The Single Most Important Variable In Fire Hazard, Essay Example

Many safety issues arise in the laboratory setting. It is therefore necessary to identify all risks and hazards present in many situations in order to ensure that personnel are adequately protected from potential issues. Occasionally, there are even some hazards involved in chemical reactions that are meant to promote safety in industrial and academic institutions. The authors of an article entitled “Heat Release Rate: The Single Most Important Variable in Fire Hazard” presents some of these safety views (Babrauskas et al., 1991). Ultimately, they believe that understanding the heat release rate is the most essential component in a safety analysis because it will provide information concerning the flammability of a product.

A major concern that the research team has is that there are many hazards related to fire, all of which should be avoided in emergency situations to confer survival. These hazards increase significantly in the laboratory setting, as chemical fires must be treated differently than fires derived from other causes. According to the authors, in both of these settings “even though fire deaths are caused primarily by toxic gases, the heat release rate is the best predictor of fire hazard” (Babrauskas et al., 1991). Therefore, the authors propose that heat release could be quantitatively measured in order to determine the various hazards that are associated with fire, as the amount of toxic gases produced is expected to be proportional to this value.

An important safety concern in a majority of industrial settings is how to properly classify the intensity of a hazard. By understanding the degree of heat released in a combustible reaction, we can gain a greater understanding of the necessary tools that would be needed to alleviate these hazards. Currently, a major way that this is done is by chemical providers including MSDS information with all of their products. This allows laboratory administration to have access to key information concerning the chemicals stored within a certain area, which allows them to develop an emergency resolution plan. Furthermore, it has the potential for providing the fire safety team information that they may need to effectively put out the fire. Labelling of hazards in the laboratory also assists with this function.

Although the article focuses on the heat released from the reactions that produce fire, it notes that delays in ignition time in addition to the relative toxicity of combustion gases play a minor role in properly understanding the potential that a particular fire has in causing damage. While the article believes that these factors should be a smaller focus due to their proportional impact, it is essential to consider that all hazards should come into play when determining a proper safety plan. The toxicity of these gasses is what typically leads to death or injury in the case of fire, and evacuation and safety plans would benefit by providing personnel with ways that they can effectively avoid inhalation of the toxic substances.

Ultimately, determining the extent of heat released in a chemical reaction can be used to serve as a predictor that will guide the safety team in developing an effective plan for their personnel to avoid the toxicity that is produced in these combustion reactions. To ensure that safety is promoted, it would be useful to continue studies of this sort in order to ensure that this measurement tool is well understood so that its value can be maximized.

References

Babrauskas V, Peacock RD. (1991). Heat Release Rate: The Single Most Important Variable in Fire Hazard. Retrieved from http://fire.nist.gov/bfrlpubs/fire92/PDF/f92019.pdf