Safety Tidbit 4.31 – Fire Safety-Notre Dame
Reference: OSHA Construction Standards – 29CFR1926
This week’s Safety Tidbit was written by one of my students, Alec Londino – a junior in the Safety Sciences Program at Indiana University of PA.
In recent news, the Notre Dame Cathedral located in Paris France caught fire in the attic of the structure. The cause of the fire is currently under investigation. However, what’s not under investigation is that the safety planners failed to create a fire response plan that was adequate. According to the report, it took a security guard 6 minutes to climb up the stairs to the origin of the fire in the attic. By the time firefighters were notified, the fire had already been going for over 30 minutes. Fire experts determined that they underestimated how quickly the old oak planks of the cathedral would burn.
Along with the planks, the fire alarms located within the facility did not immediately alert authorities of the fire. Instead the security guard had to check the alarm before notifying authorities even though the cathedral was covered with multiple fire alarms and heat sensors. Ultimately, the training for the security guards seemed to be inadequate since France requires notification of a fire prior to dispatching emergency services. This is to prevent resource use from false alarms. It’s for these reasons that today’s safety tidbit focuses on fire safety and prevention during construction.
Although EU-OSHA standards differ from ours it’s important to note some of the standards that could have prevented such an event from happening in the United States or at the very least contained it:
29 CFR 1926.150(e)(1)
An alarm system, e.g., telephone system, siren, etc., shall be established by the employer whereby employees on the site and the local fire department can be alerted for an emergency.
· Seeing as a fire suppression system would have drowned the building, it’s imperative that their emergency action plan contains direct contact to the local fire department instead of relying on a security guard to alert authorities.
29 CFR 1926.150(f)(1)
Fire walls and exit stairways, required for the completed buildings, shall be given construction priority. Fire doors, with automatic closing devices, shall be hung on openings as soon as practicable.
· In this unique instance, fire walls were not installed in the attic. The main reason for this was a risk of mutilating the structure. Instead of providing a safer protection measure, the roof/attic was a total loss.
29 CFR 1926.150(b)(1)
A temporary or permanent water supply, of sufficient volume, duration, and pressure, required to properly operate the firefighting equipment shall be made available as soon as combustible materials accumulate.
· When firefighters arrived on scene, hoses could not reach the attic because of the height of the structure. A stand pipe system located near the top of the structure could have supplied the water necessary to fight the blaze without drowning the entire structure. This is increasingly important in this situation because large amounts of oak planks were used to construct the attic/roof.
It’s often easy to look back and point out flaws in the design of fire response plan after the fact. That is why it’s imperative to focus on creating an adequate fire response program. Ultimately, “Fire Feeds On Careless Deeds…”
Hope this was helpful and thank you for reading my Safety Tidbits! Comments and questions are always welcome. ~ Bryan
P.S. If you have a new safety or health question, please let me know.
