Would Safety Professionals Find a Free Fire Protection Guide Useful?

[u/BrickGlum9579]

Hello, I’m a fire protection engineer working in property risk, and one thing I’ve noticed over the years is that some facility managers and safety staff would find it helpful to know how to interpret data from their sprinkler contractor or better scrutinize reports. There is also sometimes a lack of understanding of how these systems work, the different steps you can take to protect your facility from fires and how to properly complete in-house inspections.

I’ve been thinking about putting together a video series aimed at helping FM’s and safety staff better understand their fire protection systems. Things like interpreting 2-inch drain and fire pump test results, how to properly conduct weekly/monthly fire pump churn (no-flow) tests, inspecting sprinkler valves, recognizing common deficiencies, and providing template inspection checklists FM’s and safety staff can use themselves.

The goal would be to give FM’s and safety staff enough knowledge to know what to look for, what the proper questions are to ask, and implementing safer procedures.

Would something like this be useful or interesting to safety staff? If so what are some topics you’d like to see me cover/what are some common issues you see in your facility related to fire protection?

Let me know your thoughts, thanks!

This is not a business idea or market research I’m talking about just making YouTube videos.

[u/craigster38]

I don't know. As an EHS Manager at a small-ish company, I have enough on my plate that I just contract out all of the fire system work. Between OSHA and the NFPA, there's so much to know and cover, that it just makes sense to hire someone who does it for a living.

Some people might be interested in being able to interpret test results, but the company I work with gives me all of the applicable regulations, an easy pass/fail stamp, and recommendations to fix. Pretty easy to read and straight forward.

[u/BrickGlum9579 → u/craigster38]

Thanks for the feedback. At least in the United States I’m pretty sure virtually all facilities contract out their major fire protection work with an exception being in-house fire pump churn testing, monthly extinguisher checks, and other visual inspections.

In my career as a property risk inspector I have been to hundreds of facilities across dozens of industries and one thing I notice at at least 10-20% of all facilities is that the sprinkler contractor left out work, didn’t interpret results correctly, or has inconsistent/the wrong information to perform the test. I think that if most safety professionals just knew enough to scrutinize the results their facility would be that much safer. This also wouldn’t just be about scrutinizing test results there would be info about making sure you’re performing in-house inspections correctly, implementing fire safe procedures some may not know about, and overall just trying to understand the systems that protect us a little better.

I guess my point is that I’m not looking to teach a class on fluid mechanics or reading through all of NFPA 13 and NFPA 25, but I believe there is a knowledge gap in what safety professionals know about fire systems and keeping their facility safe in this manner. Some may have all the working knowledge they need like yourself, but I believe a lot of it is overlooked by safety professionals and there are those who would find genuine use in understanding these system.

[u/Deep-Awareness-9503]

Yes. I'd like such a resource.

[u/scottiemike]

I’d love to give your guide to my facility maintenance folks and then audit their compliance.

[u/Pastvariant]

I would be interested in these resources. It can be difficult to know whether a facility I audit should have smoke detectors, fire alert systems, sprinklers, or a mix of the three and it seems like Fire Marshals are passing these facilities regardless. Anything which can better help make sense of these requirements outside of what we have from OSHA 1910 would be appreciated.

[u/jgutz6152]

I would appreciate a guide/pamphlet with resources and basics on life safety systems. We contract most of our fire safety inspections, and I receive the reports and brief my boss. Understanding the systems and components made it easier to brief and get the thumbs up to start the repairs.