Health & Safety with Nigel Mair – Fire! Fire! Fire!

In this months article I thought that it might be useful to have a look at one of the hazards that is probably present on all sites – FIRE! This is particularly important as the legislation has recently changed, placing more responsibility on you as site owners.
Fire Principles
In order to appreciate the specific risks in your workplace it is perhaps helpful if we go back to basics and consider the elements that must be present for a fire to occur. In the majority of cases (there are a few specific exceptions), three things are necessary for a fire to occur: fuel, oxygen and heat. This is often referred to as the fire triangle and it forms a very simple and useful way of thinking about your fire control approach. In simple terms, if you take away one element, then the triangle will collapse and the fire will go out.
There are a number of approaches that you can use to remove one of these elements, with these generally referred to as Smothering, Cooling and Starvation.
Smothering is the extinguishing of the fire by limiting or stopping the flow of air to the seat of the fire. This results in the oxygen in the area being used up, with the fire eventually going out.
An example would be putting out someone’s burning clothes by wrapping them in a blanket, or when sand, or a similar material is put onto a fire.
Cooling is where a fire is extinguished by reducing the temperature and is based upon the principle that if heat is lost from the fire faster than it is generated by the combustion process then the fire dies away.
This is what happens when water is applied to a fire, with the heat being used up as the water is converted to vapour. In fact, six times as much heat is used to convert water into steam than it does to raise its temperature to boiling point. This means that if you do use water to put a fire out, then it should really be applied as a spray rather than a jet, ensuring that as a much heat as possible is drawn away from the fire as quickly as possible.
Starving is the technique of extinguishing a fire by limiting the fuel. This can be achieved in two ways:
• By removing compustible material from the neighbourhood of the fire; for example, buildings may be demolished to create a fire stop, or burning fuel tanks can be drained;
• By removing the fire from the neighbourhood of compustible material. This is perhaps a bit more difficult, but plant could be used to pull away a fire from other objects (obviously if safe to do so).
Smoke
When we think of fire we tend to focus on the hazard of the flame and heat, but this is not what we should really be worrying about. Combustion products and smoke are the real killers and are much more likely to get you first…..we should really call them smoke and fire doors, rather than simply fire doors.
Fire Legislation
This changed relatively recently, with the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 coming into force in October 2006. This applies to virtually all premises and covers nearly every type of building, structure and open space.
The main requirements are:
• to carry out a fire risk assessment identifying any possible dangers and risks;
• consider who may be especially at risk;
• get rid of the risk, or reduce it as far as reasonably possible, dealing with any residual risk;
• make sure that there is adequate protection if flammable or explosive materials are used or stored;
• create a plan to deal with any emergency and, in most cases keep a record of your findings; and
• as always, review the whole process as necessary.
So what does this mean in practice?
A big change is that fire authorities no longer issue fire certificates and those previously in force will have no legal status. Nevertheless, if you do have a fire certificate then this may be a useful starting point when you are working through the controls you need to have in place.
One of the main things that you now need to do is to make sure that a fire risk assessment is carried out……remember that even if someone else carries this out for you, you will still be legally responsible.
You must also make sure that, as far is reasonably practicable, everyone on the premises, or nearby, can escape safely if there is a fire. When it says everyone, then it means everyone, to include employees, visitors and members of the public. You should pay particular attention to anyone who may need special help, such as resulting from a disability. Also, remember what we said about smoke, so don’t forget to factor that into your assessment…….if there was a fire where will the smoke go and what affect might that have on peoples’ ability to escape?
The process of carrying out a fire risk assessment is similar to that of any risk assessment and involves a systematic look at your entire workplace. Having said that there are a few extra things that you might also want to think about, such as your fire detection and warning systems – when was the last time you had a practice or drill? Do people know the correct safe means of escape in the event of a fire? If there is only one possible route, is this a fire-protected route (not forgetting about the smoke)?
Fire fighting equipment is often available in workplaces and as part of the risk assessment you will need to consider whether these are appropriate for the fire risks- remember that certain extinguishers should only be used on specific types of fires. Also, do staff know what they should do in the event of a fire? Should they have a go at putting it out? Have they been trained in how do to this?
This is a very big topic that I can’t really condense into a short article so I have only picked out some of the main features You can find some more information at www.firesafetyguides.communities.gov.uk.
Nigel Mair is a WAMITAB assessor and verifier and runs the North West Regional Assessment Centre, delivering WAMITAB qualifications and other H&S, waste and environmental training.
This article originally appeared in Issue 23 of The Skip magazine

June 19, 2007 at 9:00 am | Health & Safety | No comment

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Health & Safety with Nigel Mair – Coughs and sneezes spread……..

At this time of year you and your staff are probably suffering from niggly illnesses that female colleagues will call colds, but male colleagues will no doubt call the flu!
Although this can result in time off work and the resulting operational disruption, it is not the only health issue that can have impact on your business (and staff).
In the waste industry we tend to focus on the safety side of health and safety. This is understandable, but we shouldn’t forget that there are also health issues that are just as important.
Leptospirosis
Most of you will no doubt have heard about this bacterial disease that is transmitted to humans by contact with the urine of rats (and also cattle, foxes and other wild animals), generally through contamination of soil or water.
The bacteria can enter the body through cuts to the skin, or via the nose, mouth or other mucous membranes. In most cases the infection causes a flu-like illness and severe headaches. A more severe form of the disease occurs in about 15% of cases and is known as Weil’s disease. This causes jaundice, liver damage and even death in up to 40 per cent of infected people.
Infections are actually quite rare in the UK, with Weil‘s disease being extremely rare. Nevertheless, the disease is still a very serious illness, and must be swiftly diagnosed and treated.
Diagnosis
Leptospirosis starts about ten days after infection and may be so mild as to be unsuspected. In more severe cases it starts suddenly with headache, fever, chills, severe muscle aches and tenderness, redness of the eyes, loss of appetite, vomiting and sometimes a skin rash.
Formal diagnosis is difficult as blood tests rarely confirm the infection quickly enough to make a difference to the treatment, but may help to confirm that you have had the disease. To decide whether someone is infected is therefore based on matching the symptoms to the work situation…..if someone has the right symptoms and they work in the right environment, then it might be most appropriate to treat the person with antibiotics as if they have the disease.
Prevention
There are a number of levels of prevention that you should consider. These follow good standards of health and safety management, with avoidance being the most desirable. Therefore think about the work that your staff are doing and the tasks that may bring them into contact with infected material. Is this work really necessary and if it is could it be carried out in another way? For example, by the use of mechanical plant.
Make your staff aware of the disease, how they can prevent it and the specific symptoms so that they can let their Doctor know if relevant- this could be through an information sheet. From an individual point of view one of the key issues is simply basic personal hygiene- wearing gloves and washing hands are the primary measures that staff can take to minimise their risks.
For your part, do you provide hand washing facilities, a clean place to eat and also (importantly) time for them to use these facilities? Don’t forget to think about all your staff, to include those off site. If the answers to any of these are “no”, then you may not be fulfilling your duties under the various Acts and Regulations.
Blood borne diseases
There are many examples of diseases that can be spread by infections from contaminated blood. The most relevant and high profile for the waste industry are HIV and Hepatitis.
Your staff can be exposed to needles in the material they handle during the course of their work. Needles can be found in a wide variety of places, some obvious, whilst others may be less so.
Needles have been found in many locations, to include:
- Rubbish bags
- Bedding, clothing, soft furnishings, car seats and green waste
- Public toilets
- Recreation areas
- Discarded litter/litter bins (inside cigarette packets, sweet packaging, drinks cans)
- Sink U bends/drains
- Door locks/floorboards/walls
- End of Life vehicles
If you consider that your staff are at risk then it is probably worth introducing a needles reporting system. This will help you gain a proper picture of the issue and identify the places where the risks are highest and where additional precautions and controls may be required. You then need to think about who could be harmed, how this could happen and whether the existing precautions are enough.
Preventing or controlling the risk
It is important to take the view that all needles could be potentially infected and ensure that your employees understand the risks.
Make sure that you provide appropriate equipment for handling and disposal of sharps e.g.
- Tools for picking up needles safely.
- Sharps boxes capable of safely containing needles.
- Suitable gloves.
Also think about the way that staff work- arms can be particularly vulnerable when throwing bags into collection vehicles, and needles in black bags when being carried can bang against legs, causing injuries. Suitable puncture/cut resistant clothing to help protect legs is now routinely provided, but do staff really follow the safe working practices that you have in place to protect them?
Tetanus
Tetanus is a bacterial infection that develops when spores found naturally in soils contaminate a wound. The wound may not seem that serious, but the bacteria release a poison called a neurotoxin that attacks the nervous system and causes problems such as muscle spasm.
The incubation period varies from a few days to a few weeks. Then there’s general tiredness or weakness followed by the classic spasms of the jaw muscles, called lockjaw. Other symptoms include:
- problems with swallowing or breathing
- arching of the back and neck
- inability to pass urine
- sweating
- abnormal heart rate and blood pressure
In severe cases tetanus left untreated can be fatal.
Diagnosis and treatment
As with leptospirosis the diagnosis is usually based on the symptoms and history of the individual, with treatment generally started straight away. If you think you (or someone else) has tetanus then medical assistance should be sought immediately.
What about the immunisation?
Most of us will probably have been immunised at school (a routine programme was introduced in 1961)- there is a programme of 5 doses to ensure full immunity for life.
If you are not immunised or did not complete the full programme then an injection of vaccine is usually advised.
This information should again be provided to your staff so that they are fully informed of how best to protect themselves whilst at work.
In this article we have tried to cover some of the main points with each disease, but as with all medical conditions this is no substitute for information provided on an individual basis by a medical practitioner.
Nigel Mair is a WAMITAB assessor and verifier and runs the North West Regional Assessment Centre, delivering WAMITAB qualifications and other H&S, waste and environmental training. If you have any questions for Nigel, please email them to nigel@theskip.net.
This article was orginally published in Issue 20 of TheSkip magazine