Anyone do fire safety risk assessments on buildings with dry wells?
Currently I do safety inspection on buildings, some of which have dry wells and I only look at whats on the inspection sheet. Recently they added fire safety to it as this was lacking but we are not doing fire risk assessments (another department) but now that i'm having to look at evac routes ets, dry wells can be scary places. Deep wells, vertical ladders, multiple ladders, trip hazards, low ceilings, things that go boom, long travel distances to exits.
Is there any guidance out there on for such places?
Could make for a very interesting exam scenario. 20m long building, Entrance to 10m deep dry well at opposite end of building to only exit from building. Two 5m vertical ladders with a platform inbetween. Multiple pumps in place. You are working at the far end of the well, 20m from the ladders when the pump nearest the ladders bursts in to flames - what do you do? What practical safety measures can you put in place. Practical being you have a pocket money budget.
Dry Well Safety
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stephen1974
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Messy
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Re: Dry Well Safety
Dont forget the term 'risk' is about measuring/establishing severity v likelihood - so just because a travel distance has been exceeded, it doesnt mean its not possible.
A 30m single direction corridor in a care home (24/7 occupation by non ambulant persons) therefore is far more of a problem than a 30m single direction service corridor or shaft which is rarely visited by able bodied staff . There are a few things that you can do to mitigate extra TDs or hazards
If a piece of electrical plant should be serviced annually, have it done so more frequently. I might not be too concerned about fire detection, but sounders and manual call points would be useful - without knowing more it impossible to say. But going back to basics and not being too tied down by guides is a good start.
I was involved with a RA on a waterless seal gas holder. This type of gas holder doesnt drop into the ground, but has a weighted piston that slides up and down inside the 100m high/50m wide vessel. This one was built in 1923 and was quite a structure.
Workers were required to enter the gas holder to service the bitumen seals around the piston. If working on the piston at the lowest point, their escape route was up via a zig-zag ladder (approx 170m) and across the roof (25m) then down an external ladder/walkway (another 200m) giving a total of nearly 400m single distance travel!!!
The felted timber roof had aircraft warning lights and a microwave telephone mast, so some ignition sources present half way along the escape route and the fold out zig zag ladder swayed dreadfully - especially if you walk rapidly !!
Have a look at the attached document which gives a bit more info. We had no guidance to go on and it was a little stressful, especially as there had been a (non fire) injury since the last RA
A 30m single direction corridor in a care home (24/7 occupation by non ambulant persons) therefore is far more of a problem than a 30m single direction service corridor or shaft which is rarely visited by able bodied staff . There are a few things that you can do to mitigate extra TDs or hazards
If a piece of electrical plant should be serviced annually, have it done so more frequently. I might not be too concerned about fire detection, but sounders and manual call points would be useful - without knowing more it impossible to say. But going back to basics and not being too tied down by guides is a good start.
I was involved with a RA on a waterless seal gas holder. This type of gas holder doesnt drop into the ground, but has a weighted piston that slides up and down inside the 100m high/50m wide vessel. This one was built in 1923 and was quite a structure.
Workers were required to enter the gas holder to service the bitumen seals around the piston. If working on the piston at the lowest point, their escape route was up via a zig-zag ladder (approx 170m) and across the roof (25m) then down an external ladder/walkway (another 200m) giving a total of nearly 400m single distance travel!!!
The felted timber roof had aircraft warning lights and a microwave telephone mast, so some ignition sources present half way along the escape route and the fold out zig zag ladder swayed dreadfully - especially if you walk rapidly !!
Have a look at the attached document which gives a bit more info. We had no guidance to go on and it was a little stressful, especially as there had been a (non fire) injury since the last RA
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- Gas Holder.pdf
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stephen1974
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Re: Dry Well Safety
Distance wouldnt be a concern for me as long as they can get away from the fire. Its more the risks of single exits being blocked by the fire, the distance issue is more about time, the longer it takes to get out the greater the chances of being trapped because the fire has grown.
These are probably low risk places in terms of a fire starting and spreading, Not much flammable material at all, but im just doing the what if stuff in my head. Climbing up a narrow shaft thats filling with smoke for example. Shoudl we consider fire extinguishers in single exit buildings. Most dont have them unless there is a generator present. - Just running the scenarios.
These are probably low risk places in terms of a fire starting and spreading, Not much flammable material at all, but im just doing the what if stuff in my head. Climbing up a narrow shaft thats filling with smoke for example. Shoudl we consider fire extinguishers in single exit buildings. Most dont have them unless there is a generator present. - Just running the scenarios.
