Advanced Fire Administration, Essay Example

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) was founded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to prevent work related injury. The specific interventions that become necessary for this agency depending on each occupation. For example, employees that work with chemicals on the laboratory are subject to certain requirements to ensure that chemical spills will not occur or be hazardous to the employees. Furthermore, agency would ensure that the staff is equipped with the proper protective equipment for their job functions, such as protective gloves or hazmat suits if necessary. Lastly, this institution is required to set up safety workshops for their employees so they will know how to remain safe in case of an emergency.

The NIOSH also generates safety statistics to determine what risks are on the job according to occupation and this data is used to determine what steps need to be taken to reduce these risks. Statistics will be compared prior to and following an intervention to determine if it’s effective. Furthermore, the agency determines what health risks are typical consequences of specific job related exposes. After studying many incidents, the agency determine which protective equipment and institutional policies would be the most effective to prevent workplace disaster within a particular workgroup.

Most importantly, the agency holds employers accountable for their safety, and failure to comply can result in fines and other punishments. It is therefore in the employer’s best interest to ensure that they are in compliance with NIOSH standards. The agency puts a whistleblower policy in place so that employees that do not believe compliance is being met can report their agency so that these issues can become rectified.

On the other hand, the National Fire Protection Agency (NFPA) is specifically concerned with the fire and building codes within these institutions. The website provides safety information to ensure that buildings are aware of how to adequately mark their exits and to prevent them from being blocked. A majority of concerns to this agency is whether fire alarms and carbon monoxide detectors are installed properly and whether the occupants of a building would be able to exist in a timely manner during a time of emergency.

Like the NIOSH, the precise standards that are required for the NFPA vary according to building use. For example, buildings that have kitchens are use fire frequently are expected to have the flame far away from objects that would be able to catch fire. A second example of a specified use would be in the laboratory setting. While each building is expected to have at minimum a regular fire extinguisher, laboratories that regularly use chemicals are also expected to have and understand how to use equipment that is capable of extinguishing chemical fires.

This agency also promotes fire safety research. Like the NIOSH, the agency studies fire related statistics that it uses to determine where fires are occurring most frequently and where there are the greatest number of casualties and injuries. The agencies then uses inference and additional data concerning the affected sites to determine why this is the case. The ultimate goal of this type of research is to determine why the fires are occurring and what steps can be taken to prevent them. This knowledge is then applied to other situations to ensure that prevention protocols remain effective.

References

National Fire Protection Agency. (n.d.). Safety Information. Retrieved from http://www.nfpa.org/safety-information