Introduction to Fire Safety Management

8 Causes
Identifying sources of fuel, ignition and oxygen will
undoubtedly assist in preparing a fi re safety management
strategy based upon a risk assessment approach.
However, these areas are only hazards (something
that has the potential to cause harm) and it will take
human intervention in one form or another to change
the hazards into risk, be it accidentally or deliberately.
Determining the different causes of fi re in the workplace
is the next stage in the management process, as having
identifi ed the primary sources of harm and how they are
caused will enable a robust fi re safety management plan
to be produced to prevent a fi re starting.
This chapter will also include specifi c reference to
causes of fi res within construction and maintenance work
with the inherent hazards and risks such operations bring,
together with the preventive steps to manage them.
This chapter discusses the following key
elements:
➤ Common causes of major fi res
➤ Fire risks associated with fl ammable, combustible
and explosive substances
➤ Fire risks associated with common workplace
processes and activities, including
those associated with construction and
maintenance operations
➤ Arson
➤ Measures to prevent fi res.
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and prevention
of fi re
8.1 Accidental fi res
The term accidental fi re refers to all fi res other than those
which have been deliberately or maliciously started.
There are a wide range of causes of fi res within the
workplace. These will to a certain extent refl ect the use
to which the workplace is put. It is also useful to consider
causes of fi res in vehicles as in many organisations
a workplace may be a vehicle, such as in the case of a
long distance lorry driver working for a haulage company.
Using the current statistics available it can be seen
that that the common causes of major accidental fi res in
the workplace fall under the broad headings of:
➤ Electrical appliances and installations
➤ Cookers, associated cooking equipment and
installations
➤ Naked lights and fl ames
➤ Heaters and heating systems
➤ Chemical and LPG (hazardous materials)
➤ Smokers and smokers’ materials
➤ Waste and waste management systems
➤ Other signifi cant causes.
8.1.1 Electrical appliances and installations
Outside deliberate fi re setting, fi res that are caused by
electrical appliances and installations are the most common
cause of fi res in both industry and the home. There
are a variety of different ways that electricity fl owing
through equipment and installations can cause a fi re,
these include:
Overloaded wiring – where the electric current fl owing
in the wires exceeds the rating of the cables. The wiring