Management of Accidents due to Fire in Workplaces

This paper discusses the management of fire in the workplaces of Australia. It reviews the AS/NZ ISO 31000 and its importance in fire management. The paper also discusses the weaknesses of the standard. The author draws heavily on publications by the government authorities of Australian like the government of Queensland. The paper also reviews ten articles by ten different authors followed by a discussion on how fire in work places can be minimised.

Running head: MANAGEMENT OF ACCIDENTS DUE TO FIRE IN WORKPLACES
Management of Accidents due to Fire in Workplaces
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author Note:

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MANAGEMENT OF ACCIDENTS DUE TO FIRE IN WORKPLACES
Table of Contents
Introduction:....................................................................................................................................2
Review of AS/NZ ISO 31000:.........................................................................................................2
Managing and preventing fire in workplaces:.................................................................................8
Risk based fire management approach to control fire:..................................................................10
Principle:....................................................................................................................................10
Framework:................................................................................................................................11
Process:......................................................................................................................................11
Conclusion:....................................................................................................................................12
References:....................................................................................................................................13

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Introduction:
Fire is one of the most devastating incidences in the workplaces which cause loss of
materials and productivity. Fires are capable of injuring employees and have even proved fatal.
The paper would delve into management of fire in the workplaces of Australia. The study would
open with a review of the AS/NZ ISO 31000. The author would first view the importance of ISO
31000 in fire management in Australia and then go on to view the weaknesses of the standard.
The next section would review ten articles by ten different authors followed by a discussion on
how fire in work places can be minimised. The author while discussing the topic has drawn
heavily on publications by the government authorities of Australian like the government of
Queensland.
Review of AS/NZ ISO 31000:
The aim of AS/NZ ISO 31000 aims to establish standards of risk management in
workplaces as per International Organisation of Standardisation. A review of the codes and
principles of ISO reveal that they are accepted worldwide. This acceptance have tremendous
importance in the risk management in business organisations, especially multinational
organisations having operations in multiple countries and organisations which have multiple
projects going on within Australia like the construction companies. The principles of the ISO
31000 embraces top level executives of business organisations, risk management departments,
risk analysts and risk management officers, project managers who are supervising ongoing
projects, compliance officer, internal auditors of organisations and safety professionals. The
principles of the ISO 31000 also include business organisations which work in the field of risk
management and provide risk consultation services to other organisations. As far as scope of ISO
31000 is concerned, it encompasses wide range of activities within the organisation which

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includes formation of strategies and decision making, operations and executions of the safety
management, plans and asset management. This is evident from the inclusion of different levels
with organisations and different types of organisations within the principles of ISO 31000. The
business organisations operating within Australia use ISO 31000:2009 to address their all-round
risk management including fire. A review of the ISO 31000 clearly mentions that the standards
can be adopted by organisations of different sizes and industries. The International Standard of
Organisation has introduced ISO 16732-1 which deals with fire risk assessment in workplaces.
The framework of the ISO standards stands on establishing of prevention of fire and protection
from fire of all sorts and sizes in business organisations. The business organisations can use the
directives mentioned in ISO 31000 and ISO 16732-1 to prevent fires in and around their
premises. A review of the framework of ISO 31000 shows that it also enables organisations to
measure the loss of resources they suffer due to fire in terms of financial parameters like cost of
raw materials destroyed and expenditure incurred to set up fire management systems
(business.qld.gov.au, 2018). An adoption of framework of ISO 31000 require involvement and
support of all the senior, middle and lower level staff members in business organisations.
The process of adoption of ISO 31000 requires business organisations in Australia and
New Zealand to re-engineer and restructure their exiting practices and modes of operations. For
example, they may have to install more lightings and CCTV cameras in warehouses where they
store hazardous materials. They may require to initiate the practice of maintaining risk registers
where they record incidences of fire and the damages and/or injuries suffered due those fires.
The human resource department may require to introduce the policy of offering the employees
with fire management training periodically. The accounts department may require to allocate
funds towards acquisition of fire management systems like fire extinguishers and hose pipes. The

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process of the adoption of AS/NZ ISO 31000 would also require more accountability on the parts
of the managers. The departmental heads should not only be responsible for the performances of
the employees reporting to them but also for their safety. One can review that the process of
adoption of AS/NZ ISO 31000 would require the apex management to oversee the establishment
of this accountability. They should fix responsibilities of the specific position in different
departments regarding management of risks due to fire. For example, the apex management can
assign responsibilities to the team leaders of educating their team members on fire management
systems like using of fire extinguishers and the locations of fire alarms within the organisational
premises. The departmental heads similarly, can hold fire trainings periodically and can also
assess the awareness among the staff regarding fire management (iso.org, 2018). The managers
can also approach the apex management for approval to hire services of external fire
management consulting firms to mentor and train their employees on fire management. This
would enable the business organisations to manage fires more efficiently and minimise their loss
of resources due to fires. Thus, one can review that the aim of AS/NZ ISO 31000 is to enable the
organisations to minimise the injuries and fatalities, besides loss of resources they suffer due to
accidents like fire.
A review of the AS/NZ ISO 31000 would reveal several limitations of the standards as
far fire management is concerned. The ISO standards have no legal power unlike the SafeWork
Act in Australia and organisations may not adopt or follow them. For example, in case of
infringement of SafeWork and injuries of workers due to incidences like fire, the government
can impose hefty penalty of as high as $ 3000000. The business organisations violating the OHS
acts in Australia can also be convicted in the court of law or issued infringement notices
(safeworkaustralia.gov.au, 2018). This legal provisions compel business organisations to comply

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with safety regulations to minimise fire in work places. This power given to the FairWork
Ombudsman are more beneficial in minimising risks due to fire in the workplaces in Australia
compared to AS/NZ ISO 31000.
A review of the AS/NZ ISO 31000 shows that it is expensive and attracts time in its
enforcement. The discussion clearly shows that enforcement of AS/NZ ISO 31000 requires
involvement of the apex management in forming strategies to involve all the employees in
adopting a fire measurement strategy. The human resource department and the departmental
heads would require to train the employees to deal with fire. Most of the companies have limited
or no knowledge about fire safety management which requires the companies to seek assistance
of external consultants. This attracts immense costs and time which often repels organisations
from adopting AS/NZ ISO 31000.

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Figure 1. Graph showing sectorwise fatality in Australia 2007-2016
(safeworkaustralia.gov.au, 2018)
A review of enforcement of AS/NZ ISO 31000 reveals that it standards are not modified
according to the requirements of industries. This generalist approach of ISO 31000 give
opportunities to industries like construction and agriculture not apply it in reality. The above
shows that the industries like warehousing, agriculture and construction experience high rate of
fatality. One can also point out that these from the table shown below that these sectors
experience high number of accidents due to fire. For example, structure fire can be attributed to
the construction industry. The rubbish and the outside storage fire can also be attributed to the
construction industry owing to availability of immense qualities of wastage and sludge around
the construction sites. Again, grass fires can be related to the agricultural industry while the
structural fires are also applicable for the warehouse industry. One can point out that the actual
companies managing the construction works often execute the works through sub-contractors.
These sub-contractors often do not adopt AS/NZ ISO 31000 and takes almost no or negligible
precautions to control fires. The AS/NZ ISO 31000 cannot be enforced on them because it are
not industry specific (safework.sa.gov.au, 2018).

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Figure 2. Emergency incidences in Australia
(Source: fire.nsw.gov.au, 2018)
Thus, one can draw several inferences on reviewing the applicability of AS/NZ ISO
31000 in Australian workplaces particularly with respect to fire management. AS/NZ ISO 31000
aims to develop risk management in business organisations particularly pertaining to fire
management and related accidents. ISO attracts involvement of all the three level of employees
namely, upper level, middle level and lower level. The scope of ISO covers organisations of all
industries but lack industry specific requirements. A review also shows that enforcement of ISO
lacks legal backing which makes it optional for organisations to adopt it. Moreover, adoption and

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enforcement of AS/NZ ISO 31000 is extremely expensive and require extensive training. This
makes some industries like construction not adopting or implementing ISO in their day to day
activities. This lack of acceptance of ISO in industries like construction can be held responsible
for the high incidences and fatalities due to fire in the industries (smh.com.au, 2018).
Managing and preventing fire in workplaces:
Wang et al. (2015) in their work throw light upon a very important area of fire safety
management in workplaces like offices, building information modelling. They mention that
effective fire safety management is an effective part of buildings because fire results in immense
loss in these buildings. Fire results in destruction of assets like furniture which leads to financial
losses. Secondly fire may lead to injury or even death of employees which again cause financial
losses to the business organisations. The architects in order to minimise chances of fire in office
buildings, include escape roots and other relevant features like fire extinguisher holders on walls.
Kamenopoulos and Tsoutsos (2015) mention a very important aspect that Wang et al.(2015) also
mention, importance of human resources in operating the fire management systems.
Organisations train their employees on managing fire and on taking steps in case of a breakout of
fire happens like use of fire extinguishers. Big organisations employs fire marshals who train
employees on fire management and provide leadership in cases of a fire. Dagan and Isaac (2015)
throw light into another important aspect of fire safety which Wang et al. (2015) does not
explore, incidences of fire at construction sites. They mention that at least 60000 people are
injured fatally due to fire and more workers are killed due to fire compared to all the other sector
put together. This clearly throws light on the necessity of adopting fire safety management at
these sites. . Dagan and Isaac (2015) point out workers on the construction sites are exposed to
dangers of fires more than workers in offices due to three reasons. The first factor is work

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technology which refers to the tools and equipment which they use to use. The equipment either
run on electricity or carbon fuel, which make them prone to catch fire. The second factor which
expose construction workers before fire and make it hard for them to escape in presence of
elevated structures. Presence of elevated structures like under construction pillars make it
difficult for workers to escape in the event of fire. The third factor which make escape of
workers difficult in case a fire breaks out is presence of other workers working around which
also makes escape difficult. They also point out that entire work of construction in broken down
into several components which are then handled by the workers. This immense amount of work
make the working pattern at the construction site dynamic which makes it difficult for
supervisors to supervise workers. Gurcanli, Bilir and Sevim (2015) reiterate the danger of fire
which construction projects face and point out that the matter has created concern among the
governments as well. They point out that construction companies generally allocate their
financial resources towards acquisitions of assets like building materials, equipment and
labourers for their construction projects. They do not spend enough resources or take safety
measures to tackle or minimise emergencies like fire. This lack of risk management resources
often lead to poor management of fire which gives the fire opportunities to spread, thus making it
more devastating. Banabakova, Filipov and Stoyanov (2017) throw light into the third workplace
which is prone to fire owing of storage of large amount of materials and finished goods,
warehouses. The fires in the warehouses do not only cause financial loss to the owners of the
warehouses but also to the companies whose goods are stored in them. This immense amount of
losses which fires are capable of causing have necessitated fire management strategy in
warehouses both at the strategic levels and operational levels. The voices of Banabakova, Filipov
and Stoyanov (2017) resonate in the work of Balan, et al. (2016). They point out to the

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tremendous commercial importance of the warehouses as far as production and supply of goods
are concerned. The management of the warehouses today put immense emphasis on fire
management in these warehouses. They also lay importance on health and safety of the workers
of the warehouses in order to maintain steady operations. Houvouras and Harvey (2014) mention
a very important requirement to manage and reduce accidents due to fire in these workplaces-
safety training of employees. They mention that human resource departments of companies
operating in these workplaces should take initiative to provide safety training to their employees.
This would enable the employees to take fast actions in case of fires. Božović, M., & Živković,
S. (2017) throw light on another aspect of fire management, maintaining of fire rescue squads.
One can point out that this method is more applicable for multinational companies which have
the financial resources to maintain a specialised squad to control fire. Flannery (2016) throw
light on an area which these previous authors did not explore, maintaining a contingency plan to
manage fire. The business organisation according to them should maintain contingency funds
which they can mobilise to manage fire and also to recover the loss of resources to a certain
extent. Hyndman and Hyndman (2016) mention accidents due to fire cannot be controlled to
entirety in reality. This is because natural hazards like lightning are also capable of causing
massive fire and are beyond control of organisations.
Risk based fire management approach to control fire:
Principle:
The principle of the fire management approach to control fire should minimising
incidences of fire and result loss. The fire management approach should aim to ensure safety of
all employees irrespective of position in the company. The aim of the fire management approach
should be development of a mechanism to prevent fire and take prompt action in the event of a

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fire breakout. The management of fire related accidents should follow the laws and legislations
of Australia like the SafeWork Act and OHS (Barton et al. 2015). The personnel of the company
should aim to minimise the losses of resources due to fire by taking appropriate steps like
installation of fire extinguishers in important places. The personnel should involve the other
employees in case of a fire breakout.
Framework:
The fire management framework in the business organisations should embrace the entire
organisational hierarchy right from the apex management to the junior level executive. The fire
management system should start with the apex management forming strategies to control fire
breakouts like forming the organisational safety policies applicable for all the organisation. The
apex managers should allocate different aspects of the fire management strategies like
acquisition of fire and safety equipment among the middle level managers (Larkin et al. 2015).
The middle level managers should contact with the suppliers of the fire management equipment
to obtain quotations of rates from them. They should then present the quotes before the apex
management to obtain approval from them. Then the middle level managers should proceed to
acquire the equipment from the supplier chosen by the senior management.
Process:
The fire management process should also be initiated by the apex management and then
gradually embrace employees of lower levels. The apex management along with the middle level
managers and the human resource department decide whether to hire a fire management expert
or to employ an in house fire management expert. The HR department should arrange for fire
training of all employees. The employees should be trained to use different types of fire
extinguishers to different types of fire. They should also be taught to distinguish between

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different types of fire depending on the scale (Ivanov et al. 2016). The employees, both newly
hired and senior employees should be given thorough knowledge about the evacuation routes
which have to be taken in the event of a fire breakout. The experts should also train the
employees to manage stress and anxiety they may experience due to sudden breakout of the fire.
The large business organisations may employ safety experts. The business organisation should
maintain complete report of the occurrences of fire and report the same to the FairWork
Commission (theaustralian.com 2018). They safety experts should recognise the factors which
can like result in or encourage damage in the event of fires like lack of illumination or fire alarm
in a particular part of the office floor. They must report the same to the relevant department on
urgent basis. The experts must monitor the safety management of the organisation on regular
basis. The employees undergo fire drills and fire trainings at least once in every quarter (Ivanov
et al. 2017). They should also ensure that the fire equipment are in proper state.
Conclusion:
The above discussion clearly shows that business organisations should take steps to
minimise accidents due to fire. The fact holds even firmer ground in industries like construction
and warehousing where there have been reports of high rates of employee fatalities due to fire.
The management bodies of the organisation functioning in these industries should make
strategies to manage fire which should include all the employees. The organisations should tarin
their employees to control fire to the extent possible. The employees should be trained to use fire
equipment in the event of breakout of fire. The big organisations should employ an in-house fire
expert who would train employees on management of fire and take necessary action case of a
fire. These fire management steps can enable organisations to minimise damage due to fire and
prevent losses of resources and employees.

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