Analysis of the Development of Methods for Identifying and Assessing Fire Hazards
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.51699/m6w14y16Keywords:
fire hazard, hazard, risk, safety, risk assessment, risk management, emergency situations, fire safetyAbstract
Science based approaches are necessary to be able to identify and assess fire risks to perform fire safety and emergency prevention. Within modern fire protection systems, hazard, risk and safety together represent the theoretical foundation for decision making and for the minimization of losses in both industrial facilities and living areas. Nonetheless, also scientific and regulatory sources show inconsistent and sometimes interchangeable definitions of these terms, which is detrimental to the accuracy of fire risk assessment and to the implementation of management measures. This study analyses and compares definitions of hazard, risk and safety in major scientific literature and normative documents, in order to systematise these definitions into a logical conceptual chain. Hazard, safety, and risk demonstrate that hazard stands for the potential for harmful effect, safety indicates the protected state of the object or system and risk represents a measurable quantitative characteristic of the likelihood of the hazardous event and its expected consequences. It is shown that risk is a variable, context dependent quantity that can be influenced by technical, engineering, economic and organizational actions in ways that equilibrate or mitigate risk to tolerable levels. The results assume that it is impossible to achieve complete safety in practice, but that a scientifically based risk assessment and management will allow the society to accept the observed safety level. This proposed conceptual framework provides a methodological foundation for the development of fire risk assessment and can be used to improve fire safety management both in industrial as well as inhabited areas.
References
[1] N. N. Brushlinsky, S. V. Tsokolov, and E. A. Klepko, Analysis and Management of Risks in the Natural and Technogenic Sphere. Moscow, Russia: EMERCOM of Russia, 1997.
[2] N. N. Brushlinsky, Theory of Risk and Safety. Moscow, Russia: FGBU VNIIPO EMERCOM of Russia, 2005.
[3] EMERCOM of Russia, Civil Defense: Terminological Dictionary. Moscow, Russia: EMERCOM of Russia, 2008.
[4] V. A. Akimov, V. V. Lesnykh, and N. N. Radaev, Risks in the Technosphere: Analysis and Management. Moscow, Russia: Delovoy Ekspress, 2004.
[5] A. A. Khalikov, Fundamentals of Emergency Situations and Fire Safety. Tashkent, Uzbekistan: Fan, 2016.
[6] K. Kh. Abdurakhmonov, Labor Protection and Safety Theory. Tashkent, Uzbekistan: O’qituvchi, 2018.
[7] International Organization for Standardization, “ISO 31000:2018 Risk Management: Guidelines.” Geneva, Switzerland, 2018.
[8] International Organization for Standardization, “ISO 23932:2017 Fire Safety Engineering: General Principles.” Geneva, Switzerland, 2017.
[9] International Organization for Standardization, “ISO 16732-1:2012 Fire Safety Engineering: Fire Risk Assessment, Part 1: General.” Geneva, Switzerland, 2012.
[10] International Organization for Standardization, “ISO 13943:2017 Fire Safety: Vocabulary.” Geneva, Switzerland, 2017.
[11] International Organization for Standardization and International Electrotechnical Commission, “ISO/IEC Guide 73:2009 Risk Management: Vocabulary.” Geneva, Switzerland, 2009.
[12] National Fire Protection Association, “NFPA 551: Guide for the Evaluation of Fire Risk Assessments.” Quincy, MA, USA, 2021.
[13] National Fire Protection Association, “NFPA 1250: Recommended Practice in Fire and Emergency Service Organization Risk Management.” Quincy, MA, USA, 2020.
[14] R. E. Hall Jr., “Fire Risk Analysis and Evaluation,” in SFPE Handbook of Fire Protection Engineering, 5th ed., New York, NY, USA: Springer, 2016.
[15] H. E. Roland and B. Moriarty, System Safety Engineering and Management, 2nd ed. Hoboken, NJ, USA: Wiley, 1990.
