HOW EFFECTIVE ARE YOUR FIRE
SUPPRESSANT SYSTEMS? CRANE ACCIDENTS, ESPECIALLY CRANE FIRES CAN BE MAKING NEWS HEADLINES ALMOST IMMEDIATELY IN TODAY’S DIGITAL AGE. THERE IS A PERCEPTION THAT ONCE THESE FIRES GET STARTED NOTHING CAN BE DONE TO STOP THEM. FIRESTORM’S KIERAN MCHATTON EXPLAINS THIS ISN’T THE CASE.
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n many cases, the risks and related control measures around crane operations are well known, but in terms of risk assessment, a crane fire isn’t necessarily front of mind. The “worst case scenario” happened in Sydney six years ago, when a fire started on the machine deck of a diesel/ hydraulic luffing crane, it caused the luff rope to fail, allowing the jib to collapse onto the worksite below. Fortunately, there were no injuries as the worksite had been evacuated, and the jib fell into the evacuated worksite rather than a populated area. Safety reports at the time confirmed that the same potential for fire applied to electric tower cranes. Providing protection against fire on mobile and transportable equipment is governed by Australian Standard (AS) 5062 -2016. The objective of the standard is to formalise current good practice in reducing the incidence and severity of fires, and to provide a consistent approach to fire risk reduction in order to safeguard life, property and the environment against fires associated with mobile and transportable equipment. Firestorm Fire Protection designs, installs and services fire suppression systems throughout Australia. The Firestorm Fire Protection Group comprises an integrated network of fire suppression solutions for a wide range of applications including cranes, mining and heavy industry, bus, construction, recycling, trucks, tunnelling and forestry sectors. Firestorm has been distributing the Swedish manufactured Fogmaker Water Mist Fire Protection System since 2010. According to Kieran McHatton, General Manager of Fogmaker Australia, the system 58
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The system has been fitted to a number of different cranes around Australia, including large harbour cranes.
“COMPARED TO CONVENTIONAL FOAM SYSTEMS WE ARE A MORE COMPACT UNIT AND USE A 10TH OF THE AGENT TO PROVIDE THE SAME OR BETTER OUTCOMES.” is AS 5062-2016 approved and industry response to the system was quick and positive. “In the first 12 months of taking on the product, we installed 600 systems,” he said. “We started in mining, and then moved to the public transport sector. Today, we have installed 9000 systems across Australia and NZ and 180,000 systems internationally.” Mr. McHatton says that AS 5062-2016 is a risk-based methodology and has certain fire-testing criteria. Not all systems comply to the standard. “There are two ways to look at the standard. First, suppressant manufacturers have to put their systems through AS5062 to get approval and compliance. Secondly, the end user needs to follow the AS5062 risk based methodology to be part of
that approval process,” he says. “So, the user owns the risk assessment and determines whether a fire system goes on the machines or not. There is a chain of responsibility on the machine owner, and they should be ensuring that a fire suppressant system is fit for purpose prior to purchase.” The Fogmaker system is a piston accumulator system using high-pressure water mist. “Compared to conventional foam systems we are a more compact unit and use a 10th of the agent to provide the same or better outcomes. Essentially, we fill the engine compartment with water mist and one litre of water creates 1700 litres of steam,” he explains. “Steam is an inert gas, and that extinguishes the
