Book Description

PrefaceSince the second edition of this book, some things have not changed and others have.The need for safety professionals to understand basic fundamentals is essential inhazard recognition, evaluation, control measures, and the standards to ensure com-pliance with current required fire codes. The safety manager today faces a moral andlegal responsibility to the community, worksite, and to the public. Safety managersneed an understanding of the duties and responsibilities for which they are account-able. The primary purpose of the Fire Safety Management Handbook is to integratea broad field, including the National Fire Codes (NFPA), into a single manuscriptthat deals with all aspects of the fire sciences.This text presents the key elements that comprise an effective fire safety manage-ment program. It was written for fire safety professionals, safety managers, scientists,and college instructors as a useful reference in dealing with the varied problems offlammable hazardous materials as well as managers who are accountable for firesafety as part of a comprehensive safety and/or a risk management program.Safety programs are typically evaluated based upon the results they achieve fortheir respective organizations. Tangible results of any safety program can be difficultto measure. Over the years, the profession has evaluated safety program effective-ness by measuring the failures produced, such as accident frequency and severityrates, or property loss rates. Measuring safety programs by their failures is counter-productive. By the time any safety program produces the failures to measure, it istoo late for managers to implement activities that could have prevented those failuresfrom occurring in the first place.While the safety profession has never proven that a direct correlation existsbetween various safety program activities and achieving favorable program results,safety managers strive to identify the possible relationships. Successful safety man-agers place an emphasis--such as their time and organizational resources--onimplementing proactive activities that impact the results of their safety programs.Safety program effectiveness should be measured by the quality, rigor, and utility ofthese activities, as well as their impact on the bottom line.Having established that an effective safety program emphasizes proactive activi-ties, this text places special attention on the fire safety activities that can achieve themost optimum results. Developing and implementing an effective fire safety manage-ment program can:* Reduce property loss insurance premiums.* Demonstrate why certain practices are being used.* Help minimize the financial impact of business interruptions.* Boost customer service and public images.* Foster an efficient work environment to help realize quality gains.* Impact favorably on the profitability of an organization.* Evaluate building construction.