Assessing Risks of Fire Destruction in Structures - Research Proposal Example

Assessing risks of fire destruction in structures Authors Name Institution Abstract Understanding of existing conditions that would contribute or accelerate risk of fire in structures is crucial in mitigating the cost and extent of fire outbreaks. Besides prevention, such knowledge is crucial in planning, preparing and response efforts. Using both descriptive and qualitative methodologies, the research intends to identify likely fire outbreak scenarios, infrastructural risks, vulnerabilities of facilities, and measures that can be taken to prepare for fire incidents. The procedure involves review of emergency management and scientific literature, systematic assessment of critical structures and informal interviews with planning and building officials. The results include vulnerability analysis, emergency facility analysis, and hazard assessments. Recommendations include structural upgrades, education measures and planning. Assessing risks of fire destruction in structures Introduction Recent national statistics produced by the Communities and Local government in the UK indicate that the fire and rescue services attended to over 804,000 fire and false alarm incidents in 2007 (National Statistics, 2009). Primary fires contributed to approximately 144, 000 of the total fires, with dwelling fires at 53,000, while fires in other buildings such as workplaces and places where people gather contributing to 31,000 of the fire incidents. 51,000 of the fires were caused by road vehicles. Secondary fires were 231,000 with the other incidences being either apparatus caused false alarms or malicious false alarms (National Statistics, 2009). Although fire incidences marked an average of 9 % decrease from the previous 12 months, the incidences were still significantly high. Coupled with the changing world climate, terrorism threats and other factors increasing the vulnerability of structures and individuals’ to fire risks, there is increasing need for continued efforts to reduce the incidences of fire by adequately planning, preparing and responding adequately to reduce and mitigate the effects of such cataclysmic outcomes. Successful preparation, response effort and planning outcomes are in turn greatly determined by accurate risk assessments. Additionally, an understanding of the pre-existing conditions can greatly help in determining the likely extent of damage in case of fire and thus enhance preparation and response effort. Risk assessment of fire in structures can greatly improve the chances of salvaging the structures from destruction by fire through provision of necessary information that would guide fire prevention and emergency response efforts. The research problem that is to be addressed stems from the fact that many individuals in the UK have little understanding of the existing conditions that may determine or predispose a structure to the risk of fire and increase the severity of injury and damage from fire. Damage to specific structures may vary based on presence or absence of various risk factors such as the type of construction materials, planning, and so on. Consequently, many structures and individuals in UK may be exposed to preventable fire risks. This research thus intends to determine the fire risk levels in the UK by performing risk assessments and consequently determining the level of preparedness for fire emergencies in the UK. This information will in turn be useful in providing recommendations on the specific guidelines on planning, policy and public education to alleviate the risks of fire. Background and Significance Over 804, 000 fires and false fire alarms occur every year in the UK (National Statistics, 2009). Rasbash, Ramachandran and Kandola, (2004) assert that prevention of fire disasters and accompanying hazards thereby protecting property and life can be achieved through assessment, preparation and dissemination of requirements for fire safety. Among the solutions include provision of public education, and fire safety consumer legislation. Other solutions include ensuring that industrial processes and public buildings meet fire safety requirements. However, successful implementation of fire safety solutions is largely hampered by lack of accurate information on the predominant fire risk factors. At the same time, older bridges and buildings appear to be at greater risk since they may not have taken fire risks into account in designing and construction. Such factors may greatly vary the predominant risks for fire in any given area. Accurate information on major risk factors in specific areas would greatly increase the success of fire prevention measures by increasing funding in the most likely measures tha6 would be successful and concentrating fire safety and fire prevention efforts on the actual and major risks factors that largely contribute to fire incidences. This research project aims further to explore the prevalence of risk factors within various regions in the UK. This will in turn assist to delineate local factors that may increase prevalence of specific risks in particular areas compared to others and these would be useful in providing new insights that would assist in determining possible cost effective solutions to fire safety. The project intends to broaden fire safety knowledge through exploration of both general fire risk factors as well as specifically dominant risk factors in various regions in the UK. The information produced should assist in aligning fire safety polices to the actual dominant causes of fire consequently saving on costs while improving fire safety outcomes. Objectives The aim of this research is to Identify risk factors and fire risk levels in a given locality that are likely to contribute to fire outbreaks. Identify ways which fires may develop and the control measures that may be adopted. Determine the level of fire risk awareness and preparedness in general. Highlight the importance of fire risk assessment in planning, emergency response and mitigating the harmful effects of fire. Provide cost effective solutions to reduction of fire risks Literature Review Fire risk fundamentals Risk of destruction of structures by fire plays a large role in influencing the overall construction, design and planning of building structures. It is thus an important study area in fire safety engineering Purkiss (2007) defines fire safety engineering as, “...the application of engineering and scientific principles to effects of fire in order to reduce damage to property and loss of life by quantifying the hazards and risks involved thereby providing optimal solutions to the application of protective or preventive measures” (p. 1). The concept underlying fire safety engineering is applicable in any situation where there is a risk of potential fire hazard. Fire risks may be present in both building structures and non building structures such as gas and oil installations, highway bridges, and so on. Although the risk of fire in non building structure is often low, and can thus often be ignored, in some cases such as where a collision occurs between carrying highly inflammable cargo such as petrol and the supporting structure, the resulting damage may be so high that it may necessitate a substitution of the original structure. Other research indicates that risk of fire damage is generally highest in low rise domestic housing. Whereas structural design is not the major problem resulting to increased risk, the inability of occupants to escape due to spread of toxic gases and smoke increases the risk of fatalities in case of fire outbreak (Purkiss, 2007 1987 ). Similarly, very few, if any cases of death of occupants of structures due to direct collapse of structures on fire have been recorded in UK since the end of Second World War. However, there have been some unfortunate incidences of collapsing structures entrapping fire fighters after completion of evacuation. In most of the cases, the major cause of death in fire structures has been identified as asphyxiation, which involves being overcome by gas or smoke, thereby being trapped and thus increasing exposure to the effects of heat. The minimum risks that have been associated with collapse of structures during fire incidences rather than indicating that structural integrity is unimportant, is in fact a testimony to the sound structural design and load bearing response or integrity of the structures over the periods (Purkiss,2007). The major risk factors that may face predispose structures to higher probabilities of fire incidences include the structures load bearing capacity and integrity, lack of or inadequate availability of fire control features, availability or lack of adequate and accurate fire detection installations, lack of ignition control measures and adequate means of escape and lack of education of occupants. Absence or presence of these risks will reduce or increase the risk of fire incidences or make worse the consequences of a fire incident. The risk of ignition and fire necessitating control of ignition may involve control of the spreading of fire flame or maintenance and management of the structure (Harmathy, 1985). Ignition in most cases occurs accidentally such as through electrical faults, overheating of electrical or mechanical plants, lighted cigarettes ends and sometimes arson. The risk of flammability owing to use of unsuitable linings of structures may contribute to the rapid spread of fire in a structure. A flame test or flammability test such as contained in the UK fire standard test is used in controlling use of flammable materials. Besides, the lining materials in use in the structures should reduce the fire hazards by ensuring that the materials produce the least hazards as possible. Considering the high incidences where toxic smoke has been established to be a major cause of casualties in fire incidences, legislation to control use of highly toxic smoke foams such as in foam filled furniture’s that were found to be highly toxic on ignition resulting to high incident casualties in UK domestic fires has been established (Purkiss,2007). Absence of fire growth control mechanisms is also a major risk factor that may predispose a structure to risk of fire incident. Control of spread of fire may involve use of horizontal and vertical fire compartments. Such compartments are often satisfactory and useful only in cases where no route for the flame or smoke to pass through the compartment boundary exists. Control of fire spread may also not be effective where the spread occurs within a room, where there is unsatisfactory closure of the room where the fire originated and making the fir e boundary incapable of containing the spread of fire. Such recent cases of spread of fire attributed to lack of the fire stopping after the original facade had been replaced occurred with the Madrid Torre Windsor Tower fire (Purkiss, 2007). Control of the risks has recently shifted from the traditional approach to the modern systematic approach to fire management. The systematic approach considers fire risk as a system failure that requires system wide measures to control and to mitigate the effects of fire. Measures thus often cover the entire structure design and take in consideration the impact of the human factor in contributing to fire incidences and spreads of fire. Among the measures that are often adopted to control and to mitigate the effects and occurrence of fire include both passive and active measures. Active measures include the provisions of alarm systems, provision of inbuilt fire fighting and control systems and provisions of smoke control systems. Other passive control measures may involve control of hazardous contents, providing access to external fire fighting, and use of fire safety management system. Passive measures may include using adequate compartmentalization, controlling of the structures fabric flammability besides providing fixed escape routes and adequate structural performance. Such measures are crucial in reducing the risks and alleviating severity of casualties in cases of fire incidences. Passive measures including structural design control, controlling structure flammability and so on can be attained using the prescriptive approach, which involves interpretation of standard fire tests. Structural fire tests are commonly used compared to calculations due to the cumbersome nature of calculations especially in simple structures, and unacceptable solutions given by calculations. Prescriptive approach involves telling designers the parameter values that they should use rather that calculating their values. The standard fire test is based on the principle of inducing heat under loaded structural elements under a prescribed temperature time relationship until the point where failure of the element occurs (Purkiss, 2007). The tests are used to come up with codes of practices and statutory standard documents such as the current British standard BS EN 1363 code of practices (Christian, 2003). Study Design The research uses both descriptive and qualitative research methods in order to allow detailed exploration of practices and practices on fire safety measures in UK. 20 case study buildings and structures, which are broadly a representative of the cross section of UK structures in terms of size, type, nature, geography and so on, will be selected. The selection criteria will ensure that data collected is representative of the major fire risks facing the wider UK regions. Descriptive research will be used in systematic assessment of critical structures to identify infrastructural, design, planning risks and vulnerabilities of facilities. The data collected will be additionally supported by materials obtained from surveys and informal interviews from planning and building officials and users of the structures to identify their level of fire risk awareness and preparedness. Fire risks in particular regions in UK will further be collaborated by analysis of publicly available data on the actual fire incidences and their causes in various regions over the last five years. Analysis and Reporting The results of the research will be recorded and analysed to identify the most common risk factors that contribute to fire risks in the UK. This in turn will greatly aid in designing solutions to the fire safety concerns. Where results from the descriptive research indicate higher risks being associated with presence of flammable materials in most structures would largely involve safety measures that include ignition control. This would involve controlling flammability of the materials within structures for example by maintenance of the finishes and fabric of structure, and utilization of fire safety management such as imposing bans and legislation on naked flames and on smoking. Where major risks are identified as lack of suitable escape facilities in case of fire, measures that may include imposition of statutory requirements for provision of appropriate escape facilities and education of the occupants of structures should be recommended. The risk assessment may also identify risks associated with poor detection technologies use. The proper recommendations where the technologies in use are obsolete, inadequate or poorly maintained may include recommendations for installation of more recent technologies through a systems approach to fire safety. The approach considers fire safety as a system wide problem associated with a failure in the system, with the need for corrective measures to be carried system wide rather than on a point by point basis as it was in the traditional approach to fire risk management. Risks of spread of fire either in adjacent properties or within the structures may also be a major risk factor. In that case measures to control the spread of fire should be recommended. Such measures may include in built features including compartmentalization, mechanical control such as through use of smoke screens, sprinklers or venting in addition to control of distance between buildings. Risk of structural collapse may also be identified as a major risk factor in most UK structures. If the risk of structural collapse is found to be significantly high, recommendations on policy and safety control measures that may be required would include imposition of integrity or load bearing capacity on parts of the structure or in the whole structure in case of a fire. Conclusion Availability of such information would be crucial in meeting the objectives of the research. The information will provide critical data that can be used for planning such as by identifying the risk levels and fire safety awareness and preparedness for fire risks. The research results would also assist in highlighting various the ways that fires may develop and the most suitable control measures that should be adopted through identification of the gaps that exist in existing measures aimed at controlling the risks levels and the actual levels of risks, and in providing current literature on fire safety management. The research results would also highlight the importance of fire risk assessment in planning emergency responses, and in mitigation of the harmful effects of fire through identification of planning benefits. most importantly, by providing accurate information on the level of prevalence of each risk factor, the research would guide policy makers in aligning policies to mitigate the highest risk areas by focusing more resources and policy measures on those areas that are identified to be especially high risk and high impact areas. The research results would thus be important in reducing the incidences of fire by enabling adequate planning, preparation and response towards reduction of fire incidences and in mitigating the effects of such cataclysmic outcomes. References Christian S. D., British Standards Institution Technology & Engineering, 2003. A guide to safety engineering. London. British library Harmathy T. Z, ASTM Committee E-5 on Fire Standards, Society of Fire Protection Engineers, 1985. Fire safety, science and engineering: a symposium. Baltimore. ASTM International, 1985 National Statistics, 2009. Fire Statistics, United Kingdom 2007. http://www.communities.gov.uk/publications/corporate/statistics/firestatisticsuk2007 Purkiss J. A. 2007. Fire safety engineering: design of structures. USA. Butterworth- Heinemann. Rasbash D., Ramachandran G. and Kandola B. 2004. Evaluation of fire safety. Read More