Emergency Preparedness and Fire Safety
Domain 8 tests whether your emergency arrangements still work on a site whose layout and population change weekly, and whether you can match fire control to the fuel and the fire class.
Emergency plan content
Foreseeable emergencies; alarm and detection; escape routes kept clear and signed; assembly point located outside the danger zone; roll call using a visitor and contractor log; nominated marshals, first aiders and rescue teams; communication and emergency service liaison; drills with debrief and actions; review after any change or near miss.
Construction-specific scenarios
Incomplete or altered escape routes, hot work, temporary accommodation, gas cylinders, refuelling, confined space rescue, work-at-height rescue, crane and lifting emergencies.
Fire essentials
- Fire needs heat, fuel and oxygen, with the chain reaction in the tetrahedron.
- Classes: A solids, B flammable liquids, C gases, D metals, F cooking oils; electrical is a hazard rather than a class.
- Extinguishers: water for A; foam for A and B; CO2 for B and electrical; dry powder multi-purpose; wet chemical for F.
- Hot work permits: remove combustibles, fire watcher, extinguisher at hand, post-work check commonly 60 minutes after finishing.
Worked example
Cutting steel beside a solvent store. Reasoning: combustibles are moved or protected first because the fuel is the easiest element to remove; the permit records the fire watcher and extinguisher; alarms are not isolated without a documented procedure; a post-work check is scheduled; workers are briefed on the escape route, which may have changed with the works.
Traps
Assembly point inside the exclusion or collapse zone; roll call without a live visitor log; drills with no debrief or actions; treating extinguishers as an alternative to evacuation; forgetting that incomplete buildings change escape routes.