Training saves lives in emergencies

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The Fortune Tower fire was caused by a spark from electrical wiring.

Dubai has seen two fires in towers under construction in the space of two months. In January, Brigadier Rashid Thani Al Matrooshi, head of Dubai Civil Defense, pledged to enforce stricter fire-fighting procedures when the 29th floor of Fortune Tower burst into flames claiming the lives of two workers and injuring 25.

And last week, flames engulfed the top floor of Khalid Al Attar tower on Sheikh Zayed Road.

Speaking to Construction Week, Faheem Uddin, site engineer for Transemirates Contracting, which is the company contracted to build the Khalid Al Attar tower, said no fire safety engineer was on site when the fire broke out.

"Investigations are being carried out into the reasons for the fire but some workers claim it was due to sparks from a short circuit that spread to materials like wood, plastic and other flammable materials lying around," he said.

No-one was injured, but the event has again raised the question of how fires on buildings under construction can be avoided.

According to M Kamarajan, general manager, HSE department, ETA Star, training workers to deal with such emergency events is imperative: "Apart from fire safety procedures which require a fire safety officer to be on site all the time, the awareness level of a worker in such situations is vital. Also it is the company's responsibility to train them and instil a sense of responsibility, and motivate them to take appropriate action in an event of a fire.

"Small fires happen on site all the time. But there are procedures to handle them. Certain jobs on site are called ‘hot work'. This includes welding, cutting, wiring and basically all jobs that can cause a fire or a spark.

"There is a user permit for these jobs, which have to include a supervisor called a firewatcher whose job is to look out for fires and put them out immediately, a required number of fire extinguishers and workers who know how to operate them," he added.

He also said that his company's workers are taught to make sure that the three elements that cause a fire, which are heat, oxygen and flammable materials, must be kept away from each other. Since oxygen cannot be controlled, workers are trained to keep the materials away from the heat source.

"Training and information is key to fire safety, whether a building is under construction or not," said Dean McGrail, associate director, WSP Fire Engineering Division, WSP Middle East.

"There are a lot of programme issues here - buildings need to be put up as quickly as possible, for example. But training is a key area, whether it's for all members of staff or just the managers - somebody needs to be taking control of what's going on in a building when it's under construction. At the end of the day, it's everyone's responsibility, but you need someone overseeing it. I don't know what the actual cost of that would be when you compare it to the cost of the overall building, and the impact that a fire in a building could have on public perception.

"In the UK, it falls on the clerk of works or contractors. Building control officers visit buildings under construction to see what's going on. You also have health and safety officers who enforce this type of thing. It's a bureaucratic system in the UK, but it works."

Another challenge could be a communication barrier that is seen in multi-cultural societies where adequate methods of training have to be implemented in order to help workers understand their duties completely.

"Some of the workforce in every country cannot read or write - so you have to know how to effectively get the message across," said Lisa Fowlie, chartered safety and health practitioner and president, Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (ISOH).

"And if something goes wrong and the company gets into trouble, how does the public react? Therefore it's important to ensure that the right standards are established and workers kept safe, not only so that they're efficient to carry on working for you, but also to protect your reputation and brand," she added.

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