Abstract
For past few years, end of winter months have been really tough for paper mills. These months often witness maximum fire accidents particularly in paper mills. This year too, some severe fire incidents were reported. Fortunately no casualties were reported in such incidents, but the quantum of losses was huge. This paper explores some possible strategies which may be considered to reduce the possibility of fire mishaps significantly.
Introduction
A friendly question with one of my friends turned into a serious discussion. The question was- “What strategies/arrangements do you have to avoid fire accidents?” The obvious answer included the number of fire hydrants, hose reels, branch pipes, fire extinguishers, automatic fire alarm, sprinklers etc. But, the counter question was- “Most of these shall be used only after a fire breaks out. But, how do you ensure it does not initiate at first instance?”
Since then, I’ve continuously been struggling to think, “WHY” on this issue.
Why do such incidents take place? Quite obviously, one may easily blame mills for not following the best practices; one may blame the mills for not taking the fire safety seriously; one may blame the mills for being careless and this and that. Is it really the case? Can any mill, can any management, can the staff and workers be so careless about their mill that their future and lives are on risk? Sorry. I don’t think so. Please allow me to put all such information combined together, to see if we can get some suitable solution.
The general approach being followed towards fire safety, so far, is confined towards these major targets-
– Handling and storing the flammable material safely,
– Keeping all fire-fighting equipment operative,
– Train workforce about use of fire hydrants, extinguishers etc.
