Inustries :: transport

FPC has been extensively involved with the generation of life and firesafety studies and emergency response plans for airports and harbours. Our engagement has been threefold :

• establishment of an overall life and firesafety philosophy for the authorities responsible at airports and harbours
• creation and design of protective measures for individual facilities that operate within these complexes
• development of performance based emergency response plans

Recognise the Problem

The presence of a diverse number of businesses and operations, exploited by different companies in a harbour or airport requires special attention from a firesafety point of view. The activities have each their own specific characteristics and inherent hazards. The major challenge is therefore to ascertain an adequate and uniform level of protection and safety throughout the premises.

The Approach

A balanced safety management system to ensure continuous and successful implementation of a "Loss Prevention Strategy" is of vital importance. The major quality of a good management system is finding the right balance between being prescriptive and rendering sufficient space for operating companies to develop their own initiatives. This is in the first stage accomplished by FPC through dividing the premises under survey into different risk blocks. Risk ranking techniques allow FPC to determine which facility belongs to which risk block. Facilities that fall under the same risk block have to demonstrate through use of safety studies and documents that all precautions are taken to prevent accident escalation. The nature of these documents depends upon the risk-ranking that may vary from common safety cases and environmental impact studies to firesafety guidelines and emergency response plans.

If the study concerns the enforcement of a strategy for an expansion of new businesses, siting and safe plant operation considerations play an important role. Depending upon the inherent storage and operational hazards, FPC establishes safety criteria and subsequent action plans.

Apart from establishing a general safety philosophy for the authorities, FPC develops safety reports and environmental impact studies for the individual facilities. Powerful software models are employed by FPC to assess passenger evacuation efficiency for particular incidents. The combination of software and practical insight provides the operating company and local authorities with realistic scenarios and ways to prepare for fires, bomb threats and explosion risks.

The Design

Once approved, FPC commences with the design of the recommended measures. Foam protecting airport hangars or chemical storage tanks are just two examples from a much broader range of equipment design activities.

Time related emergency response plans in function of the incident are developed. These emergency response plans provide the client with requirements of manpower, responsibility assignments and action schemes for successful intervention.

Traditional fire protection design methods have been dominated by the attempt to reach full compliance with relevant regulations and a blind adherence to codes and standards. At FPC, we believe the assurance of a successful safety strategy at airports and harbours requires elongation through the use of a conceptual approach and professional vision.