Introduction to Fire Safety Management

Prevention of fi re
The preventive strategies for reducing the risk of fi re and 
explosion within the workplace can be equally applied 
across the majority of industry sectors as illustrated from 
the preceding section on arson prevention and control. 
The principal causes of fi re generally only vary in very 
specifi c detail and more often than not relate to hazard-
ous operations and sites, e.g. COMAH sites, otherwise 
the causes remain constant, particularly when it revolves 
around ‘human factor’.
This section will therefore cover general guidelines 
with specifi c issues discussed under each of the various 
headings.
The overall preventive and protective arrange-
ments for each element covered should be included in 
a comprehensive prevention strategy by way of ensuring 
that a written policy is formalised and communicated. 
The written policy should cover the following:
➤
A statement of the specifi c policy that is being 
covered, e.g. hot works
➤
An organisational section detailing clearly who is 
responsible and for what, e.g. who is responsible for 
securing a contractor to undertake testing of elec-
trical apparatus, or the role of the employees for 
undertaking visual checks
➤
Specifi c arrangements for undertaking risk assess-
ments and implementing controls such as identifying 
the number of fi re wardens required and how they 
are to be trained
➤
Details of any monitoring or measuring of perform-
ance should also be included such as the signing off 
of a permit to work system, whether they were com-
pleted adequately and operated effectively
➤
How the elements of the individual policies will be 
reviewed and audited, to identify effectiveness or 
waste. For example, gas heating equipment may 
no longer be in use but may still be included on an 
inspection aide memoir and the policy still appears 
to cover gas equipment and persons are still being 
trained in the safe handling of gas cylinders.