Fire Safety Management At Green International School In Bangkok, Thailand Is Crucial.

The Green international school is a private school situated in Bangkok, Thailand. The school offers high secondary education to domestic and international students. The school is located on one of the busiest roads of the city. It is a 5-story building. The neighborhood is mainly a residential area with high rising buildings surrounding the school. However, the ground floor of those residential buildings has smaller educational centers, retail shops, cafes, printers, Xerox shops, and other types of shops.

It has three entrances: one huge entry gate at the front of the building with a smaller door within it, one middle-sized door on the left side, and a smaller one on the back of the building. The building is U-shaped, 5-storey building and it has more than 500 rooms including classrooms, teachers’ rooms, laboratory rooms, library rooms, canteens, gyms, sports areas, hostel rooms, and a big playground in the middle of the premise. The ground floor of the building has one huge parking place that can accommodate at least 200 cars and other vehicles.  

On the ground floor, there is a reception room, canteen and a waiting room along with three play areas: one basketball court, one badminton, and table tennis court and another room for other recreational sports. It also has some other rooms such as fire sprinkler pump-room, water pump, electric generator, lift, motor room and others.  The first and second floors have classrooms, laboratory rooms, teachers’ rooms, and one central library room (on the second floor). Four and five floors have individual and shared bedrooms for the students who take the hostel facilities. The building has a water reservation system underground. The school building has a ground right middle of it due to which the place is airy and full of light. The rooms are also enough airy.

A team of 14 members has been given the responsibility of fire management. These committee members oversee the fire safety of the school premises.  The team works under the supervision of Mr. Chan, a former serviceman in the fire department of Singapore. The fire extinguishers and other equipment are bought and managed mainly by the three members according to the assistance of the higher authority and experts. Five members are assigned to train the students and staff regarding quick and safe evacuation from the school building. Other members take care of other factors like looking after the school premises’ fire safety, identifying the potential fire hazards within the school premises, and taking corrective actions.

Description of Selected Specified-Premise

The school staff (teaching and non-teaching) are trained by the experts appointed by the school authority during the time of hiring. The students of lower classes (from 5-7) are shown different videos, are told inspirational stories where the students can see how people should manage different emergencies. The students of 7-10 are given materials and taught to help them to learn about the fire safety guidelines and told to prepare a group presentation. The students of 11 and 12are encouraged to get training from the experts where they are exposed to fake emergencies in the school premises to assess their performance. They are provided a certificate after completion of this training. 

Each year on 20^th February, a carnival is arranged by the school authority where the principals of other schools, students, and guardians are invited to participate. This is done to generate awareness regarding the fire safety guidelines and fire-fighting protocols legalized by the Singapore Government along with the fire safety measures that the school authority has taken following the same.

Discuss how a fire safety audit was conducted, and provide 5 Fire Hazards Identified in the table/format below:

The above fire safety audit was done based on the Fire Safety Act 1993, Chap 109A.

The building contains a huge amount of flammable materials such as paper-based documents, gas cylinders in the canteen kitchen, chemicals in the chemistry laboratory, wooden tables, chairs in every classroom, beds in students' bedrooms, and many more. Tier 1 contains mainly petroleum (in the parking area), gas cylinders, and storage of food (in the canteen), and other flammable materials including wooden furniture in the reception and waiting rooms. Tier 2 has mainly chemicals and other flammable materials in the laboratories. There are thousands of books in the library which is a potential source of flammable materials. Tier 3 has beds, clothes, furniture, books in the students’ rooms.

Considering the National CERT Standard (2016), the CERT of the building has been established. Each floor has a separate room for keeping the equipment (such as chemical suits, face shields, firefighting gloves, boots, helmets firefighting. Fire alarm systems and fire extinguisher equipment have been installed on different locations of each floor. On each floor, there are pipelines connected with the water reservation system in the underground area so that water can be spread in case of any emergency. On each floor, there is one glass window with a piece of metal equipment hanging beside it, which can be broken in case of any emergency. The building has three wide staircases (which make the evacuation easier and safe in times of emergency), along with an additional staircase outside the building. This additional staircase starts from one corner of the roof (which is usually closed) and ends straight outside the building.

Discuss how the premise/building’s ERP is formulated and developed;

Provide details on how the scenarios are determined, the number of meetings to align the stakeholders’ expectations (You may add on the sample Table of Meetings if required).

Conclusion 

The purpose of this report was to provide an insight into the fire safety management of the Green International School in Singapore. To conclude this it can be said that the existing fire safety management and measurement of this school are impressive. The training sessions are also taken to educate the students and staff about the precautionary measures and firefighting measures. The fire audit in the school building was conducted and 5 potential fire hazards were identified. The recommendations to avoid any such situations are provided. The Emergency response plan is proposed according to the meetings held for the same purpose and approved. Hence, the school authority should take all the necessary steps to improve the fire safety management of the school premises to avoid or to enhance the fire-fighting and evacuation capability of the stakeholders.   

References

Fire safety act 1993, 2000. The statutes of the republic of singapore |fire safety act (chapter 109A). [online] rcrc-resilience-southeastasia.org. Available at: <https://www.rcrc-resilience-southeastasia.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/2000-Fire-Safety-Act.pdf> [Accessed 12 March 2022].

SCDF, 2016. National CERT Standard. Singapore Civil Defense Force.