Fire Risk Assessment in a Greenkeeper’s Domain -
A Practitioner’s View
Since the law (Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005) changed in October 2006 the traditional role of the Fire Brigade has changed and now each business (or organisation) has to have a ‘Responsible Person’ who is totally accountable for fire safety of the premises.
The Fire Service will now not be doing Fire Safety Inspections - they have a new role as the enforcers of the new law.
After a 30 year career in the fire service Terry Inglefield of STK Associates now carries out Fire Risk Assessments on behalf of Responsible Persons and has recently carried out a Fire Risk Assessment at a golf club, its grounds and out-buildings. He shares with you, in a narrative style from his notes, what he found out around the Greenkeepers areas and what you should be looking for.
“It was a good day and the feelings and vibes I was picking up about the club were good, I asked myself “Would I be happy with my son and daughter being in this building”…yes, on the whole, I would, so this was a good indicator. The people who run the club were extremely keen to manage safety with more than a cursory attitude and their on-site procedures backed this up. I went outside to the greenkeeper’s outbuildings and made a beeline for the heavy equipment areas…heavy machinery, fuel, fertilisers and chemicals well segregated and protected. I make a
quick reminder to myself to read the COSSH data sheets in the club office to double check on the possible flammability of some of the chemicals I have not seen before. Very pleasing to see was the fuel storage; a metal container with double locks, no flammables open, whilst unattended. Maintenance records for machinery are in good order and no obvious combustibles about. The shed is timber with a wriggly tin
roof. Some sheds are of a design with a void underneath which can allow a rubbish fire to go unnoticed, not here though.
At this stage, however, my antennae started to twitch, not because of any shortfall by greenkeeper and staff but on the accessibility for arson. The surrounding area is farmland, no fencing to keep out any dodgy characters and easy escape routes after any misdeeds. All the quality work of the greenkeeper would be wasted if any local perpetrator decides to set light to it. If the shed catches fire then everything inside will eventually burn or explode. Fortunately there were no tools hanging around that could be used for breaking in. So, all in all, not bad if they can keep it all secure. Next, I head for the second shed, this is a much better construction, and the fire risk should be lower as all the highly flammable stuff is in the first shed. The only thing that should need my attention is an area used for small machinery maintenance. The other part of this building is an office and a tea room. Oh dear, I should have known better than to pre-judge any building; what I saw was people who were aware of the fire risk in the first building but pretty oblivious about the risk in their own, familiar, surroundings. I saw about 10 marker stakes (2” x 2”
timber) that had been shaved down to a point at one end to aid fixing, there were shavings all over the place (great to aid the spread fire). The housekeeping was generally poor in the shed with lots of trip hazards about if anybody needed to get out in a rush. I keep looking and find a large drum of oily rags in the vicinity of a 3kW (3 bar) electric fire, a fire that can easily ignite some of the shavings I mentioned earlier. Now, this is summer so the fire MAY not be used, if it is used the shavings MAY not be in the vicinity to ignite, if the shavings ignite they MAY not spread to the rags. And most of the time these unfortunate events do not line up but, with so many fires I have attended, Murphy’s Law comes in to play and, like tumblers in a lock, a fire occurs. Best keep these dangerous ingredients apart. Murphy’s Law took me back to the fire in a house where sunlight had played through the ‘bull's-eye’ glass in one of the Georgian panes and had subsequently burnt the house down by causing a hot-spot, just like a magnifying glass, on some paper on the coffee table. Yes Murphy's Law, it only has to happen once and it is devastating. More obvious was the ‘Dexion’ racking with the line-marking aerosols (expellant in aerosols is usually butane - i.e. extremely explosive and flammable). Next to these was a battery charger in use; the battery and the charger were extremely hot, some heat had radiated to the cans.
Butane (one type of Liquefied
Petroleum Gas or LPG) is a vastly underestimated explosive. Experience tells me that a small can of lighter fuel (butane) will blow the doors and windows out of a room. Furthermore, a humble 500g can of fly spray, hair spray or air
A humble 500g can of fly spray, hair spray or air freshener has enough calorific value to be the equivalent of a 10 tonne lorry hitting that office at 25 mph
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