Emergency and Fire Safety

Hii Siew Ying (74998). Emergency and Fire Safety.

Under section 19 of the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 2005, every employer shall identify hazards, assess risks and have a written risk assessment, including any unusual or other risks. To comply with Section 19, employers are required to carry out risk assessments and to record these in the Safety Statement. A fire safety risk assessment should be conducted..

A fire safety risk assessment should include. Fire Prevention Fire Detection and Warning Emergency Escape and Fire Fighting.

Mean of escape. The principle on which means of escape provisions are based is that the time available for escape is greater than the time needed for escape. In order to achieve this, it may be necessary to protect the route by providing fire-resisting construction. It might also be necessary to apply positive air pressure to an escape route to discourage smoke from entering in the event of a fire..

When accessing the adequacy of the means of escape you will need to take into account.

Fire prevention. A fire prevention strategy and a fire risk assessment should include detail and a full consideration of all of the issues which including issues arising from heat, oxygen and fuel. Advice on these three elements follows. This advice is not exhaustive and is given in no particular order..

Fire detection. Consideration must be given to any parts of the workplace where a fire could start and spread undetected. This could be a storage area or a basement that is not visited on a regular basis or a part of the workplace that has been temporarily vacated. Fires that start and develop unnoticed can pose a serious danger to people in the workplace. Installing an effective, reliable automatic fire detection system, linked to an effective fire warning system can sometimes allow people to reassess the degree of structural fire protection required on escape routes. This can provide a more cost-effective and convenient fire precaution..

Fire warning. In almost all buildings, a suitable electrically operated fire warning system, with manual call points positioned both on exit routes and adjacent to final exits should be installed. This should have sufficient sounders for the warning to be clearly heard throughout the workplace. The sound used as a fire warning should be distinct form other sounds in the workplace and where background noise levels are high or an employee has a hearing impairment, it may also be necessary to install a visual alarm such as a distinctive flashing or rotating light..