Introduction to Fire Safety Management Controls

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An FM Global study of losses indicated that the Human Factor plays a negative role in approximately 2/3 of all losses

Priority Activities
• Management Commitment to Property Conservation
• Pre-Incident Planning
• Emergency Response including Hazardous Materials
• Hot Work Management
• Managing Outside Contractors
• Loss Prevention and Control Inspections and Testing
• Equipment and Building Maintenance and Safety Control Testing
• Housekeeping and Storage Practices
• Equipment Operator Training
• Fire Protection Impairment Management
• Ignition Source Control
• Process Safety Management
• Property Supervision
• Managing Change
• Contingency Planning and Disaster Recovery
• Equipment Operator Training Including Cranes and Lift Trucks

3.2 Loss History
An FM Global study of losses indicated that the Human Factor plays a negative role in approximately 2/3 of all losses. A few statistics and examples regarding this are given below.

3.2.1 Hot Work
Hot Work losses are among the top causes of losses at properties insured by FM Global. And outside contractors cause over half of those losses. In a study for the ten years 1987 through 1996, contractors caused 236 fires and explosions while doing hot work at properties insured by FM Global. In the same study, employees caused 165 fires as well. These statistics show that one should not assume a contractor will automatically adhere to safe practices simply because they are contractors and ‘‘do hot work all the time’’. This study also points out that safe practices should be followed by everyone all of the time, including in-house personnel. In another FM Global study of 616 hot work losses, 539 losses were caused by cutting or welding torches, and next in order were plumbers’ and painters’ torches at 37 losses.

3.2.2 Lift Truck Operator Training
When used improperly, industrial lift trucks can cause severe fires and explosions, major gas leaks, water damage, and collapse of building roof areas and rack storage. An FM Global analysis of losses involving lift trucks between 1987 and 1996 revealed that more than half of these were caused by bad driving resulting in collisions. More than one-third of these involved sprinkler system damage. The trend is increasing, as the average yearly loss cost for the years 1993-1996 more than doubled over the yearly average for 1987-1992. About 2/3 of the fires and explosions involving LP-Gas trucks result from breaks or leaks in the fuel connections.

3.2.3 Electrical/Human Factor Related
A study by FM Global was done for the period from 1992 to 1996 for fires and explosions at insured locations caused by electrical ignition, where the Human Factor was the cause or contributed to the extent of the loss. A total of 216 losses were found in this study. Maintenance, inspection and testing issues accounted for 44% of these losses, while 25% were attributable to emergency response techniques. Improper operation of equipment involved 16% of these losses, while the remaining 15% were related to housekeeping issues.

3.2.4 Various/Human Factor Related
An FM Global analysis was done for the period from 1992 to 1996, for fires and explosions (except fire only for shut valves and adequately sprinklered fires) at insured locations where the Human Factor played a negative role. Also contractor losses were for various perils and not just fires and explosions.
The arson losses are the fires and explosions where the cause was arson/incendiarism. There were 434 losses.
The contractor related losses included 437 occurrences.
The hot work losses were related to the use of soldering pots or irons, grinding or buffing, brazing or roofer’s torch, cutting or welding, etc. There were 321 occurrences.

3.2.5 Emergency Response
An FM Global study was done on Emergency Response for the period from 1987 to 1997. This included 1718 losses total. It revealed that where the Emergency Response was ineffective or inadequate, the average loss was from 6 times to 19 times higher than where it was effective.

3.3 Illustrative Losses
3.3.1 Hot Work Management
At a food processor located in a 70-year-old building of plank-on-timber construction, a contractor was removing obsolete machinery and piping from a third floor area. A member of the facility’s plant engineering staff checked with the contractor early in the morning and left the area. Reportedly the contractor had posted a fire watch with fire extinguishers. Shortly after work with an oxyacetylene torch was begun, fire was discovered in the second floor below the pipe-cutting work area, the result of molten metal globules falling through openings in the floor. Extensive fire damage was caused to flooring, palletized storage of cartoned food products, packaging material and records. Palletized storage of food product on the first floor was wet down. Management began implementing the hot work permit system shortly thereafter for both employees and contractors.

3.3.2 Equipment Maintenance
At a hospital, two 16-cylinder engine generators are provided to supply emergency power. They are reportedly run unloaded for a half-hour every week and under load every four weeks. Routine maintenance was provided by a contractor. One day, Unit 1 had been operating under load for about 20 minutes when loud noises were heard. Before the operator could shut down the unit, a connecting rod came through the side of the engine block. Extensive internal damage was found. During the investigation, Unit 2 was also examined and found to be far outside of the manufacturer’s specifications. Considerable damage to various components was found. For both units, the prime contributing factor was lack of power cylinder load balancing.

3.3.3 Loss Prevention Inspections/Building Maintenance
At a concrete plant, cement dust was leaking out of a conveyor that ran across a building’s roof. The growing pile was ignored, and eventually caused a large section of the roof to collapse.

3.3.4 Management Commitment to Property Conservation
A fire on a paper machine at a newsprint manufacturing facility caused extensive damage throughout the dry end of the machine. Fire spread was rapid with thick smoke filling the building, quickly making manual fire fighting very difficult. The rapid fire spread was in part due to poor housekeeping in the machine house. Polyester dryer felts and oil leaking from fire-damaged lubricating and hydraulic oil lines contributed to the fire. The most likely cause is spontaneous ignition of oil-soaked paper dust deposits. The fire was not controlled by the automatic sprinkler system, as the fire pumps were in manual mode rather than automaticstart mode because of leaks in the underground sprinkler main. By the time the fire pumps were started, the fire was out of control. The poor state of the automatic fire protection can be attributed to lack of management communication with regards to loss prevention and lack of a Property Conservation program.


Source FM Global .