Fires are devastating, expensive, and can lead to months of downtime. Non-residential structure fires caused $4 billion in property damage in 2022, according to the National Fire Protection Association. Year-over-year, non-residential structure fires rose 12%, while deaths rose 15%, injuries rose 27%, and direct property damage rose 7%.
Getting a firm understanding of all fire risks – large and small – is critical. Developing ways to mitigate fire through fire alarms, sprinklers, and other protection systems is also important. The best way to accomplish those goals? Fire inspection services from independent risk engineers. Fire inspections have emerged as a top strategic choice for risk managers in a challenging underwriting market where companies are taking on increasingly more risk and combatting higher premiums.
Read on to learn more about the process of fire inspections, what’s involved during a fire safety inspection, and take a peek at our fire safety inspection checklist.
Fire safety is a set of precautions taken to prevent fires, quickly extinguish fires, and minimize damage. Fire safety comes in many forms such as training programs, adherence to regulations, fire protection systems, and emergency response plans.
Regulations. From OSHA to NFPA, there are a wide range of standards and regulations on fire protection. Different businesses and industries must comply with different standards to keep their people and property safe. For example, if your facility has electrical equipment, you must comply with NFPA 70E which provides actionable steps to reduce risk of electrical fires, explosions and arc flash. New NFPA 70B updates require fire safety inspections for all electrical equipment every 12 months (and some even more frequently). NFPA 79 has guidelines for electrical systems in industrial machinery. NFPA 652 offers standards to combat combustible dust fires. NFPA 484, 654, and ISO 17296 govern additive manufacturing processes. Fire inspection requirements range depending on the specific standard and specific process. (Contact us for a comprehensive list of the regulations directly affecting your operations.)
Training. Proper training can dramatically reduce fire risks. A successful human element program can reduce human errors by giving people more knowledge, upleveling their skills, and motivating them to be committed to safer processes. From safer hot work to better housekeeping to better electrical maintenance, training programs can drastically improve fire safety.
Fire impairment. What happens when fire safety equipment like sprinklers, alarms, and extinguishing systems are out of service? That’s called a fire protection impairment, and wise risk managers plan meticulously for those situations. Fire protection impairment plans not only find alternate ways to mitigate fire hazards while systems are down but also work to restore full protection as quickly as possible.
Emergency response systems. Fire extinguishers, fire alarms, sprinklers, and other fire protection systems must be inspected frequently to ensure they are in top shape in the event of a fire. It’s important to mention that analog fire alarms have evolved from sirens and horns to far more sophisticated emergency response systems. They now use a combination of voice calls, text messaging, email, flashing strobe lights, an alpha-numeric signs to provide critical updates. They even send real-time updates to phones and email and can detect other hazards like active shooters and extreme weather emergencies. (Thinking of upgrading? Click here.)
A fire inspection identifies fire hazards, assesses fire protection systems, determines fire risks to a facility, and offers risk reduction recommendations. During a fire safety inspection, risk engineers analyze your processes to determine the potential for hazards and make recommendations to improve fire safety. They will conduct on-site inspections and review relevant documentation to identify fire risks in equipment and processes. They’ll use infrared cameras to find hidden fire hazards in electrical equipment or machinery. They’ll examine processes to determine the possibility for human errors that can cause fires. Risk engineers also check equipment for safety features like dust collection or automatic turn offs. Risk engineers also examine fire impairment processes and fire protection systems (sprinklers, extinguishers, foam systems) to identify safety gaps.
In the end, risk managers get a comprehensive report outlining fire safety improvements – as well as actionable risk recommendations they can follow to reduce fire risks.
Fire inspection services lead to better insurance negotiations. Information from a fire inspection helps risk managers better negotiate with insurance underwriters to keep premiums under control in a hard market. Too often, businesses rely on insurance companies to conduct fire safety inspections, but they can miss critical risks that fall under the deductible. Plus, they don’t give risk managers the data necessary to showcase to underwriters that they are a risk worth betting on. The hard market is expected to continue in 2024 as experts predict 10% to 25% property rate increases for catastrophe-exposed risks and flat to 10% increases in non-catastrophe exposed risks.
Fire inspection requirements are not always exact but risk engineers will certainly check for common hazards present in industrial facilities. Consider this your fire safety inspection checklist:
Electrical hazards: Overloaded circuits, faulty wiring, and poor maintenance can lead to electrical fires. Approximately 120 workers die from electricity exposure every year. One efficient and powerful way to check for electrical fire hazards is through infrared thermography cameras which can identify areas of abnormal temperatures due to wear, defects, or other issues. By finding hotspots early, company leaders can take corrective actions and prevent catastrophe. Also, conducting an arc flash assessment can determine the incident energy and appropriate safety measures and personal protective equipment necessary for fire safety. Other solutions include short-circuit studies to verify proper interrupting capabilities, and coordination studies to verify adequate protective device settings.
Fire protection systems: Fire inspection requirements say that risk engineers must examine the state of fire extinguishers, fire alarms, sprinklers, and communication systems. Are they working as they should? During fire inspection services, risk engineers will examine your fire protection systems and make recommendations for improvements.
Fire impairment systems: What happens when sprinklers can’t protect against a fire? What happens when fire alarms are shut down for maintenance? Although fire service equipment is not critical to day-to-day operations, it is important to resolve fire impairments and bring equipment back to operational as soon as possible following planned or unplanned shutdowns.
Flammable liquids and gases: Substances like gasoline, ammonia, butane, paint, cleaners, and more can ignite under certain conditions. It’s critical to understand the flash point, or the lowest temperature where vapor released by a liquid can burn – and develop proper storage and handling procedures.
Combustible dust: Fine particles can create explosive environments when suspended in air. Combustible dusts can include flour, grains, sugars, wood, and much more. Conduct a dust hazard analysis to identify the potential fire and explosion hazards associated with the presence of combustible dusts in your facility. A dust hazard analysis also identifies hazards for each process and determines safe operating ranges and proper safeguards such as dust collection systems.
Hot work activities: Welding, cutting, and other hot work operations can produce sparks that ignite nearby flammable materials. To avoid losses related to hot work fires, conduct employee training to ensure safe procedures and compliance with appropriate standards.
Improper storage: Storing chemicals or flammable materials incorrectly can increase fire risk. From flammable materials to lithium-ion batteries to combustible liquids, proper storage makes a major difference.
Learn more about fire protection engineering and risk engineering in our new blog series.
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