Ihab Saad – Subpart F Fire
AI: Summary ©
The speakers discuss the potential risks of fire at construction sites, including combustible fuels and safety canister. They also mention the use of water supplies, Standpipes, welding or cutting torches, and fire retarders and fire watches. The speakers emphasize the importance of preventing fire damage and open fires on construction sites, and recommend using welding or cutting torches and fire control permits. The use of welding or cutting torches is a common cause of construction fires and the best practice is to prevent open fires on the construction site.
AI: Summary ©
Welcome to another safety class, and today we're going to talk
about subpart F, which is fire protection and prevention.
Definitely, fires are one of the major hazards on construction
sites. So today we're going to talk about what could be the major
sources of that fire and how to protect against any fires on
construction sites.
So that's just an example to show here that we have some combustible
fuels, which in this case is oxygen tanks. If fire reaches
these tanks, which is very close here, that can cause a major
explosion and a huge fire.
The most frequently cited violations when it comes to
to fire that was actually in the year 2004 which is pretty much the
same for every year
150 c1 I
fire extinguishes for every 3000 square feet of building area not
existing.
150 c1, four extinguishers on each floor that are not existing. 153
Oh,
liquid petroleum gas systems, Petro protection from vehicular
traffic. 150 a, one five, the non existence of a fire protection
program, and 150 c1, six extinguishers within 50 feet of
flammables. So these are the major violations when it relates to
fire.
Let's first of all identify a few things. The first definition is
about what is flammable. Flammable is any material capable of being
easily ignited, burning intent intensely or having a rapid rate
of flame spread.
Flammable liquids are liquids having a flash point, which is the
point of ignition below 140 degrees Fahrenheit and a vapor
pressure not exceeding 40 pounds per square inch. So these are the
flammable liquids.
Another definition is a safety can, because we're going to talk
about storage in safety can. So what's a safety can? It's an
approved closed container of not more than five gallon capacity,
having a flash arresting screen, spring closing lid and spout cover
designed so it will safely relieve internal pressure when exposed to
fire, because if the pressure keeps building Inside, it's going
to explode.
These are samples of
these safety cans. And as you can see, it's labeled as a safety can,
and the liquid inside is a flammable liquid. This one here is
a regular gas, and so on. So they are going to be labeled on the
outside as well.
That's another example of a safety can
these are definitely not considered to be safety cans
because they do not satisfy the previous conditions. So you cannot
store flammable liquids in these
that's another example of an non approved container for flammable
liquids. In this case, actually, it's covered, even not with the
cover, but with the rag for the cap. So that's a double whammy.
General requirements when it comes to fire protection, the employer
must develop the fire protection program to be followed through
construction and provide all equipment as required for
firefighting. We're going to talk about the different kinds of
equipment that are going to be used in case of building under
construction or a permanent construction, or whatever,
water supply a temporary Of course, as we know, the easiest
way to put off fires is using water so a temporary or permanent
water supply of sufficient volume, duration and pressure must be made
available as soon as combustible materials accumulate.
Where underground water mains are to be provided. They must be
installed and available as soon as practical at the very beginning of
the construction project. So usually, when we see immediately
after the excavation, we have the infrastructure, which includes the
water pipes and the water mains and sewage lines and so on and so
forth.
Here's an example on the installation of water main as and
as you can see, that's at the very beginning phases of construction.
Water Supply standpipes in all structures where standpipes are
required, they must be maintained as construction progresses in such
a manner that they are always ready for fire protection use. So
these are going to be dedicated for fire protection. Standpipes
must be provided with the Siamese Fire Department.
Due to wind, so that the flapping of the tarp or the Canvas can get
it closer than the 10 feet. So you want to secure them in place.
If we look at
if we look at this picture, we're going to find several violations.
First of all, improper
gas cans canisters. These are okay, but these ones are not a
heat source and so on, and they're not properly stored. So that's a
big violation here.
Another violation here we have a coverall stored on top of gas
tank. So this is flammable. We have here curtains, it seems like
curtains or something like that, that probably could also be
flammable. So that's not and some other clothing here, so that's not
the proper storage.
Welding fires, one of the most frequent causes of construction
fires is the use of welding or cutting torches. The issue is that
there's got to be some residual heat. Even after you're done with
the welding, the method itself might still be hot. It's
imperative that sparks not be allowed to fall on combustible
materials that's sparks are one source of the ignition. Use fire
retarder tarps or blankets when combustibles cannot be removed.
And here we're gonna need we're gonna talk about a hot work
permit, which is a permit that's needed for certain kinds of work,
although not required. Many companies require hot work permit
for any operation using flames or producing sparks requires
management authorization before hot work may commence, and the
permit should include inspecting and isolating combustible
materials and establishing a fire watch. We're going to talk about
the fire watch on the next slide. Basically a fire watch is a is the
use of a standby employee equipped with a fire extinguisher, who
whose sole job is to monitor for sparks or flames. So they're not
doing anything other than watching for the flame spread or for
sparks. This employee should remain in the area for at least 30
minutes after hot work is complete to continue monitoring, especially
as I said, in case of welding, the metal itself is still going to be
red hot even after you stop applying the welding material
itself to it. So you're going to keep a watch for another 30
minutes, just to make sure nothing comes in touch with that hot
surface causing it to ignite that material
for open fires, the best practice is not to allow open fires on the
job. Some state and county laws prohibit burning without a permit.
So again, to minimize the possibility of spreading fire.
So that's basically our presentation about fire, fire
protection, fire protection devices, their availability, and
so on and so forth. So here are some questions that we need to
know the answers to. What are the four steps used
for to using a fire extinguisher? Remember the acronym pass P, A, S,
S, so that's the answer to the first question. P is
point,
and then remove the pin. A is aim, S is squeeze, and the other s is
swipe across the base of the flame.
What type fires? Does a BC extinguisher protect against it's
a BC so it protects against B and C. And in this case, it's going to
be electrical and fuel, fuel is B and electrical is C.
What should you do before refueling equipment? If you're
going to refuel an equipment for use on a construction site, what
should you do before that? Of course, it's going to be shutting
off that equipment. How many fire extinguishers are required in the
building under construction? We talked about different methods of
calculation. One of them is every
3000 square feet, or at least one per floor, and the axis should not
be more than 100 feet in any direction for you to be able to
access that fire safety. So this is our presentation today about
fire safety. I hope you have understood the material and please
stay safe. Thank you. Applause.