The Guardian - February 2009
Fire Strategy - Beyond the Risk Assessment
Fire risk assessment is crucial to the management of fire risks but
is only part of the story. Legally, the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety)
Order 2005 and The Fire (Scotland) Act 2005 requires as a minimum of
the "Responsible Person" to manage fire risks through risk
assessment, reviews and introducing measures to reduce the risk of fires
occurring. However, the S2 Partnership believes there is
a need for a more holistic approach to managing fire safety by adopting
an all embracing fire strategy, as part of an organisation's overall
risk management strategy. This can be used to maintain fire safety throughout
the lifetime of the building and to make the business of fire risk assessment
more meaningful and objective.
The primary aim of a fire strategy is to design, manage, plan and co-ordinate
appropriate fire safety procedures to reduce the risk of fire and ensure
the safety of the occupants, as well as the protection of buildings
and other assets. Historically, fire strategies were put together in
a piece-meal fashion, leading to inconsistencies in approach. The new
approach to fire strategy is set down in PAS 911: 2007, launched by
the British Standards Institute (BSI) August 2007, and provides base-line
guidance in preparing a well structured fire strategy, recognizing no
two buildings are the same.
There are two key approaches to producing the fire strategy, briefly
compared below:
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The Prescriptive Approach |
The Performance Based Approach |
| Description |
- Uses building regulations as a basis for producing the strategy
|
- Use of the plethora of existing codes and standards. BS7974:
Application of Fire Engineering Principles to the design of
buildings provides much of the basis
|
| Advantages |
- Straightforward to use and apply
- Based upon past experience and research by others, providing
a consistent approach and output
- Easy to assess and audit by others
|
- Fully utilizes results of risk assessment and hazard analysis
- Can be tailored to meet the specific needs of the building
- More potential for optimum designs, innovation and cost saving
initiatives
|
| Disadvantages |
- Inflexible to the actual needs of the building
- May not necessarily lead to an optimum solution
|
- Unlike the Prescriptive Model, there are no absolute rules
guiding the specification of fire measures
- Requires a more thorough assessment, resulting in higher timescales
and costs
- More difficult for external parties to assess
|
In practice, a "hybrid" approach may be used in the case of
existing buildings. This can provide the basis for a cost effective
solution that also recognises elements of fire engineering that have
been used in the design.
Fire strategy proves invaluable to Directors and Senior Managers for
due diligence purposes. This is important in an environment where requirements
for a strategic approach to managing fire risk will continue to increase.
For example, before a Building Control authority completion certificate
can be issued, it will be necessary to provide sufficient information
for persons to operate, maintain and use
the building in relative safety. Make sure your organisation is ready
for this.
Preparing Your Fire Strategy
With so much at stake, it is vital that those entrusted to prepare
a fire strategy have the necessary levels of competence to undertake
the task. The initial outlay involved in producing the fire strategy
is a one-off, but reduces liability to potentially much higher costs
in the longer term.
Pen Hadow's exploration team
take off for Canada on ice mission
 |
|
Ice Team |
Pen Hadow and his Ice Team left Heathrow Airport on the 11th February
bound for Canada where they will embark on a scientific survey of the
Arctic Ocean's floating sea ice.
Team leader Pen Hadow and his Ice Team, Martin Hartley and Ann Daniels
will fly into Ottawa before spending ten days at Resolute where all
their expedition kit and survey equipment will be assembled. One of
the most important tasks ahead of their expedition is to make sure they
have everything required to survive in the harsh conditions of the Arctic
winter where temperatures can be as low as minus 50 degrees Celsius.
Speaking to well-wishers at the airport Pen said: "It's been a
huge effort to get ourselves here after five years of planning, but
right now I finally feel we are actually going to get the job done.
We know exactly what the scientists want us to collect, it's now up
to the three of us and our support team to get everything ready for
the expedition later in the month."
It is expected the Catlin Arctic Survey will start on February 27th
when the Ice Team will be flown onto the ice some 500 miles off the
coast of northern Canada.
Commenting about the preparations Ann Daniels said: "We've done
the hard training, I think we're all in great shape. What we do know
is that we'll need to be at peak fitness to survive the first gruelling
weeks in the total darkness of the high Arctic Ocean winter when the
temperatures will be at their lowest. Am I looking forward to it? Sure.
But it will be tough."
In what is an extreme physical challenge, the Catlin Arctic Survey
Ice Team will be trekking 1,000 kilometres to the North Geographic Pole
measuring the thickness of the ice and collecting other scientific data
to help scientists understand more about what is going on. The evidence
appears to be stacking up that the Arctic Ocean floating sea ice is
melting rapidly and according to one projection may vanish as early
as 2013, leaving the top of the world without a permanent expanse of
snow and ice for the first time during summer months.
The consequences include the warming of the Arctic Ocean as it absorbs
energy from the sun which has previously been reflected back into space
by the vast expanse of ice and snow, the opening of sea routes for shipping
through the North West and North-East Passages and huge changes to the
eco-system, including the habitat of its most iconic creature the polar
bear.
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Send-off Party for the Ice Team |
Employees of the S2 Partnership were pleased to attend the
send-off Party for the Ice Team on the 9th February. We wish them luck
on their expedition and are looking forward to keeping our clients updated
on their progress.
Newsletter Spotlight
The S2 Partnership celebrated its 10th anniversary earlier
this month. Since 1999, we have developed into a thriving company with
solid client relationships and ever-growing services. In recent years,
key events have been our achievement in attaining ISO 9001 for our own
business operations and more recently, ISO 14001. In 2008, we opened
an office in Scotland, comprising a team of consultants. As an expanding
company, we look forward to the new challenges ahead and to celebrating
the next 10 years!
New Recruits
The S2 Partnership are pleased to welcome Robert Clarke
to the team. Robert joins us as a Water Hygiene Consultant and mainly
works in and around the northern region.
We are also pleased to announce the appointment of Miles Cook, who
joins our software programming team, developing and supporting RiskWise2,
our Risk & Environmental Management Solution.