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Fire could erupt in domestic or commercial premises and cause property damage, personal injury, document loss and even more severe and fatal outcomes. All household owner and commercial premise managers therefore need to assess the risk of fire eruption in the building that they own or manage.

Fire risk assessment cannot be carried out by ordinary people. So DIY is implausible. DIY may or may not yield success. Since nothing would happen to you if you don’t paint your house artistically, you could opt for DIY when the house needs to be painted. But if you make any mistake assessing fire risk, you along with your loved ones may have to pay a hefty price.

As for commercial buildings, hiring certified fire safety consultants for fire risk assessment is not optional. Therefore, be it personal property or commercial property, service from experienced fire safety consultants is necessary for true assessment of fire risk.

In this article, we’ll explore various aspects of fire safety consultation and risk assessment.

Legal Requirements

In United States, it’s mandatory for commercial building managers to get an approval from the fire department when constructing a new building. There are primary fire protection building codes, used in any type of construction in North America.

There are regular guidelines such as keeping fire extinguishers in every commercial building, creating more than one emergency fire exits, etc. But more stringent requirements also apply to commercial properties and managers need to abide by them. The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) is a trader’s organization in United States. It has fire code that delivers specific guidelines on how a building should be built to avoid fire risk.

The very first NFP code deals with a gamut of issues pertaining to fire protection system, equipment and occupant safety. The issues also guide the use of combustible liquids, hazardous materials and LP gas.

Fire Risk Assessment Procedure

To assess the risk of fire eruption, one needs to have expertise. Without an expert fireworker, risk assessment cannot be carried out. Fire safety consultants know how to perform risk assessment. First they identify the sources of ignition, fuel and oxygen to measure the risk. Then they reduce the risk by detecting fire and takes note of how many means of escape are there in the building.

Detailed descriptions of the individual procedures are given below;

❏     Identifying Ignition Sources - Ignition sources can be of various types. Fire risk assessors normally look for naked flames, halogen lamps, arson, drive belt friction, problematic electrical equipment, ventilation, smoke inducing substances, metal tools, engines and boilers for industrial facilities, etc.

❏     Identifying Fuel Sources - Fuel sources are traced in risk assessment. Assessors look for liquid combustible products like fixatives, mineral spirit, petrol, methylated spirit, paraffin, foam used to manufacture upholstered furniture, materials for packaging, textiles, wood dust, polystyrene tiles for synthetic ceiling, LPG, etc.

❏     Identifying Oxygen Sources - We all know oxygen ignites fire. Fire risk assessors search for oxidizing agents at the time of assessing risk of fire breakout in a building. They check mechanical air conditioning systems, air handling systems, oxygen supplies from cylinders and pipes, etc.

Fire safety consultants can easily install fire sprinkler and fire alarm systems in the building if it doesn’t have them already. They also monitor all types of fire alarms and make sure the alarms will be functional in case of a sudden eruption of fire.

Consultation and Testing

We’re discussing consultation and testing separately from fire risk assessment because they can be carried out separately, and not as parts of the whole fire risk assessment process. Consultation covers a range of suggestions that are important to avoid the risk of fire breakout.

The safety consultant may advise the building manager to remove unnecessary sources of heat and replace them with alternatives that carry no risk of ignition. He may also suggest the manager to close all openings from which air can pass except the ventilation.

Consultants can carry out backflow protection equipment and MIC testing. Backflow prevention devices are found on fire sprinkler systems; they need to be tested every once in a while. As for MIC, metals in fire sprinkler system are corroded due to it. MIC problems are silent culprits and so, needs to be tested by certified fire safety consultants.

Conclusion

If you think your building needs to be inspected for fire risk, do not waste time and call an experienced fire safety consultant today. As the age-old adage says; better be safe than sorry.

Katie Smith is a Fire Expert and his area of interests and expertise lies in forensic science and accident or crime scene investigation related matters. He often consults Houston Fire Investigation