Fire Prevention, Life Safety and Emergency Preparedness
Fire Prevention, Life Safety, and Emergency Preparedness
This domain tests fire chemistry, prevention, egress, and emergency response. Questions often hinge on whether a system supports evacuation or assumes someone will fight the fire.
Core rules
- Fire requires fuel, oxygen, heat, and an uninhibited chain reaction, the fire tetrahedron. Prevention removes one side; extinguishment interrupts the reaction.
- 1910.157 requires portable extinguishers, selection by hazard class (A ordinary combustibles, B flammable liquids, C energized electrical, D metals, K cooking media), monthly visual checks, and annual maintenance.
- 1910.38 requires an emergency action plan covering reporting, evacuation or shelter-in-place, accounting for employees, and rescue duties. 1910.37 addresses exit routes: unobstructed, marked, illuminated, and not locked against egress.
- NFPA 101 provides egress capacity. Level components generally require 0.2 in of clear width per occupant; stairs 0.15 in; minimum door clear width is usually 28 in.
- Hot work requires a permit, area preparation, fire watch, and post-work monitoring under 1910.252.
Worked example
A 250-occupant assembly area has two 36-in exit doors. Required level-component width = 250 x 0.2 = 50 in. Two doors provide 72 in of clear width, so capacity is adequate, but only if neither door is blocked, both swing in the direction of travel for the occupant load, and the path is continuous. If one door is chained, the remaining 36 in serves only 180 occupants, and the arrangement fails.
Traps
- Matching extinguisher class to the wrong hazard, such as water-type A extinguishers near energized equipment.
- Counting exit doors without checking clear width, swing, and hardware.
- Treating a fire watch as optional after hot work ends.
- Writing an EAP with no accounting method for employees and visitors.