Fire risk assessment and management

Ocado’s £45-million state-of-art robotic warehouse was completely destroyed by fire in late 2019. (Source: HFRS via bloomberg.com)

FIRE RISK ASSESSMENT AND MANAGEMENT

What is Fire Risk Assessment and Management? Why is this important and has it been practised over the years? To certain extent perhaps, but it may not be in the context of fire risks.

OBJECTIVES OF FIRE RISK ASSESSMENT

Architects as well as Mechanical and Electrical engineers designed new buildings according to Building Regulations, relevant Acts, Codes and Standards, and Fire regulations in compliance with legislative requirements – that is as far as the current status of the building goes.

At times, the building’s occupancy has been converted into different risk groups, e.g., when upper floors of a shoplot are modified or a few shoplots combined into one entity to become budget hotels, tuition centres, entertainment outlets and etc. Converting an existing building deviates from the original design risks, which necessitates a review through fire risk assessment exercise to ensure that the fire risks can be managed through mitigation measures. This is an essential process especially when occupancy includes “sleeping risks”.

In cases where there is no change in occupancy risks in the building, in-house fire risks could change over time as a result of increased fuel loads, expansion or extension of the building, or the introduction of new fire hazards beyond the effectiveness of the fire protection system that is already in place.

In view of the above, fire risk assessment is vital for buildings that have been completed and occupied to ensure that fire hazards and potential fire risks can be identified and managed in reducing potential fires incidents or averting any fire disasters. Fire incidents that caused a disruption of business, or worse, resulted in loss of life, can be and should be avoided to prevent further losses such as investment, productivity or even national heritage – case in point, a massive blaze devastated major parts of Japan’s 600-year-old Shuri Castle; Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris suffered extensive damages when it caught fire last year; and Ocado’s £45-million state-of-art robotic warehouse was completely destroyed in a fire in late 2019 that affected its supply chain to Marks and Spencer; and 72 fatalities were reported in the Grenfell Tower disaster – all of which are good reminders of crucial and essential fire risks assessment exercise. The objective of fire risk assessment in protecting national or world heritage, safeguarding construction investments to ensure business continuity and sustainability is an essential part of a fire safety strategy.

Notre-Dame Cathedral suffered heavy damage from a massive fire recently. (Source: nbcnews.com)

FIRE RISKS AND FIRE HAZARDS

A fire risk assessment (FRA) is carried out to determine two essential factors – fire risks and fire hazards. For fire risks, the assessor will need to establish the probability of a fire occurring, the impact and the amount of damage as a result of the fire. The probability of a fire will depend largely on the amount of combustible materials (fire hazards) present within the building or the floor or the rooms under survey.

For a fire to occur, potential ignition source has to be nearby or induced by electrical power cable short-circuiting or a naked flame (e.g. welding, etc). The percentage of a potential fire may be

BIODATA

Tay Hao-giang is the principal fire consultant of Fire Safety Engineering Sdn Bhd, with over 30 years of experience in fire safety engineering and management. Tay is the Past International President, a Trustee and Board of Directors of The Institution of Fire Engineers and the current Vice President of The Institution of Fire Engineers Malaysia Branch.

Tay chairs technical committees that develop series of performance-based Malaysian Standards for the fire safety and prevention industry, and part of the panel CPD lecturers for Fire and Rescue Department Malaysia, The Institution of Architects Malaysia, The Board of Architects Malaysia, The Institution of Engineers Malaysia, Construction Industry Development Board Malaysia and the Institution of Fire Engineers Malaysia. Read more about fire safety engineering solutions at www.ifea.my.

Mr Tay Hao-Giang, FIFireE B. Sc. (Hons), M.Sc. Fire Safety Engineering.

referred to past statistics or based on at-site qualitative assessment. For high investment FRA, a quantitative approach is preferred over qualitative approach as the consequences are too high. For combustibility of materials, in-depth knowledge of all interior furnishings and furniture is necessary on ignitibility, heat flux generated, flash point, smoke index and toxicity. This is more so for high pile storage where even ESFR (Early Suppression Fast Response) may not be effective.

Consequences define the actual impact of a potential fire incident on business continuity in direct loss, consequential loss, loss of goodwill, loss of capital investment and possible legal implication on contractual obligations. Depending on the extent of damage and critical machinery loss, the long period of refurbishing machineries and rebuilding affected premises could mean loss of market shares due to competition. The combination of these two factors will dictate the fire risks index of each compartment or building.

Once the fire risks have been identified, the priority should go to

BP’s (British Petroleum) Deepwater Horizon incident in 2010 is considered the largest accidental marine oil spill in the world, and the largest environmental disaster in U.S. history. (Source: AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

A fire devastated a student accommodation building at the University of Bolton in Manchester, UK. (Source: Phil Taylor via theboltonnews.co.uk)

mitigation of fire risks on human safety. Under Fire Services Act 341, all building owners or management corporation managing the building are responsible for the life safety of the occupants within their building. It is the responsibility of the building owners to ensure fire risk assessments are conducted so as to minimise fire risks. They are also responsible to ensure all active fire protection systems are maintained at operation orders, passive fire protection design and systems kept up to date and maintained as recommended in the relevant Malaysian Codes and Standards.

FIRE RISK ASSESSMENT METHODOLOGY

There are several fire risk assessment models currently being practised in the market. Among them, risk factor matrix method is the popular choice as risks can be easily classified according to the result of the index derived and can be modified to suit individual corporation. The method may seem simple, but detailed tabulation of risk and hazard factors need to be clearly defined to reflect the actual risk index. More importantly, the acceptable risk line needs to be clearly drawn when formulating fire risks policies.

The 6-Step Method is a more structured approach, based on the compilation of data before arriving at the degree of fire risks. Algorithmic method of risk assessment is the most complex in which it uses a flow chart to arrive at the classification of risk categories. The flow chart is set up based on individual process or hazard analysis. Whichever fire risk assessment method is selected, the competency of the fire risk assessor is the most important factor. A qualified and certified FRA shall have the knowledge as well as the experience to be able to identify and record the fire risks and fire hazards to produce a comprehensive and accurate report.

BENEFITS OF FIRE RISK ASSESSMENT AND MANAGEMENT

All businesses come with a certain degree of risks; acknowledging and managing known risks will ensure business continuity and sustainability. Allocation of resources to mitigate known fire risks will depend on the consequences of a potential fire; it is never the probability that determines the allocation of resources but rather the consequences of the impact. If the result of the impact is disastrous, although the probability is low, it will still be classified as extra high risks as a result of the consequences since fire incident can destroy or damage the goodwill of the company for good. BP’s (British Petroleum) Deepwater Horizon oil spill disaster in the Gulf of Mexico is a good typical case study.

Once the fire risk assessment is completed, recommended mitigation measures need to be taken into consideration to reduce risks exposure or prevention of loss. Risk management can be carried out in the forms of eliminating high risks, exercising control on medium risks, avoiding low risks, transferring risks and accepting risks in low-risk cases.

FRA is not a code compliance assessment where the approach has different objectives. Code compliance assessment is to ensure fire safety requirement of occupied building does not deviate from UBBL, Code and Standards legislative fulfilment. Fire Risk Assessment examines the potential presence of fire safety risks relevant to the fire hazards introduced into the building after it is occupied. Fire risk assessors must be the ones who are specially trained, certified and equipped with necessary knowledge in order to carry out their work diligently.