Dangers of Asbestos

Dangers of asbestos, are you safe?

What is Asbestos?

Asbestos are a bundle of fibers that naturally occur in the environment, they have the property of being resistible to heat, fire and chemicals as well as being a bad conductor of electricity.

Products made from Asbestos:

• Electrical Insulation 
• Spray on Insulation
• Tunnels 
• Pipe Chases 
• Dry Wall 
• Fire Blanket
• Automotive breaks 

Others include

  Roof

 Pipes 

Ceiling Tiles 

 Floor Tiles 

 Asbestos, Bundle of Fibers 

Health Effects of Asbestos:

Lung Cancer 

 Mesothelioma 

 

Asbestosis

  

How Asbestos get into the body

Before and After Asbestos Lungs

click to enlarge the picture

Asbestos if undisturbed is not harmful, as the fibers remain settled and not free floating in the air. 

A simple fun installation or electrical re-wiring where asbestos is used on the ceiling tiles or the dry wall, however can become dangerous, because of the level of exposure to the person carrying out the work and to others around. 

Most new buildings do not use Asbestos products, for such things as roofing, piping, dry walling and the like, because of its known risk now, though a lot of old buildings do have asbestos products in them. As soon as Asbestos is detected in renovation or demolition works on old buildings, the risk has to be assessed and the right safe working method of removing and disposing off the asbestos must be adopted, these includes:

• Isolation and segregation of the area to be worked at, 
• The use of personal protective equipment 
• The use of specially designed bags to collect the asbestos 

If the work is carried out is indoors, then the work area must be air tight and a suction used to filter and collect any free floating asbestos debris. The risk of carrying Asbestos fiber through cross contamination to our homes and to our family must also be a factor of  concern.

  

Handling Asbestos

 Use of Machinery to Reduce Aggravating the Risk

Wearing of the Complete PPE to Reduce Exposure 

Safely Store Asbestos Materials for Disposal

Safe Storage of Asbestos Roofing Sheet

Always be Protected When Working 

Adopt the Right Method of Disposal 

The health impact of Asbestos sometimes does not manifested until 10 to 20 years from the time of exposure, hence we have to keep in mind the long term dangers of our actions today and be very cautious of the health and safety risk in our environment. It is in the act of following the best practice approach that we will reduce our risk in health and safety and not by being ignorant and not taking health and safety seriously, always remember to observe, assess, measure before acting. Remember to update yourself of new findings that lay emphasis on your health and safety risk.

Fire Safety, Pan Fire

Do not try this at home

Remember do not move a burning pan from the stove 

Remember do not pour water on liquid flammable fire 

Always keep safety in mind, react after assessing the situation not before 

Ensure you have fire extinguishers at home 

Ensure you have fire alarm installed in the house hold 

Keep fire blankets in the kitchen 

Get out of the house if the situation is beyond your control 

Call the Fire Service in Ghana on 192

Pouring water inside burning oil pan, is the worst thing one can do, evident from the picture below. 

Be safe, always have safety in mind 

Building Floor Plan

Click to enlarge the image

Call in for a quote on the installation of the fire safety package in the household; think about it, 

• how would you protect you family and property in the middle of the night if you have a fire starting in your house, 
• how would you even get to know about it when you are fast asleep, to wake up and act in time to save your family and property. 
• how are you going to put out pan fire in the kitchen when it starts burning and spreading 
• what of an electrical fire in the living room, from a power surge 

We offer a complete package and the installation of the fire alarm system by registered and licensed professional electrician, with a six month warranty on the installation.

Think safety, better safe than sorry

Protect your family and property. 

Fire Rescue, Close call

Fire fighters, doing what they do best and saving the life of a construction worker..

I wonder what caused the fire in the first place.

Fire Alarm Test

Fire Alarm Test; what do you know 

The fire alarm test is not the same as the fire drill, which is often executed every six months simulating a real emergency, the fire alarm test is a test carried out weekly by a responsible person as part of the maintenance schedule to ensure that all the manual call points are working and will be active in an emergency. The test is a 10 second ring of the fire alarm through the activation of one of the manual call points in the building, after which the fire alarm panel is checked for accurate reading of the location of the manual call point trigger and the sounders. 

• Before carrying out the weekly fire alarm test, a notice should be placed at the front reception located at a strategic place to enable awareness of the fire alarm test. 

• Email could be sent to each tenant or employee to inform them about the test 

• Team leaders could be used to reinforce awareness of the fire alarm test taking place 

• The reason for the advance information or notification is so people do not panic when they hear the alarm go off. 

• The 10 second ring limit is also to ensure that the employees or tenant are aware that if the alarm rings more than 10 seconds then the alarm is signaling a real emergency and emergency procedure steps are to be followed in evacuating the building 

• All the weekly fire alarm test should be recorded to form part of the management tools of proactive preventative measures adopted 

• The recording should include the time and location of the manual call point and any observation harvested from the fire alarm test. 

Ultimately it is better to know the systems are all working than to wait and find out in a real emergency. 

1. Place a Notice of the test out for public knowledge 

     2.  Place the Fire Alarm Panel onto Test Mode 

      3.  Locate the Manual Call Point 

     4.  The Manual Call Point 

        5. Insert the Test Key in the Manual Call Point to trigger the alarm

• Press the silence button on the Fire Alarm Control Panel after 10 seconds
• Read the location on the panel and make sure it corresponds to the test area
• Press reset on the Fire Alarm Panel after the information has been gathered
• Turn the Fire Alarm Panel from test mode
• Record findings

Some Fire Alarm Panels are connected to a central monitoring location, who then monitor the fire alarm, if such system is in place, the central monitoring location will have to be informed about the weekly Fire Alarm Test for them to place the system onto a test mood as well and then after the test they would have to be informed to remove the system from the test mode. As a safety precaution the central monitoring unit will request a time duration for the fire alarm test, which should be an hour to be safe, after the hour given they central monitoring station presume the system is actively back on line, even if not informed so by the team on the ground caring out the fire alarm test. The team on the ground should however inform the central control station soon after the fire alarm test is over. 

In instances where maintenance work has to be carried out on the fire alarm panel, the central control station must be informed and be given the time duration that the maintenance work will take, if an extension of that time is needed the central monitoring station should be informed about it as well and the central monitoring station should be informed when the work is done, so they can activate the system. 

If the central monitoring station is not informed and the alarm goes off, they will assume it is a real emergency and inform the fire service who would be dispatched to the location, if it turns out to be an avoidable false alarm, the fire service may fine the company in question for waste of resources.

Always know you are safe by the proactive measures you put in place, just don't assume you are safe.. 

Emergency Evac Chair

Lift and Fire:

The golden rule is Do Not Use Lift, In Case of Fire, reason being the lift is pulled up and down by a reinforced  steel wire, however the property strength of this steel wire us made redundant in a fire incident, simply because the average temperature of a burning fire goes up to 1000 Degrees celsius, however metal can be soft at 600 Degrees celsius hence at the burning temperature of a room or building there is a high chance that the steel wire would not be able to hold the weight of the lift. To add to this, the lift may dysfunction and open on a floor already engulfed by the fire, this makes lift very dangerous to get into if there is fire in the building. The only option given in this case is that of a fireman's lift, which is encased in fire resistance enclosed structure. 

Going down, the stairs which in this case is the best option is no mean feat for the physically fit and healthy, but it is what has to be done, however when considering that of an incapacitated or disabled individual that becomes a real strangle. It is a health and safety risk to carry someone on your back or otherwise descending the stairs in an emergency due to the risk of fall to both parties.

Evac Chair 

The Evacuation chair is designed and built to be used on stairs in cases of emergency to move the individual out of harms way, at the same time not putting the person assisting the disabled individual or others at risk. As can be seen below the dimensions of the evac chair is given as 

Height 36"

Length 20.5"

Breath of 8" 

The Evac chair can be hanged close to the point of exit on each floor next to the escape stairs to allow for easy access. 

 Individuals must be trained on how to use the Evac Chairs on the stairs to ensure appropriate and safe use in cases of emergency, it should be noted that when we refer to disable in this literature we are not only highlighting people with permanent disability but also, individuals who may in the emergency scenario fall or hit their heads making them temporarily disabled, also pregnant women would fall in this bracket. The permanently disable may have a while chair that fits into the lift, but would not function well because of the design on the stairs 

The location of the Evac Chair must be signed to allow for easy identification in an emergency and to help direct the individual to the point of position.

High-rise Building:

Every high-rise building such as :

Office buildings

Hotels 

Shopping mall 

And others with more than a ground floor, should have an Evac Chair positioned at an advantage point to be used in an emergency 

First Aid Box

What is First Aid:

Answer: Help given to an ill or injured person until full medical help arrives or medical treatment is made available.  

Fist Aid then as explained is not a medical treatment and no one should in effect administer any medical treatment unless trained, qualified, experienced and confident to do so. Thus the only people who fall in such a bracket will be

• The Ambulance Crew/ Paramedic 
• Nurses 
• Doctors 

First Aid however increases the recovery and survival rate of individual who find themselves caught in an accident. It is the first response to help preserve life, assist with recovery, give companionship and to prevent aggravations of the condition of the injured individual. 

A first Aider is a trained individual who is competent to administer first aid 

Each work area should have at least two First Aiders in-case one is not around 

A typical content of a first Aid box is as follows:

1. Antiseptic lotions and antiseptic wipes to dress the wound 
2. Twenty individual sterilized wrapped plasters (assorted sizes) appropriate to the type of work 
3. Two sterilized Eye pads 
4. Four sterilized triangular wrapped bandages 
5. Six safety pins 
6. Two large sterilized wrapped un-medicated wound dressings
7. Six individual medium size un-medicated wound dressing 
8. A pair of disposable gloves
9. Tweezers for removing splinters
10. Cotton wool to clean wounds and cuts   

Keep records of Accidents and Incidents in the work place

Keep records of each time the First Aid Box is used 

Always remember to replace items in the First Aid Box after use

To ensure availability when next an emergency arises 

Increase the number of First Aid Box in relation to the number of people in the work area

Food for Thought 

Have you got a First Aid Box in your Office?

Is there a First Aider in your Office ? 

Do some thing about it, if not...

Save a life, may be yours..

Fire Safety, Office Environment

Fire Safety Office Environment Required Installation 

• Fire Extinguisher Location
• Emergency Information 
• Emergency Escape Plan 
• Fire Extinguisher Type Information 
• Fire Extinguisher 
• Running Man Emergency Lighting 
• Mechanized Door Closer 
• Fire Rated Visibility (see through)
• Fire Door Keep Shut Sign 
• Fire Safety Door Push (towards direction of travel)
• Fire Resistance Door Strips (inserted at the edge of the door)
• Kick Plate 
• Electrical Service Door

Click on the picture to enlarge

Note: As well as the specification listed above

1. A fire alarm unit is required 
2. Fire Safety Induction training for

•  Employees
• Visitors 

    3.  Fire Emergency Evacuation Drill 

    4.  Weekly Fire Alarm Manual Call Point Test 

    5. First Aid Box

    6. Fire Marshals 

    7. First Aiders 

Domestic Fire Safety Installation

Installation Specifications:

The domestic fire safety installation schematics given here, covers largely all areas in the household,

concentrating as a minimum standard the specification in the following area is allowed 

•  Kitchen
•  Living Room 
• Corridor 
• Master Bedroom 

Click on the picture to enlarge

Specification:

• Heat Alarm 
• Smoke Alarm 
• Fire Blanket 
• Fire Extinguisher 
• First Aid Box 

Remember 

• Having an emergency escape plan set and practiced is advised 
• Regular monthly checks on the batteries of the alarm systems 
• Installation of a first aid box and replacement of items once used 
• Replacement of the extinguisher once used 

Contact Dey-Innovations Limited from the Contact Above for Your Domestic Fire Safety Installation Package 

Candle Fire

Fire Safety Tips When Using Candle

1. Keep candles away from flammable material 
2. Keep candles away from combustible material 
3. Never leave the candle light unattended 
4. Keep the candle light away from the window where the wind may cause it to fall 
5. Keep candle away from children and away from places they can get to 
6. Keep candle away from locations where pets can knock them down
7. Do not place the candle on any material that has the potential to burn 
8. Use study platforms such as,  metal, glass, ceramic holder 
9. Turn candle light off, from any home worship when not right next to it 
10. Ensure you turn the candle light off before sleeping 
11. Use alternatives, such as battery powered lights 

Electrical Fire

Electrical Fire Safety Tips 

1. Ensure all plugs are switched off and unplugged if not in use 
2. Ensure all plugs are switched off when the electricity goes off 
3. Wait a while after the electricity comes on before you turn electrical equipment on 
4. Always unplug and place the iron after use away from combustible or flammable materials 
5. Always unplug the iron even if walking away for a short while 
6. Stay beside the iron if waiting for it to warm up 
7. Ensure the right fuse rating are used in the plugs 
8. Replace the electrical wiring of the house hold after 15 years of use 
9. Ensure a high quality electrical wiring is used when wiring the house 
10. Ensure you use a qualified electrician and you check his/her qualification 
11. Avoid using multi plug adopters as permanent fixtures 
12. Avoid using extension leads in the household 
13. Make sure the socket switch is turned off, before inserting the plug