FIRE & SAFETY IN MIDDLE EAST REGION

BY ABHISHEK GUPTA

TABLE OF CONTENT
1. FIRE 2. Classification of Fire 3. Fire & Safety Objectives 4. Need for Fire Safety 5. Fire Response 6. Fire & Safety Companies in Middle East 7. Secondary Data a. Fire Safety Markets in Middle East b. Fire & Safety GCC Residents Awareness c. Corporates Awareness about Fire Safety d. People consciousness towards fire alarms e. GCC Residents awareness towards the need to test the fire equipments 8. Affairs due to lack of Fire Equipment Effectiveness 9. Government Fire Safety Regulation 10. Recommendations 11. References

FIRE
To start and sustain fire, we need three basic elements:

1. Oxygen Fire requires around 16% of oxygen to initiate. 2. Fuel Fire requires any combustible material to ignite whether in solid, liquid or gaseous state 3. Heat Heat is necessary to enhance the temperature of fire to where sufficient vapors are given off for ignition to occur

Fire, or combustion is a chemical reaction and it is the process by which fire converts fuel & oxygen into energy, usually in the form of heat

CLASSIFICATION OF FIRE
1. CLASS A Ordinary combustibles or fibrous material, such as wood, paper, cloth, rubber, and some plastics.

2. CLASS B Flammable or combustible liquids such as gasoline, kerosene, paint, paint thinners and propane.

3. CLASS C Energized electrical equipment, such as appliances, switches, panel boxes and power tools.

4. CLASS D Certain combustible metals, such as magnesium, titanium, potassium, and sodium.

FIRE & SAFETY OBJECTIVES

1. Fire Prevention To prevent the incidence of fire by the control of fire hazards in the building and by the maintenance of the building facilities provided for the safety of the occupants.

2. Emergency Evacuation To establish a systematic method of a safe and orderly evacuation of an area or building, by and of its occupants, in case of fire or other emergency.

NEED FOR FIRE SAFETY

1. Human Loss The most serious types of consequence is human loss. It involves fatalities, injuries and psychological damage 2. Commercial Loss The financial losses from the failure event can include loss of revenue and products, damages to and replacement of equipment, rescues, salvages etc. 3. Environmental Damage Environment damage may be the damage done to air, water, sea, land, flora and fauna 4. Reputational Damage The publicity of a serious accident can result in lasting demand to an organizations ability to do business. This damage can be loss of customers, staff, suppliers, reduced share price etc.

FIRE REPONSE
How to respond to a fire in your area. Follow the acronym, E S C A P E

E = EVALUATE S = SECURE THE AREA Remove occupants C = CLOSE THE DOORS TO CONTAIN THE FIRE A = ACTIVATE THE FIRE ALARM using the hallway pull station P = PHONE THE DESIGNATED EMERGENCY NUMBER E = EXTINGUISH THE FIRE using a portable fire extinguisher

FIRE & SAFETY COMPANIES IN MIDDLE EAST

1. Emirates Fire and Rescue Company (E.F.R.C) 2. NAFFCO 3. REDA Fire & Safety 4. Firex 5. Zener Fire & Security LLC 6. SFFECO

Out of these companies NAFFCO and Firex are amongst the worlds largest manufacturers and full solution providers of Fire Fighting equipment, fire protection systems, fire alarm, security

systems and safety engineering. They are also the part of Intersec Committee. INTERSEC is the leading international meeting platform for the security and safety industry. For past 15 years it has proven to be the no. 1 business platform in MENA region.

SECONDARY DATA
Fire Safety Market in Middle East

FIRE SAFETY MARKET IN MIDDLE EAST

Market $1,200,000,000 $1,000,000,000 $800,000,000 $600,000,000 $400,000,000 $200,000,000 $0 2013 2008 $635,000,000 $1,125,000,000

The market for fire and safety had been increased drastically in the past five years as we can see from the graph. This shows the government concern regarding fire related casualties.

Fire & Safety GCC Residents Awareness

As shown in the pie chart below; Total GCC Residents = 49.8 Million Out of which, Residents Awareness towards fire safety = 61.4 % Residents Unaware of fire safety = 38.6%

GCC RESIDENTS

Unaware, 19222800, 39% Aware, 30577200, 61%

Corporates Awareness about Fire Safety

Corporates Awareness
11%

13%

76%

Aware and Implemented

Aware but Not Implemented

Unaware

Still a total of 24% of the corporates need to be made aware about the concern of fire risk. Though the percentage is less, the life risk still concerns the employees that are working in the production department. Thus, the firm might lose efficiency and performance of the employees.

People consciousness towards the Fire Alarms

GCC RESIDENTS
Attentive and Know Fire Exits 40%

Other 30%

Attentive but Don't Know Fire Exits 30%

Ignores Fire Alarm 30%

From a recent survey, it showed that still majority of the population residing in GCC are least bothered about the fire exits and fire alarm significance.

GCC Residents awareness towards the need to test the fire equipments

GCC RESIDENTS

Aware and had taken Fire Drill, 24.44%, 24%

Aware but had neven taken Fire Drill, 22.56%, 23%

Other, 22.56%, 23% Unaware, 53.00%, 53%

The survey also projected that the majority people in MENA region had never experienced the fire drills and thus are least acquainted with the fire equipments.

AFFAIRS DUE TO LACK OF FIRE EQUIPMENT EFFECTIVENESS

1. On April 4, 2013 (Panaderia Bakery Building at the junction of Muroor Road) Fire started on the 5th floor and since the fire equipment was ineffective in alerting the surroundings, the people were sleeping till the time they heard the sound of the fire engines. Still the investigation is under process on the cause of the fire in that building.

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2. On November 2012, A large fire broke out in Dubais Jumeirah Lakes Towers (JLT) development in the early hours of Sunday morning, forcing hundreds of the buildings tenants to evacuate as emergency fire crews attended the scene. Though there was no loss of lives, people in that chaos were not sure about the fire exits.

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GOVERNMENT FIRE SAFETY REGULATION

After witnessing so many fire hazards in the country, the government came up with a strict fire safety policies so as to reduce such casualties. They are:

1. UAE government announced online safety compliance system at the Interior Ministry Conference for the industries. The major concern of this system is that it links the companies with the civil defense departments across the country to correctly identify fire hazard controls, maintain fire equipment systems and adhere to auditing standards.

2. For Building Contractors, it had made mandatory that they must appoint fire marshals, must have efficient evacuation procedures, installation of a wet riser and fire doors are must before applying for Certificate of Conformity

3. Even residential buildings now have to adhere to Civil Defense recommendations that means the landlord have to upgrade the old fire systems and conduct periodic fire inspections and audit of their properties.

4. Due to various fire related fatalities, the GCC government had made it mandatory that all the offices or buildings must go through various course of action for the prevention and control of the fire related hazards. It is also mandatory to train the organization staff to a certain level that meets with the quota of GCC Training Module.

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RECOMMENDATIONS
1. The Middle East Government must look forward for the fire drill campaign where the GCC residents must be trained on how to use the fire equipments and there must be a simulated environment of fire training under supreme guidance where the people can experience the fire situation and thus at the time of fire, they must be prepared to face it

2. Government can go for advertisements regarding the need for testing the fire equipments periodically

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REFERENCES
1. http://www.ssngulf.com/honeywell-survey-of-gcc-residents-reveals-lack-of-fire-safetyawareness/ 2. http://www.firemiddleeastmagazine.com/news 3. http://www.emirates247.com/business/gcc-population-put-at-46-8mn-2012-02-201.443889 4. http://gulfbusiness.com/2012/11/large-fire-in-dubais-jumeirah-lakestowers/#.UYrCx7X-ERs 5. http://www.khaleejtimes.com/kt-article-display1.asp?xfile=data/nationgeneral/2013/april/nationgeneral_april20.xml&section=nationg eneral 6. http://www.firemiddleeastmagazine.com/news/article/70

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