intensity might vary. To meet the unexpected contingencies of the future one has to be prepared with a master plan or the risk assessment scorecard to combat the future threat. This report deals with the Risk Management borne by the leading hotel of the industry,The Sheraton hotel in Abu Dhabi. The various fire safety features which should be imbibed in the construction of the hotel to keep up with the security norms at the time of fire prevention or rescue operations would be dealt intricately. A major focus on the risk factors will also be featured. INTRODUCTION The marque ‘Sheraton’ is the leading chain of hotels located in almost all parts of the world. But to deal specifically with the construction of the Sheraton Hotel in Abu Dhabi, it is one of the most renowned and popular destination for many travelers. The hotel is situated in the heart of the city, near Zayed Road running adjacent to the beach facing due south. The total accommodation available in the hotel is for maximum 8000? occupants with employment of 400? staff members. (Too many guests & staff?) The Sheraton hotel in Abu Dhabi is a high -rise building with 54 floors, ground floor consisting of restaurant, kitchen and a waiting lounge. For leisure, Jacuzzi’s, steam rooms and swimming pool have been constructed. The ground-floor areas are chosen for the above facilities because they are the low risk regions, as very few fire start from such areas. Keeping the fire safety norms in mind 8 emergency exits along with the main entrance has been built. Each floor consists of four exits connecting to the staircase. Provision of adequate lifts and elevators up to the 54th floor has been undertaken, in addition to the 4 fire-fighting lifts to provide access for transporting fire-fighter’s equipment at times of need. RISK MANAGEMENT There has been a noticable trend of rising fires in tall sky scrapers. Risk Management is a tool to curb the extent of fire or mitigate the destruction and loss of life and property. High-rise buildings which catch fires are generally beyond the reach of the fire department ladders (Scott Siddens, 2008).(Good quote)Under such weary conditions one has to be thoroughly prepared for the disasters which might occur in future, thus when construction of such high-rise building is undertaken, all measures within the means of the organization to control and prevent the adverse situations are put into action. PROCEDURE FOR RISK MANAGEMENT To strategize for any kind of risk management plan one needs yo concentrate on a five step procedure, firstly to recognize the hazards which might occur due to accidents . Secondly to identify people who can be harmed or injured in the process. Thirdly, the current status of the rescue operations, availability of equipment, workforce, security alarms etc. finally how the planned procedure has to be implemented should be well communicated to each and every member of the crew for efficient and effective execution. FIRE SAFETY PROCEDURES IN THE HOTEL There are various means to combat the threat of fire, few of them incorporated in the Sheraton Hotel structure are: Automatic Alarm Systems: The alarm systems are very useful to notify the occupants so that they get chance to escape from the danger of adverse situation. The alarm initiates the automatic fire control system and the auxiliary functions. They are the best devices for immediate communication and protection from the blaze. They are the oldest and most economical device used to notify the fire departments for assistance . Sprinkler Systems: These are networks of fixed water pipes supplied by twin water sources.(Good) The use of sprinkler systems restricts the damage to property by restricting unnecessary fire spread and reduces the amount of water needed, therefore reducing water damage. Statistics reveal that losses from fires in buildings protected with sprinklers are estimated to be 1/10 of those in who do not use sprinkler systems (Fire Sprinklers, 2001). (Good argument but where is your quote to EVIDENCE your argument???) Smoke and Heat Detectors : are additional security alarm features, which are cost effective. . The smoke detectors use photo electric or ionization-sensor technology, which contains a light sensitive electric cell useful to detect slow burning or a radioactive source to detect fast-burning small particles. A heat detector is a device that detects the heat from a fire and activates an alarm when an abnormal rise in temperature is identified, however they are not able to detect smoke, they are placed in special areas such as the kitchens of the hotel where high ambient temperatures would normally be expected. Exit signs on fire doors: are very important at the time of an evacuation situation, they help in providing clear directions to the trapped when any sort of assistance or help is difficult to deliver. Pressurized Stairways: are smoke-controlling systems, which prevent smoke particles from entering the evacuation routes, thereby easing the work of rescue operations. The system helps in supplying air to the evacuation path, thereby ventilating smoke from the critical escape routes. . It eliminates the need for ventilation in the corridors, or smoke proofing doors (Tanaka Corporation, 2001). This system is recognized to be the most appropriate and safest fire fighting feature for high-rise hotels such as the Sheraton, Abu Dhabi. Advice: Don’t include ‘sirens’ as a risk reduction measure. Not appropriate. Dry and Wet Water Risers: The hotel has a wet riser system where pipes are permanently charged with water from the storage tank located on the ground floor of the hotel. Due to the high-rise construction, it becomes easier for the wet water riser to supply water to the top floors. If this feature was not provided, it would be very difficult for fire crews to provide sufficient water to the upper-floors in a serious fire situation by using portable pumps and hose. RISK FACTORS TO THE CREWS AND THE GUESTS TIME OF RESPONSE: A high-rise building is a structure of more than 75 feet, which is beyond the reach of any fire department’s ladder. (Good) The response time in such practices is usually very high, it may be 15 minutes or more which may result in fatal injuries for the people who are the victims of the tragedy. For instance at the time of a fire, firefighters have to waste a lot of time in determining the fire location, checking alarm panels, locating stairs, passing on instructions, walking up the stairs and searching rooms. EVACUATION TIME: In a high-rise building, evacuation takes longer than in normal buildings and thousands of people may take up to one and a half hours to evacuate using the staircases alone. . People engaged in different activities take time to deal with shock and react to the situation. People who are not fully conscious, due to reasons such as alcohol etc., need to be made aware by constantly activating alarms and signals. In utter chaotic situations a defend-in-place strategy needs to be implied which means that the building should have adequate means to restrain fire to a limited area and secondly people should follow the orders and not improvise their own strategy (Jonathan (Yoni) Shimshoni, March 2005,). (Good quote) Old aged, children and handicapped people may be the worst affected. The solution to the problem of extinguishing fire in such critical situations is the use of automatic sprinkler systems and applying more workforces to calm down and guide the people in the correct method s of evacuation . The ‘EXIT89’ model was especially designed for the evacuation of a large building with the capability of tracking each occupant of the building. Evacuation of disabled occupants or slow occupants can be easily detected. Any sort of delays or hindrances can also be tracked (Rita Fahy, Sept 1995). Advice: You could perhaps explain just a little bit more about this system here….Exit 89 can account for occupants with a range of mobilities, delay times, choice of routing options, walking speeds, up and down travel stairwells, contra flows along the path etc. TRAVEL DISTANCE: It is very obvious that the high-rise buildings take longer times to cover the escape distances in comparison to low or medium rise buildings. The internal stairways have to be used by the occupants, people trapped at windows can only jump or burn to death. It becomes a tedious task for the old to cover long distances. To curb the distances, special fire-fighting lifts can be used as in the case of Sheraton hotel, which has four fire lifts. Helicopters are the last resort and not available immediately but can be used in severe conditions. To achieve rescues from the roof can be very hazardoudous due to strong updraughts and aerial installations preventing safe landings. COMMUNICATION WITH THE BUILDING: is the utmost challenge posed for the firefighters. Timely, sufficient, accurate and speedy communication is required to control the hazards. Any sort of distortion might lead to disastrous results. Proper communication between the fire officers conducting the search and rescue operation and the Incident Commander needs to be maintained. The upper floors should have constant communication with the Commanding Officer . Fire department radio transmission booster modules can help to transmit data to the highest floors of the building. All crewmembers could be provided a special communicator device for proper tracking of the command; this could result in mitigating the risk of the fire fighting officers but there is a cost implication to providing such equipment. KITCHENS: These areas are the most threatening areas because they may aggravate the potential for a cause of fire. Rescue operations here become difficult, and hence kitchens are always recommended to be on the ground floor so that if any incident happens, it can be restrained to a small and limited area. Maximum use of heat detectors should be applied in the kitchen areas so that even if a little symptom of fire is detected , it could be immediately taken care off. The fire crews must be updated about the kitchen layout, so that the detection of electrical boxes, gas and water valves could be isolated. DISTANCE OF FIRE ENGINES FROM THE HOTEL: It is been seen that presence of fire fighting engines at a reasonable distance from the site is quintessential. The nearby fire engine numbers should be stored properly. It is not necessary that immediate services would be available from one fire engine thus, multiple sources should be referred too immediately for assistance. Internal fire extinguishing systems should be preferred because in high-rise buildings any delay in assistance may further aggravate the destruction caused. The hotel workforce should be trained to deal with the situation; in fact special recruitment should be made to combat the threat. FLASH OVER: Since 1970’s, training to deal with the potential for flashovers have been recommended by the National Bureau of Standards now known as the National Institute of Standards
and Technology. (Kennedy P, Kennedy K, 2003,) It is a valuable analytical tool but still many users are not in favour of the device due to its complexity and complications in implementing the system. A flashover is an unintended high voltage electric discharge over or around an insulator, or arcing or sparking between two or more adjacent conductors. Flashover occurs when the majority of surfaces in a space are heated to the point (known as fire point) at which they give off flammable gases that are hot enough to sustain combustion. Many patients have been affected by severe burns when in contact with the flashovers. However the myths regarding the device have been cleared by the NFPA, providing more advanced training to the fire fighting users for the usage of the device. Adivice: What is the device you are describing here? Explain and the paragraph will make sense. FALLING GLASS AND DEBRIS: The most extensive building damage is caused by flying glass shards, they account for a major portion of injuries in any sort of destruction. (Can’t find the reference here) Advice: Where is your evidence to support “ 90%injuries” ????? There are different types of glass used during construction for example, annealed glass and toughened glass, which can be hazardous in nature. To safeguard against the threat, an effective means of protection is the use of anti-shatter film and safety-net curtains, which catch the glass and the debris and deposit it on the floor close to the windows.(Good research – well done) NUMBER OF FLOORS: Due to the increased risk identified within high-rise buildings, the use of effective radio communication devices, automated sprinklers, wet water risers can be useful in overcoming the difficulties experienced in applying water to the upper floors and maintaining communications between the tactical fire fighting crews and the incident commander at a lower level. CONCLUSION It can be concluded that the hotel Sheraton must apply an extensive risk management strategy to face the challenges for the future. A proper risk management procedure should be followed for positive results. In fact, the rules and regulations laid down by the National fire authorities, base dupon hard earned experience, should be strictly adhered too. An integrated risk management planning process should be framed so that all the emergency services could contribute to the formation of community risk strategies. REFERENCE Fire Sprinklers, Living with Fire, A Program for Campus and Student Fire Safety, posted on 10th Jan, 2001, viewed on 25th June,2008, http://www.ehs.uci.edu/programs/fire/sprinklers.pdf Read More