Fire is often associated with heavy materials and firefighting equipment losses and casualties and is a key public security concern for authorities all over the world and the use of fireproof material can be traced back to ancient Rome reflects Hakan Ozyigit, Regional Director of...
As an architect or engineer, when you design a facility’s life safety system, your primary goal is to achieve compliance with state and local fire code requirements explains Rodger Reiswig, SET, Fellow and Vice President, Industry Relations, Johnson Controls. While that approach can help ensure...
Female firefighters are at a high-risk of developing symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder and experiencing suicidal thoughts, compared to male firefighters, according to a new study published in May 2019 in the Occupational Medicine Journal. The study found that almost one in three (30%) female firefighters...
Old or new, all buildings are at an increased risk of fire during refurbishment. Here, Paul Henson, Sales and Marketing Director at Ramtech Electronics, looks at the importance of protecting occupants and assets during construction work. 2019 should go down in history as a turning point...
Tayfun Eren, Product Manager for the Prysmian Group examines the EU standard 50575 of the Construction Products Regulation (CPR): More safety in buildings. People spend 90 percent of their time in buildings where around 90 percent of all fires occur. The leading cause of death in...
With the international investment in aviation projects continuing, the cliché that the world is becoming a smaller place still remains relevant today writes Dermot Gallagher, Senior Fire Engineer in the UAE, Exova Warringtonfire. Tourism destinations have been competing to attract international tourists and their resulting...
More than a year of investigations into the March 2018 shopping mall fire in Kemerovo, Siberia, which killed 64 people and injured 79 others, have highlighted safety concerns that have to be taken into account not just in the rest of Russia but also worldwide. Physically...
Firefighting as an organised operation is as ancient as known history can tell us explains Ashley Price, Vice President, Fire Science Academy, KSA. The first historical accounts of organised fire brigade operation are believed to be from the Roman period in 115 BC, however, almost...
2015 was a landmark year for tall buildings reflects Peter Stephenson, Business Development Manager, Warrington Fire. Across the globe 106 tall buildings (above 200 metres or 656 feet in height) were completed. This surpassed the previous record of 99 (2014). The vast majority of new...
Miguel Coll reflects on how autonomous fire suppression is revolutionising exterior fire protection. Miguel is the Global Director Engineered Systems Product Management with Johnson Controls. The middle east is no stranger to industrial and economic growth. With this growth comes rapid new building construction. Consider the...
The “High-rise” or “Skyscraper” is not, as some would believe, a modern invention. They have been around since the height of the Roman Empire and were built more out of necessity than aesthetics. When you have a large population that require to be housed in...
In this vital article, Roy Savio Fernandes, SFPE with Jensen Hughes in Dubai, illustrates the changes adopted in the 2019 edition of NFPA 72 whilst considering occupant notification signals and standard updates from latest version of NFPA and explains the various requirements of fire alarm...
The Fire Station Manager for the Jabal Omar Development Company in the Holy City of Makkah in Saudi Arabia, Iqbal Ali, looks out of the window of his office at the thousands of Haj pilgrims making their way towards the Holy Mosque and the Holy...
Following the major fire at the Kings Dock car park of the Echo Arena in Liverpool, UK, on 31st December 2017, Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service (MF&RS) investigated the incident and commissioned a report, just published, which considered the fire protection issues influencing the incident...
3,236 Ro-Ro accidents reported to the Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA) between 2011 and 2018: 20% of them are fire related 15% are collisions 14% regarding damage to ship Based on this research, EMSA has developed a methodology to analyse data reported in the European Marine Casualty...
The threat and consequences of fire in any building are serious, but as Steve Carroll, General Manager, Advanced in the Middle East, considers, historic structures pose a particularly complex challenge for the people and systems charged with protecting them. Not only do these buildings tend to...
Local and international building codes for typical buildings do not readily address the unique fire safety challenges associated with modern train station design reflects Peter Stephenson, Business Development Director, WarringtonFire whereas fire engineering employs performance based design solutions, where necessary, to achieve the life safety...
Paul Pope, Head of System Integration and Technical Support, Apollo Fire Detectors, explores the challenges associated with fire detection in multi-use buildings, and outlines the ways in which the latest detection technology is helping to overcome these challenges. Designing a fire detection and alarm system is...
We rely so much on the ability of movement of people and goods that when this is interrupted, whole supply chains can be affected. Ever since the Wright brothers managed a flight of 135 ft the exponential growth of air transportation has become so common...
Developing effective professional command and leadership within an emergency response organisation is a challenge that must be wholeheartedly embraced, not just by the prospective candidate, but also by the organisation for which they will serve writes Ashley Price, Vice President, Fire Science Academy, KSA. It takes time...
Ivan Rich is Technical Manager at Bristol Uniforms and secretary for two CEN committees. Here he explains how international PPE standards are created and refreshed, and brings us up-to-speed on the latest to be published and reviewed. Fire and emergency services across the globe need to...
In this edition of Fire Middle East, Neil Pedersen, CEO and Founder of International Road Rescue & Trauma Consultancy focuses on the fourth ‘E’ – Emergency medical services and how through changing our mindsets and through joint emergency service interoperability we can improve casualty survivability...
The Middle East continues to be one of the most promising regions in the global aviation market writes Peter Stephenson, Business Development Director, Warringtonfire. Other regions and countries, such as Asia Pacific (Singapore, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Thailand) and Africa are developing and maturing as business...
In modern buildings there may be literally dozens of different types of audible warning specified; fire alarm systems, emergency exit alarms, lifts/elevators, intrusion alarm systems, and each can have their own audible warning device. In industrial settings there may also be audible warning devices on...
Managing how smoke and fresh air can travel within, and be extracted out of, a building is vital and programming of smoke control systems has long presented a notorious challenge to the fire industry until now with Advanced’ new solution DynamixSmoke. The control of smoke and...
Even a drill hole the size of a pencil that hasn’t been adequately fire stopped can allow rapid spread of smoke in minutes. Here, Keith Wells, Managing Director of Quelfire, explains why effective fire stopping is essential to maintain the integrity of fire compartments. It is...
Emergency response is abound with risk, we can see this, we know this and our ultimate goal is to avoid risk. Opting for lesser solutions to training will only increase risk and should be proactively avoided writes Ashley Price, Vice President of the Fire Science...
In heavy industry, there are continual issues owners and operators face in ensuring consistent plant safety. Some of the key challenges presented to the staff are prevention and control, fire and explosion and corrosion in pipework and structures. Carl Hunter BA (Dunelm) Hons, CEO &...
There are many hazardous environments which pose particularly high risks in terms of fire safety explains Kelvin Miller, Sales Director of Patol. Amongst the most hazardous are those which involve the storage of highly flammable substances, including refineries, petrochemical, gas processing, terminal and offshore facilities....
The question that international Health & Safety expert, Toby Hayward poses, in this article, is how fire safety is dealt with in high hazard projects and industries. To do this he covers some lessons learned as well as some approaches many will be familiar with....
Within the fire & life safety sector we are all familiar with the terms hazard and risk. When we refer to hazards and risk in relation to occupational health and safety common definitions include ‘A hazard is a potential source of harm or adverse health...
A report prepared by the 15-strong Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) predicts a slow down for 2019 of 20,000 barrels per day less in the global growth of oil demand. At first glance that would suggest that the oil and gas industry’s traditional heavy...
A major fire in a hospital or healthcare facility is horrific and there has been too many global incidents resulting in loss of life in recent years. Having worked in the fire industry for over 30 years and had responsibility for licensing, registering, auditing and...
In this article Steve North, Founder, and Rescue Director of International Road Rescue and Trauma Consultancy (IRRTC) looks at modern vehicles and the technology that is built in to them to protect the occupants. Commonly known in the vehicle and rescue industry as New Vehicle...
In recent years, the issue of cleaning and maintaining firefighter PPE has moved firmly into the spotlight, with the emergence of a possible link between contaminated kit and long-term health. Roger Startin, Joint Managing Director of Bristol Uniforms, looks at the importance of keeping PPE...
Ideally, clean room solutions integrate all the building systems for regulating, controlling and monitoring the space thus minimising risks, increasing efficiency and ensuring compliance to regulations. FME asked Siemens Building Technologies to explain the processes in more detail. For sensitive, valuable goods, the clean room is...
The clean rooms that I am used to dealing with are in an industrial environment and staffed by the white-clad, respirator wearing professionals that are synonymous with this area write FME’s very own international Health & Safety expert Toby Hayward. However, when researching this feature,...
Creating new businesses and industries to replace their traditional economic reliance upon oil and gas production, has become a central theme in the growth policies of several MENA Countries in recent years. None more so than in Saudi Arabia, where two huge projects will be providing...
Even in major cities across the world it can take as long as 15-20 minutes for an emergency response to arrive at the scene of an accident from the time of call and, in rural or remote areas, much longer. Here Neil Pedersen of the...
As a fresh-faced cadet, FME’s international Health & Safety Expert Toby Hayward was told by his first instructor at South Shields Training College “You are the fire brigade – you can forget calling us!” He recalls it was a sobering thought! The reality in deep sea...
Aaron Johnson, International Fire Strategist and jill cotton, a web-technology specialist and communications director at InspectionReportsOnline.net (IROL) examine the concept of web-based reporting technologies and its benefits, issues, concerns and the implementation of these systems. There’s no doubt the activities put in place by our fire...
We effectively manage risk in our lives on a daily basis; whether it’s putting a car seat belt on or choosing a safe place to cross the road. But when it comes to entering a building, we put some of that responsibility into someone else’s...
Two successful large-scale ESFR sprinkler pre tests and four successful large-scale ESFR sprinkler verification tests show that sprinkler protection of the AutoStore storage system is viable even in facilities with very high ceiling heights. The autostore storage system is developed by the Norwegian company Autstore A/S...
The recent fire on board the ultra large container vessel, Maersk Honam, in the Arabian Sea sent a few shockwaves around the boardrooms of the rapidly expanding logistics businesses in the gulf region. Losing 7,500 40ft containers will have disrupted an industry that has started to...
The storage and warehousing of goods and materials has developed over time along with the evolution of mankind. Peter Stephenson, Assistant Director, BuroHappold examines the fire safety challenges associated with automated storage facilities. Automated storage and retrieval system (ASRS or AS/RS) commonly consist of a variety...
Part 1 – Post Fire Damage Decontamination PETER STEPHENSON, Associate Director, BuroHappold Engineering As professionals in the fire industry we can influence fire safety in the built environment in many ways including building design, product specification & performance, system commissioning & testing, management systems &...
What do data centres, clean rooms, manufacturing centres and hospitals have in common? They are critical facilities, where the financial and operational repercussions of equipment-related damages and downtime can be devastating and they all present their own challenges in terms of fire suppression, with the...
This article explores the challenge of effectively marking evacuation routes, particularly vertical escape routes in high-rise buildings. Those responsible for fire safety management face many challenges while developing the emergency plans for the buildings they take under their responsibility to ensure the safety of the building’s...
Forming a vital role in the fire strategy for a building, the fire door will provide and maintain an effective fire separating function between the building compartments, minimising the fire spread within the room of origin and restricting the passage of smoke in the event...
Even the shortest period of downtime can damage the reputation of a data centre or enterprise, resulting in the loss of customer trust and subsequent business. Alan Elder, Fellow Engineer, Tyco Systems examines a research study on the impact of sound on computer hard disk...