Michael James
Lagos — To ensure fire safety in high-risk buildings Eaton West Africa explains that the only sensible approach to take is to conduct a thorough risk assessment of the building and then implement appropriate safeguards.
“It is no longer good enough to hide behind regulations or standards, which should be seen as a minimum requirement, Marketing Manager for Eaton in West Africa, Kunmi Odunoku said, adding that a thorough risk assessment issued on a case-by-case basis will suggest appropriate measures to be taken.
Odunoku said while there is no one-size-fits-all answer to fire prevention, suppression or evacuation, building owners and developers should hold themselves to a higher standard of safety and do more to prevent a tragedy in high-risk buildings.
“There is no single answer to mitigating the risks of a fire in a building and for high-risk buildings the regulations are simply not enough. We advocate a three-step process to help ensure ongoing safety: Identify the specific risks in your building. You may decide to employ or engage experts to do the risk assessment.
“Select and design systems and solutions addressing the specific risks identified; and test and review these solutions regularly especially if there are changes to building use.
“Having conducted a thorough risk assessment, you can then make an informed choice on what action to take. Breaking this down further you need to think about prevention, controlling a fire, detection, how you will alert occupants and evacuate or guide people away from danger,” Odunoku said.
The Eaton Marketing Manager stresses that while education and technology can help prevent the worst from happening as The Council for Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat observes: “The only true way to stop a fire from happening is to remove the humans and the combustible materials from buildings.
“You can apply good fire safety education and management, but, fires start, what happens next is what matters.
“Preventing fire is about building design, such as compartmentation to help prevent or slow down the spread and also installing technology such as sprinkler systems.
“Sadly, too many developers and building owners dismiss sprinklers as not cost-effective and prefer to spend their money on air-conditioning or intelligent lighting systems, he said.
Eaton has teamed up with several fire safety organizations from around the world to produce a whitepaper called “Fire Safety in High-Risk Buildings – preventing the next tragedy.”