School Fire Alarms and Students

The personal safety of students and staff is important to everyone who enters a school building. There is a need to make sure that every person knows the escape routes and the quickest way out. One concern can always be students at the top floor of a school building have to exit quickly as there would be no other options. This is why fire doors are used within large buildings to contain a fire as much as possible and prevent it spreading across an entire floor.

Students, especially younger children are prone to panicking more and therefore the need for a calm and efficient exit of a building is essential to avoid accidents or falls. Teachers will be well practiced in keeping students calm and getting them to move along quickly to avoid an accident or compensation claim.

Office Fires and Preventing Accident Claim

Office working environments differ from construction sites and in the majority of cases employees should exit the building as soon as possible, rather than trying to fight the fire or extinguish it. As part of inductions, employees are shown where to go in the event of a fire and the nearest fire escape route.

Often office floors can have lots of different office partitions making it even more boxed off and people all trying to get through the main doors. If done correctly, staff can still exit the building without causing an accident that might result in an accident claim.

Often offices are connected through to the local fire station. As soon as the alarm is activated, the fire service is also alerted. In training exercises they are pre-warned to prevent an unnecessary call out

Fires on a Construction Site

On a construction site there will be specific and identified points and the fire extinguisher will be appropriate to the nature of the potential fire.  The use of chemicals and potential hazards mean that only trained people should use the fire extinguishers.  As a general rule;

• Water is used to extinguish wood, paper and cloth
• Dry powder or foam extinguisher is used for flammable liquids
• Carbon dioxide extinguisher must be used for electrical items.

Using the wrong extinguisher can create a bigger hazard as sometimes the elements within the extinguisher will add fuel to the existing fire and cause an accident or that might need someone to make or enquire about compensation claims

Fighting Fires At Work

If you are working in an office there is usually a need for a fire person or fire warden. The role and responsibility for this person is to ensure everyone knows what to do in an emergency and they will also be trained in what fire extinguishers are required for which fire.

Fighting fires is not something which should be taken on lightly. Professionals are trained for years with the correct equipment to extinguish fires safely without causing injury which might lead to a compensation claims. In some cases a person might make the situation worse and end up endangering their own live by trying to tackle a fire within the correct training. In the next few posts we take a look at some of the training and situations that are involved in fire training.

Construction Site Fire Escape Routes and Planning

When a fire takes hold the first plan is always to escape and get out as soon as possible, using the quickest route possible and of course the safest route. This will reduce injury which might lead to a personal injury claim,
The main ways to ensure there is a safe means of escape will differ from industry to industry as an office building will have different processes to a construction site. The processes for a building site or construction site include the following;

Checking routes and making sure they are available, kept available and of course unobstructed.
If there are any alternative routes that can be utilised, these should be highlighted as routes to the ground level. In some circumstances, not every route will accessible or available, depending on where the fire may have started. 

Protection from fire spreading is something which is important and can be implemented with fire doors or other forms of permanent fire separation. This will contain any fire to a specific area rather than it spreading across the whole building or floor.

Fire assembly points must be known and safe distance away. One a small construction site this is usually a pavement. Every employee must know these points in advance and the quickest way there.
Finally signs must be obvious incase there are people who might not be aware of the escape routes. These need to be clearly shown.

If employees, contractors or visitors know the fire escape plans and procedures it will help reduce panic and confusion in the event of a fire. Also, it will reduce any injury or subsequent compensation claims caused during a rush or panic to exit as soon as possible.

Stages To Fire Awareness of A Construction Site

We have previously discussed the problems with fire and damage it can cause on a building or construction site. Fortunately there are processes in place to make sure damage is limited and any personal injury claims are reduced. The key stages to general fire safety are as follows;

• Risk Assessment- this involves identifying hazards, people at risk and review processes
• Means of escape – ensuring that all employees know how nearest exits and can safely leave the area
• A means or way to give warning – this is especially important within noisy environments like a warehouse, factory or construction site
• Fighting fires – any potential ways of extinguishing fires where it is safe to do so.

Everyone knows the potential harm a fire can do to buildings and humans. In all cases fire escapes and processes are disclosed to the employee or visitor but these need regular reviews to reduce panic and confusion, should a fire really happen.

Fire and Construction Sites

Fire is a potential risk when working with tools that generate sparks, heat or flames. A spark or flame that catches on paper or any flammable material can quickly cause a fire that may be hard to control. Sometimes due to noise, a worker might not even realise that a spark has ignited.

This is why the fire plan must always be kept up to date. This is critical during any alteration work or as the construction develops. Workers must know at all times, the fire escape routes and what to do in the event of an emergency. There must be an effective way for all employees to raise the alarm in the event of a fire to reduce the hazard, prevent panic and ensure everyone is safe. 

A construction site really can develop and change daily, so to ensure there are no compensation claims from accidents workers must know the fire routes and know if they are likely to change as a building or area changes.

Uncontrolled Collaspe and Demolition

Uncontrolled collapse on a building site is one thing that everyone needs to be concerned with. The same factors that apply to excavations, apply to demolition and these include;

•    The age of the structure that is being demolished
•    Its previous use
•    The type of construction that is being demolished
•    Any structures or buildings nearby
•    And finally the weight of any removed material or machinery on floors that might be above ground level.

To avoid and prevent accidental collapse and any potential compensation claims these points need to be thoroughly assessed. When a demolition takes place, there is a lot of processes that need to b auctioned before any work starts.

Demolition and Falling From Heights

The same principle applies to working at height aswell as falls from height, which can occur when demolition work is being carried out. Imagine that the working at height is dangerous enough (have a look over our previous blog posts on this) but accidents can always occur when demolition work is being carried out as edges and partially demolished floors are also present.

There is a potential for a personal injury claim when working at height as a fall can be fatal and cause problems. This is where the duty holder has the responsibility to assess, eliminate and control the risks of workers falling from height.

Surfaces that were once secure and solid may be damaged and become fragile, during demolition. It is essential for this to be assessed and confirmed so workers can confidently walk around the construction site.

Transfer Dumper Trucks and Accident Claims

Transfer Dump Trucks
The transfer dump truck is a standard dump truck which then pulls a separate trailer which can be loaded with construction materials like aggregate. These include gravel, sand, wood chips etc). The separate container is powered by either an electric, pneumatic motor or hydraulic line. Transfer trucks are typically seen in the US though as the weight restrictions on Western highways.

Truck and Pup
This is similar to the transfer dump but unlike the transfer has its own hydraulic ram and is capable of self-unloading.

These are just some of the dumper trucks that can be seen on the roads and within construction sites. Any operator using either the transfer dump or the truck and pup needs to know what they are doing and the correct way to load and unload the trucks. This is important as overloading may cause the truck to tip over or cause another accident which might result in an accident claim or personal injury.

Did You Know....

Each year within the construction industry, approximately ten people die as a result of being struck by vehicles on site. In addition, there are hundreds of preventable accidents and injuries. 

Guidelines have been put in place to make sure that accidents are prevented as much as possible to avoid a personal injury claim on a building site.

Controlling The Risks of Excavation

As we have seen in the previous post there is potential for an accident to happen on a construction site when excavations are happening.  Thankfully to avoid a personal injury claim on site there are ways in which the risks can be minimised and controlled.

Exclusion – Sounds an obvious one but people should be kept away from areas where excavations are in operation. This can be done by using barriers. A pedestrian exclusion zone should be created with barriers and tape to make sure pedestrians are kept away.

Visibility – When carrying out any excavation work the excavator needs the best view around them and the driver needs to have as much clear vision as possible when operating the excavator.

Clearance area – When slewing in a confined area a minimum tail swing should be used and is preferred. Clearance needs to be over 0.5m between any part of the machine.

Signaller – This is an important job which can minimise risk. The signaller should be in a safe place to direct the excavator operations and be aware and notify pedestrians in time for them to vacate the area.

Attachments and Bucket attachments – these need to be secured as a number of deaths have occurred when the bucket has fallen from the machine.

All of these are potential risks and can be easily implemented to ensure safety on a construction site or anywhere when excavations are taking place and avoid a personal injury claim.

Construction Sites and Excavations

Another element of a construction site is the use of mobile plant and vehicles. Construction sites have a lot of machinery and employees.  Those vehicles perform various tasks and the operator needs to be concentrating on the job as well as safety for those around him to avoid a personal injury claim being made by himself or a fellow co-worker.

As we have mentioned before, some construction sites are also situated close to pedestrian areas and therefore also need to be made secure. The safety of pedestrians is just as important as employees.

When any building work takes place there is a need to make sure the relevant excavations have been carried out to check the foundations and footings. There are several elements of excavations that need to be taken into consideration.

Did You Know This Statistic?

   Since 2001 there has been 61 accidents that involved tower cranes. 25 persons have been seriously injured and 9 people have died.

Tower cranes are an essential part of a construction site. Regardless of building site location, cranes perform a fantastic job. However there are guidelines in place to make reduce the risk of personal injury, especially those construction sites in a town centre such as Leicester – as no-one wants to see a personal injury Leicester.

Roofing Work and Working At Height Quiz

Hopefully the construction site signs has got you thinking and looking at signs differently so we are continuing the theme with some more quizzes related to work. There are alot of work related personal injury claim incidents so hopefully these quizzes will make us all more aware:

Which of the following methods are considered a safe access to a roof?

1./ Roof access hatches
2./ Fixed or mobile scaffold towers
3./ Ladders
4./ Stair towers
5./ All of the above

answers to follow in the next few days....