Fire Safety Compliance Culture

Fire safety compliance culture is significant at any facility. It doesn't matter if there is a substantial fire load or if there is nothing to burn except electrical cables.

Employee commitment to conscious behavior, both in emergencies and during normal operations, is the result of painstaking work.

The foundation of understanding is laid during the induction briefing: demonstrating the evacuation plan with assembly and smoking areas, types of extinguishers used and how they work, as well as the required code of conduct for any fire alarm activation. At our plant, we train everyone to respond to every signal by assessing the situation and de-energizing equipment; we find out whether the signal was false or not at the assembly point from the responsible persons.

When the fire load of flammable materials and liquids is measured in hundreds of tons, and there is potential contact with heating elements in machines during an emergency, the concept of standard extinguisher provision norms takes a back seat. There must be many of them for various scenarios, located closer than 20-30 meters.

When implementing measures, we pay attention to the following details:

Fire Extinguishers

• we take a special calculation of portable and mobile extinguishers based on room category and area as a baseline and increase their number several times over
• we place extinguishers so they do not obstruct movement and are stable, yet remain close to potential points of use
• we use large fonts to additionally label extinguishers by type, explaining during training which one to use in specific examples; we always place carbon dioxide extinguishers near electrical components of machines
• we record videos on potential fire scenarios indicating specific locations on equipment and demonstrate them
• we include fire hazards by machine type in risk assessment protocols and checklists before initial work on a machine
  

Evacuation Drills

• we do not warn line personnel about the dates and times of evacuation drills to observe real actions
• we conduct evacuation drills including outdoor practice for newcomers with live fire and demonstrations of various extinguishers, fire blankets, and self-rescuers "in action"
• we place self-rescuers in production and warehouse areas, along with concise instructions on how to use them and video demonstrations
• we post detailed flowcharts of actions in case of evacuation
• we use an app with magnetic card swipe data for the current day to verify the number of personnel at the assembly point
  

Fire Alarm System

• we use software with floor plans to manage the fire alarm system and ensure rapid response by zones in case of activation
• we install flame detectors on equipment with a higher risk of ignition
• we use magnetic access control with automatic unlocking on emergency exit doors
  
  

With the right attitude from personnel toward fire safety, it is easier to build overall HSE work. Undoubtedly, people who have had negative experiences with fires do not need to be convinced to follow basic truths and key requirements — it doesn't cause smiles or laughter for them. For others, it is useful to share these stories, because when people not only hear but see, their perception changes. However, workers are not soldiers, and one should not expect everyone to support all measures and be happy about them; but here it is important to show, justify, and clearly let them know "who is in charge," and then people will set an example for each other until no dissenters remain.