Fire cases
Manufacturing facility: fire caused by battery charger
This case study analyzes a major claim in a meat processing facility. Fire (probably caused by an electrical malfunction from a battery charger unit) destroyed the entire building, resulting in a total production shutdown of 2 months. Outlining various practical risk management lessons, this bulletin identifies that the damage was exacerbated by a combination of related factors, such as the presence of highly combustible building sandwich panels.
Fire in living quarters at a renovation work site
This bulletin reviews the circumstances of the fire and how the loss was contained, with particular reference to future actions that can be taken to minimize the risk of a similar accident occurring. What has worsened the loss is the presence of highly-combustible polyurethane foam core layer in the sandwich panels on the sides of the bungalows that caused rapid horizontal spread of the fire as well as the abundant heat and smoke emiss
Warning to local businesses after landmark fire safety procesution
8 July 2011 : An hotelier, who runs two hotels, was jailed for 8 months and ordered to pay £15.000 (€16.945) costs after pleading guilty to 15 fire safety offences under the Regulatory Reform. The manager, who runs Mansfield Fire Protection Services, was also jailed for 8 months and was ordered to pay £5,862.38 (€6.623) after he pleaded guilty to 2 breaches of Fire Safety Requirements in relation to the inadequacy of Fire Risk Assessments he provided for the hotels owner. The judge said : « thatthe time had come to send out a message to those who conduct Fire Risk Assessments and to hoteliers who are prepared to put profit before safety ». In the meantime, Nottinghamshire FIre and Rescue Service is reminding all owners and occupiers of buildings of their legal responsability to protect their customers and staff against the risk of fire.
Fire in a factory in le South of Finland
On July 9th, 2011, the factory of Saint Gobain Leca located in southern Finland has completely burnt (without injuries or deaths). The origin of the fire has not been yet determined but several explosions were heard during the fire. They were probably due to gas tanks.Despite the huge number of firemen, it was really hard to get the fire under control and they had to struggle a lot in order to extinguish the fire. Build by the German Heildelberg cement manufacturer, the plant contained polyurethane sandwich panels. Damages have been evaluated up to 10 millions Euros. Railway traffic was temporarily suspended, fearing the collapse of the seven floors buidling. To avoid contamination, residents were asked not to drink or irrigate with rainwater or well water, as well as not to eat from gardens suspicious blemished fruits or vegetables.It was also recommended to change the ventilation filters and to ventilate and clean the housing. A new plant is now underconstruction and should be finished next year.It should be built with stone wool sandwich panels.
