Fire Prevention: Essential for Business Institutions and Beyond - Essay Sample

Introduction

Fire accidents or incidents impact people's lives, property, and even the environment in many places around the world. In most situations, the resulting losses from the fire accidents are beyond our imaginations. It is causing a lot of deaths, damage of properties, and destruction of the natural environment. After assessing the damages caused by fire; it was of immeasurable importance to take measures and preventions of fire accidents. Fire prevention is essential to business institutions and household (Nelson & Shibe, 1980). The preventions always occur before the fire incidents, and one of the critical tools which help in fire prevention is an inspection. The regular property inspection will always assist in taking note of the vulnerable areas in the facility, and once identified, then they could be fixed.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Order now

The fire protection can be described as a combination of many different safety measures and the relevant procedures that are being applied to prevent the property from destruction in case of fire. The fire control measure might be different in companies. However, there are types of equipment and elements that must be found in every business facility. The materials needed in fire protection include fire alarms, fire extinguishers, and sprinkler systems. When these systems are combined, they offer the ultimate fire protection.

During the inspections period, it was found out that there was a lot of exposure to fire. In the welding shop, there are no adequate means of escape. The first rule in the fire control measures is that the management must provide enough escape rules. The office floor only measures 125 ft by 80 ft, and this does not guarantee safety in case of a fire breakout (Elms, Buchanan & Dusing, 1984). The number and the locations of the escape roots should be specified by the management to give directions to any new person in the building. The inspection also showed that there is only one fire extinguisher. This is not enough to control fire in case there is a fire emergency. The number of fire extinguisher to be present in a room will depend on the level of fire risk, which is the fire hazard level. This will determine how close you have to place your fire extinguisher, the size, and the number. The welding room is being considered the new fire hazard area, and in this case, more precautions must be taken. For building with class A hazards which include welding and molding shop, the extinguisher must be 4A or even more substantial, and they must be three and above. The position should be accessible so that the distance covered to the fire extinguisher is 50 feet or even less than that (Sekizawa, 2005). The fire extinguisher is more useful if they work, and that's why they need to be checked regularly.

During the inspection, we realized that fire could be caused by different defaults, which include electricity. The electrical fires are also caused by several factors like faulty appliances, faulty wiring in the house, and the improper use of electrical outlets. The welding places are always in full use of electricity, and the wire and the sockets are likely to warn out regularly. In the welding shop, the old wiring which is inside the wall is expected to become frayed, which can easily cause shorts and sparks that can ignite fire anytime. The crack on the walls and pipe holes, which include any other opening in the shop are likely to be the fire hazards.

The flying sparks and the molten metal which are produced during welding can lodge themselves in the walls opening hence causing a severe fire. In molding, we find that there are different heating barrels, which are either 3 or 5; this makes the temperature to be very high. The most molding machine barrel heating gave a setting which increases from the lower to the highest temperature. The ceiling temperature at the front and the rear zone is set at a range from 50 degree Celsius to 80 degree Celsius. Acetone is highly flammable chemical, and its lower explosive limit (LEL) is 2.6 % by volume of air, and its upper explosive limit (UEL) is 12.8% by mass of air (Beyler, 2001). The method of designing the sprinkler system in molding will determine whether the molding station exposed to fire risk. The first thing I would do is to assign the commodity classification ratings from -1, 2, 3 or 4 according to their burning rates and the ability to catch fire during the sprinkler discharge. The sprinkler should be made of wet pipe, and the area must be refrigerated to prevent any fire outbreak. For rack storage, the material used for making ceiling should be in proper condition to offer superior protection. The inspection team also noticed that a lot of considerations were put on the type of sprinkler ignoring other issues like the width, the storage height, models of the commodities and the ability to anticipate the future hazards.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the effects of fire from machines like welding and molding operating machines have increased around the world, and there is a need to control it by taking preventive measures. The hot sparks from the machinery engines can start a massive fire if not managed and prevented at and before the onset. The accidents of fire have both emotional and property damage. The families who have been affected by the light will always be tortured when they remember the fire scene. Due to the effects of fire, it's the responsibility of every member of the society to help in preventing and protecting our environment from fire. In classroom fire prevention and protection, the administration must take precautions, and the students must also ensure safety by reporting any default in the classrooms.

Recommendations

There should be proper maintenance of the heat-producing equipment such as the burners, heat exchangers, and any flammables storage should be kept away from this equipment. There should be regular check p of the conditions of all the electrical cords in the house. In most fire incidents, we get that the electrical cords produce heat and trap any rag or furniture which is within the area. It is recommended that we unplug any appliances that might feel warm when connected to a source of power. The extension cords should be replaced in time before they deteriorate due to overuse, and the wires should be rated with the devices they are powering. The buildings should be fitted with enough fire extinguishers, which is within recommended reach. The rooms should be designed with the emergency exit, which will help during a fire breakout.

References

Beyler, C. L. (2001). Fire Safety Challenges in the 21st century. Journal of Fire Protection Engineering, 11(1), 4-15.

Elms, D. G., Buchanan, A. H., & Dusing, J. W. (1984). Modeling fire spread in buildings. Fire T Carvel, R. (2005). Fire protection in concrete tunnels. The Handbook of Tunnel Fire Safety.

Nelson, H. E., & Shibe, A. J. (1980). System for Fire Safety Evaluation of Health Care Facilities (No. NIST Interagency/Internal Report (NISTIR)-). Thomas Telford Publishing, London, 110-126. echnology, 20(1), 11-19.

Sekizawa, A. (2005). Fire risk analysis: its validity and potential for application in fire safety. Fire Safety Science, 8, 85-100.