Fire
Fire causes death and injuries to people and leads to loss of property. Interestingly most of the fire victims do not die or get injuries due to the actual burns but because of the exposure to carbon monoxide a toxic gas that is inhaled into the body after inhalation of smoke. The other cause of deaths and injuries is the smoke because it obscures the vision of the fire victims and reduces their ability to escape to safety. A fire can start due to three main reasons- (1) accidents for instance a lit candle falling on a mattress, (2) arson where a person deliberately starts a fire, or (3) through electrical equipment malfunction. The most effective way of fighting a fire is to prevent it from starting in the first place. This report will focus on the problem of fire among migrant workers in the UK living in overpopulated temporary high-rise housing.
The problem of fire is occurring in overpopulated temporary high-rise housing. Fires are more likely to occur when the occupants are cooking. Most of the occupants in these overpopulated high-rise temporary houses are migrant workers who have come to the UK to look for work and improve their financial situation to take care of their families and loved ones. Some are killed in the fires and many are injured. The fire and rescue services have been responding to these fires. The ambulance services rush the injured to the hospital and take the dead to the morgue. Once the injured arrive at the hospitals, the health service treats the survivors. The fires not only cause life loss, injures and property loss to the occupants, but the buildings sustain structural damages. In addition, the employers lose workers and their production is affected. The migrants themselves for tampering with the electricity and gas supplies cause this problem. The employers also contribute to the problem by failing to provide them with suitable houses and lastly the government for lack of safety regulations in housing.
Most of the fires occur during cooking because the migrants alter the gas and electrical supplies to come up with several spots for cooking to cater to the needs of all the people living in a single household. Altering of the electrical appliances leads to short-circuiting that eventually causes fires. This is because the wiring may be faulty, as a qualified electrician will not do it. Creating multiple areas of cooking may lead to socket overload, which causes overheating and increases the likelihood of a fire (Electrical and Appliance Safety, 2010). Moreover, the risk of fire in these houses is high because most of them are not suitable for accommodation and have insufficient fire protection or detection. This means that the houses lack basic things such as a smoke alarm. On the other hand, there is lack of enforcement concerning fire regulations thus people are allowed to occupy houses that are not safe and suitable for human accommodation. People also lack fire safety education and thus engage in behaviors such as altering electrical appliances that put their lives at risk. They also lack knowledge on what to do in case a fire starts thus putting themselves in harm’s way.
Resolving the problem
The problem can be resolved in several ways to avoid needless deaths and injuries by fire. The emergency services that respond to various kinds of accidents and emergencies need to be able to take the right action to deal with the situation at hand. There is need for partners to work together to deal with the problem of fires because this responsibility cannot be left to one group. Partners need to work together to sensitize the whole community about safety.
Problem-Oriented Partnerships (POP) strategy is utilized by the service because this strategy focuses on the root causes of problems instead of just focusing on the symptoms. The process is effective because it can be applied across all types of problems at all locations. The strategy works for hand in hand with Scanning Analysis Response Assessment (SARA) methodology. Once scanning is done to identify the problems the fire and service together with other partners now embark on educating the community about fire safety.
Fire safety education
Every person in the community should be given fire safety education. This kind of education will be useful in helping people to avoid the risk of fires. The fire and rescue services have come up with programs to educate the young people in the community about fire safety. They reach out to the youths in schools and those out of school too. Such programs aim to come give the youth “positive role models and thus reduce antisocial behavior” (The Fire and rescue Service: Working with the young in the community, 2005, p. 1).
People need education about safety in the home to reduce or eliminate the root causes of fires at home. The people need to be taught how to avoid causing fires by practicing safe cooking methods. Below are some of the things that people can add to their homes to keep them safe.
Dangers of altering electrical supplies
Electrical appliances are very effective when used and maintained properly. All electrical supplies should be checked to ensure that they do not cause a danger due to poorly wired cables and plugs. One should never attempt to alter an electrical supply because this may lead to a fault. Statistics show that faulty electric supplies cause about 7000 houses to fire across the country (Fire Safety in the Home, 2010). Altering electrical supplies and causing a fire can lead to prosecution. People should avoid interfering with electrical devices and leave that work to electricians because the consequences may be fatal.
Smoke alarms
People who do not use smoke alarms are twice more likely to die in a house fire than those who use one. A smoke alarm provides the easiest method for protecting a home against a fire and each home needs to have one installed as it can save a life. Furthermore, a smoke alarm is cheap, readily available and easily installed. The fire and rescue service advise about choosing a smoke alarm for a home. While buying the smoke alarm it is important to ensure that, it bears the British Standard Kitemark 5446 of quality, which shows that it is safe for use. After installation, it is important to check that the alarm works regularly because a fire has killed many people yet they had a smoke alarm that was not functioning properly. The batteries of a smoke alarm need checking once a week and a change annually. A certified electrician must install a smoke alarm especially mains-powered alarms that are powered by the home power supply. Those who live in large houses especially ones with several levels should link all the alarms so that when one goes off all the others are going off too. People with hearing problems or the deaf can install vibrating-pad alarms or strobe light alarms. The best place to install an alarm is in the hallway or the ceiling in the middle of the room. Fitting an alarm near bathrooms or kitchens is not ideal as they can be set off accidentally by steam or smoke. The alarm needs to be checked regularly to ensure that it works by pressing it until it sounds. If it fails to produce the alarm sound, it should be replaced immediately or if it keeps going off regularly accidentally.
In addition to smoke alarms, other safety supplies like fire blankets and fire extinguishers are important to have. The kitchen is the ideal place to keep such equipment. Family members should be taught how to use the fire equipment and should always follow the instructions on the fire extinguishers (Smoke Alarms, 2010).
Prevention of common fires in the kitchen
Common appliances used in cooking cause many house fires. It is therefore important to ensure safety and avoid fires. Handles of cooking pan should be placed away from people to avoid being knocked down accidentally and sparking off a fire. If leaving the kitchen the pans should be taken off the fire or the fire put out to reduce chances of a fire. Loose clothing should not be worn in the kitchen because catching fire is easy. The tea towels and any other clothes need to be kept away from the cooking area. After cooking ensure the cooker is off. When deep frying food ensure it is dry to avoid a splash of oil that may start a fire easily. A deep fat fryer with thermostat is good because it does not overheat. In case a pan catches fire, it should be turned off only if safe and water should never be thrown on the pan. Get out of the kitchen and call for help.
All electrical supplies should be used correctly to avoid overheating. The supplies must bear European a safety mark abbreviated as CE or a British one. Other things such as lit candles should not be left unattended. Smokers should put off their cigarettes completely and avoid smoking in bed as a fire may start easily if they fall asleep.
Community safety as a strategic objective
All the partners in community safety should make safety a strategic objective because this will reduce fires drastically. The community needs to be educated about safety and given help to ensure that homes are safe. For, example the Lancashire Fire & Rescue Service does home fire safety checks. The checks are conducted by crews who visit homes and give advice on fire safety. They also fit smoke alarms if needed absolutely free. The crew advises the family on how to identify fore hazards and make fire escape plans. People can reach the service by calling a toll-free number 0800 169 1125 and an authorized crewmember is dispatched. The crewmember has identification to ensure that people do not open their homes to thugs. Therefore, it is good to demand identification always.
Communities and Local Government gives support to the Fire and Rescue Service in order to prevent and reduce cases of accidental fires and arsons in homes or commercial buildings as well as public buildings. They do this by formulating and implementing policies that seek to reduce fires that are preventable in homes. They have an “oversight and management of the regulatory reform fire safety order 2005 the fire safety order” (Fire and Resilience, 2010). The government should come up with fire and safety regulations that will prohibit people from living in houses that are not fit. This should be done in conjunction with the employers of the migrants to ensure that they provide them with proper housing and those who fail to do so should be dealt with by the government. This is to ensure that the community is safe from preventable fires. Making the community safe will ensure that deaths and injuries resulting from fires are reduced. This will reduce the cost of the health sector and the damage to property. People who survive from fires may be injured so severely that that may never be productive gain and have to depend on their families or the government.
Effective communication about fire safety
Communication about fire safety is very important. All the people need to get the information about fire safety correctly. Those sending the communication must ensure that their target audience understands their message. The United Kingdom government and other emergency service providers have gone an extra mile to make sure that the migrant workers who do not understand English get the information on fire safety in their own language. The Directgov website has information in other languages such as Urdu, Chinese, Bengali and Polish. Providing safety information to non-English speaking people will help to reduce the high number of fires in the overpopulated housing units. On the other hand, the media has a major role to play by giving information to the community about fire safety. Incorporating educative programs in their broadcast media and writing about fire safety in the print media will make the people consider making their homes safe. The media can also use the internet to pass information about fire safety together with the other fire and rescue services. Most fire and rescue services have websites and the information about fire and safety is useful because it enlightens people on how to avoid fires and how to respond in case of a fire. Information is power and if the community gets information about fire and safety, it will be empowered to fight and prevent unnecessary fires.
Efforts have also been made to communicate to the children about fire safety. Information is made available to parents on how they can teach their children about fire. For example, tell the children to report any fires they see in the house, run out of the house, and call 999 for help, not to hide inside the house when a fire starts and so forth (Fire safety advice for parents and childcarers, 2010). There is information given in animation form to kids to help them understand fire safety because many children die from fire due to a lack of knowledge on what to do when a fire starts. The children can “visit an interactive fire station” (Fire safety advice for parents and childcarers, 2010). In the station, they can play games aimed at teaching them about fire safety. They can also listen to stories or watch animated films to learn how to be safe from fires.
Campaigns are also done to sensitize the community about fire safety. A particular campaign involves celebrities who pledge to check their smoke alarms every week. This campaign aims to have many people checking their smoke alarms regularly just like the celebrities to ensure that they are working at all times so that they can alert them in case of a fire. This is because t has been discovered that many people have smoke alarms that do not work. After all, they do not check them and hence they cannot serve their purpose.
Assessment
The partners in the fire and rescue services need to work together to educate the people living in overcrowded houses about the dangers of interfering with the cooking areas. The partners can check if the information has been received well by the migrants and some of the partners can provide the occupants with fire safety equipment such as fire blankets, smoke alarms, or fire extinguishers. Feedback can be collected from victims of the fire to ascertain whether the initiative to curb the fire problem is working. Once they get the feedback, they will be in a position to work better in the future in light of the new knowledge. Moreover, data about fires can also be collected from the fire and rescue services, health services, and the ambulance services. This information will be useful in making future strategies to tackle the fire problem.
Reference List
Electrical and appliance safety, 2010. Web.
Fire safety advice for parents and child carers, 2010. Web.
Fire safety in the home, 2010. Web.
Fire and resilience. Web.
Smoke alarms. 2010. Web.
The Fire and rescue service: working with the young in the community. 2005. Web.