A handful of timber processing sites are affected by fire and explosion each year. Personal injury can result along with property damage and, in the case of a serious fire, there is a reasonable chance that the business will not restart.

Although it is clearly in a business’s interest to minimise the likelihood of fire, there has still been a need for legislation to formalise the requirements. Fire legislation has recently been updated with the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 which came into effect in October 2006. Over the past year, most companies will have received numerous pieces of unsolicited mail with regard to different forms of help available to address the fire issue due to the introduction of major changes to fire safety law. In reality, the changes were not that significant for most businesses and external help is not a prerequisite of the updated regime.

The new legislation specifically requires that employers conduct fire risk assessments. This has been a requirement for 15 or so years since the introduction of the 1992 version of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations. This earlier regime continues to require that an employer must assess the risk associated with all hazards – one of which is fire. Historically, help was provided in the conduct of this risk assessment through the fire certificate process under which the local fire brigade would effectively conduct a fire risk assessment and attach specific conditions to a fire certificate.

Under the 2005 regime, fire certificates have now been abolished – though this had been the case for a number of years in certain parts of the country. Companies must now conduct their own fire risk assessments, but this is a less onerous task than it might at first appear. For starters, if the premises and work practices have not changed since the last fire certificate inspection, the findings of your own risk assessment are likely to be in line with that of the fire brigade. Consequently, a good starting point is to dig out the old documentation and review the certificate and its associated conditions. Some excellent guidance on how to do your own assessment can then be downloaded from government sources (www.fire.gov.uk/Workplace+safety/)

When looking at fire issues, there are two key areas to address:

  • preventing fire occurring;
  • ensuring that people can escape safely if there is a fire.

Fire prevention

Fire prevention at source is naturally the best option. Fire requires three elements: fuel, oxygen and an ignition source. These three factors are commonly referred to as the fire triangle – and if one is missing, a fire should not start. Therefore, the first part of a fire risk assessment should look at identifying where each element of the fire triangle may occur and trying to reduce or control it.

Fuel takes the form of vapours and/or gases emitted by liquids and solids which themselves do not burn. Thus, when a piece of timber is heated, gases are given off and these mix with air. If the gases come within the flammable range, they may be ignited. In addition, the dust of combustible solids will also ignite under certain conditions. Although there are exceptions, nearly all combustion requires the presence of oxygen. The higher the concentration, the more rapid the burning.

A wide variety of ignition sources can generate sufficient energy to start a fire. The most obvious are open flames such as lighters, matches, welding torches and shrink-WRAP blow torches. Others include sparks from electrical equipment, overheating of machine components due to inadequate lubrication, static electricity and sparks from grinding tools. There can also be intentionally started fires such as wood combustion systems as well as unplanned sources of ignition such as arson. Some sources of ignition are less obvious, such as spontaneous combustion. The latter may be caused by tightly bundled solvent-impregnated rags or by the solids from nitrocellulose-based wood coatings being swept into a pile after they have dried out.

Timber processing sites

It can be seen from the above that the first two elements of the fire triangle will be widely available on the majority of timber processing sites. Machinery will typically generate dust, the majority of which is extracted. However, over time some dust will accumulate in the workplace and varying amounts of solid timber will also be present. Oxygen is readily available in the surrounding air – so a source of ignition is all that is needed to create fire.

Efforts to prevent fire on timber processing sites will largely centre on the minimisation of fuel and the elimination of sources of ignition. Fuel can be minimised through good housekeeping, regular vacuuming of dust and the storage of flammable materials in appropriately designed places (rather than in the workplace).

Sources of ignition can be reduced through proper controls on smoking and hot working, good machine maintenance programmes and the electrical testing of portable appliances and fixed circuits.

If a fire does occur, the second element of the fire risk assessment should be the consideration of how to get everyone to a place of safety. A wide variety of measures will need to be considered including:

  • Fire detection and warning: are manually-operated call points present? Is there automatic fire detection if a fire could start undetected? Is the detection quick enough to ensure that all can escape? Do employees know how to operate the system?
  • Means of escape: can people escape to a place of safety? Are the type and size of exits sufficient? Are they clearly marked and not blocked?
  • Means of fighting fires: are extinguishers suitable in terms of type and number? Have people been trained in their use? Are they aware that their first duty is to ensure the safety of themselves and others rather than to try to fight a fire?
  • Maintenance and testing: are checks regularly conducted and recorded regarding fire doors, escape routes, lighting, fire fighting equipment, fire detection and alarm equipment?
  • Fire procedures and training: is an emergency plan present? Are employees familiar with the plan and trained accordingly? Are training records retained? Is a fire drill held on a regular basis, preferably twice per year.

This element of the assessment will also consider the identification of those who may be at particular risk, how they will be warned and how they will escape. It should not be forgotten that non-employees must also be considered for example, visitors, contractors, the public and neighbours. In addition, some employees may be at greater risk than others such as spray shop personnel using highly flammable solvents or mill employees who might struggle to hear an alarm over machine noise and their hearing protection.