Fire safety certificate issued by DCS

Fire educator qualifications[edit]

The US industry standard that outlines the recommended qualifications for fire safety educators is NFPA 1035: Standard for Professional Qualifications for Public Fire and Life Safety Educator, which includes the requirements for Fire and Life Safety Educator Levels I, II, and III; Public Information Officer; and Juvenile Firesetter Intervention Specialist Levels I and II.

Target audiences

According to the United States Fire Administration, the very young and the elderly are considered to be “at risk” populations. These groups represent approximately 33% of the population.

Global perspectives

Fire safety has been highlighted in relation to global supply chain management. Sedex, the Supplier Ethical Data Exchange, a collaborative platform for sharing ethical supply chain data, and Verité, Inc., a Massachusetts-based supply chain investigatory NGO, issued a briefing in August 2013 which highlighted the significance of this issue. The briefing referred to several major factory fires, including the 2012 Dhaka garment factory fire in the Tazreen Fashion factory and other examples of fires in Bangladesh, Pakistan and elsewhere, compared the incidence of fire safety issues in a manufacturing context, and highlighted the need for buyers, suppliers and local fire safety enforcement agencies all to take action to improve fire safety within the supply chains for ready-made garments and other products. The briefing recommended that buyers seek greater visibility of fire safety and other risks across the supply chain and identify opportunities to improve standards: “buyers can encourage change through more responsible and consistent practies”.

Fire safety plan

Fire escape plan of a hotel in Taiwan.

A fire safety plan is required by all North American national, state and provincial fire codes based on building use or occupancy types. Generally, the owner of the building is responsible for the preparation of a fire safety plan. Buildings with elaborate emergency systems may require the assistance of a fire protection consultant. After the plan has been prepared, it must be submitted to the Chief Fire Official or authority having jurisdiction for approval. Once approved, the owner is responsible for implementing the fire safety plan and training all staff in their duties. It is also the owner’s responsibility to ensure that all visitors and staff are informed of what to do in case of fire. During a fire emergency, a copy of the approved fire safety plan must be available for the responding fire department’s use.

In the United Kingdom, a fire safety plan is called a fire risk assessment.

Fire safety plan structure

• Key contact information
• Utility services (Including shut-off valves for water, gas and electric)
• Access issues
• Dangerous stored materials
• Location of people with special needs
• Connections to sprinkler system
• Layout, drawing, and site plan of building
• Maintenance schedules for life safety systems
• Personnel training and fire drill procedure
• Create assemble point/safe zone

Use of fire safety plans

Fire safety plans are a useful tool for fire fighters to have because they allow them to know critical information about a building that they may have to go into. Using this, fire fighters can locate and avoid potential dangers such as hazardous material (hazmat) storage areas and flammable chemicals. In addition to this, fire safety plans can also provide specialized information that, in the case of a hospital fire, can provide information about the location of things like the nuclear medicine ward. In addition to this, fire safety plans also greatly improve the safety of fire fighters. According to FEMA, 16 percent of all fire fighter deaths in 2002 occurred due to a structural collapse or because the fire fighter got lost. Fire safety plans can outline any possible structural hazards, as well as give the fire fighter knowledge of where he is in the building.

Fire safety plans in the fire code

In North America alone, there are around 8 million buildings that legally require a fire safety plan, be it due to provincial or state law. Not having a fire safety plan for buildings which fit the fire code occupancy type can result in a fine, and they are required for all buildings, such as commercial, industrial, assembly, etc.

Advances in fire safety planning

As previously stated, a copy of the approved fire safety plan shall be available for the responding fire department. This, however, is not always the case. Up until now, all fire plans were stored in paper form in the fire department. The problem with this is that sorting and storing these plans is a challenge, and it is difficult for people to update their fire plans. As a result, only half of the required buildings have fire plans, and of those, only around 10 percent are up-to-date. This problem has been solved through the introduction of digital fire plans. These fire plans are stored in a database and can be accessed wirelessly on site by firefighters and are much simpler for building owners to update.

Insurance companies

Fire is one of the biggest threats to property with losses adding up to billions of dollars in damages every year. In 2019 alone, the total amount of property damage resulting from fire was $14.8 billion in the United States. Insurance companies in the United States are not only responsible for financially covering fire loss but are also responsible for managing risk associated with it. Most commercial insurance companies hire a risk control specialist whose primary job is to survey property to ensure compliance with NFPA standards, assess the current risk level of the property, and make recommendations to reduce the probability of fire loss. Careers in property risk management continue to grow and have been projected to grow 4 to 8% from 2018 to 2028 in the United States