During a fire emergency, the speed at which a fire extinguisher can be rescued is vital. Also, choosing the right type of fire extinguisher for each type of fire can be the difference between life and death. Over the years, general guidelines have been established as a recommended practice after receiving data on fire-related incidents.
For general fire protection, fire extinguishers should be located as follows:
i) So that no one can drive more than 30 meters to get to it. This is to ensure that the speed with which you can access is as effective as possible.
ii) prominent position. It can be difficult to find when they are positions that are out of people's sight and are clearly not visible in an emergency.
iii) Exits to nearby premises, on exit routes or along a landing.
iv) in similar positions on each floor. It helps to create a habit in people's minds when there is a usual place where you can find a fire extinguisher.
v) Easily accessible. Obstacles to fire extinguishers add a delay to the possibility of extinguishing a fire.
vi) If they are designed for a specific hazard, they should be conveniently located at the place of risk, but not so close that they may not be available in the event of a fire. Getting the right fire extinguisher near the right kind of danger helps to eliminate bad choices when trying to extinguish fires, which can lead to further losses.
vii) Avoid exposure to excessive heat or cold.
viii) Corrosion prevention. This ensures that fire extinguishers are ready and suitable for the purpose.
ix) Grouped together in fire locations where practicable. This helps ensure the most effective fire fighting.
Information
Because of the different methods required to run different types of fire extinguishers, they must have clearly understood written and graphic operating instructions. Ideally, all fire extinguishers should work in the same way and be controlled.
In the UK, the British Standard Color Code (BS 7863) is used for quick identification for each type of device:
• Red for water
• Foam Cream
• Blue for powder
• Black for carbon dioxide
• Canary yellow for wet chemicals
Halogen Fire Extinguishers - Colored Green
In the Montreal Protocol, it was decided that the fire extinguisher lights should have been halted by 2000, and therefore all halon fire extinguishers should have replaced a suitable alternative, that is, some kind of inert gas.
British Standard for Portable Fire Extinguishers
The British standard BS EN3 & is the current standard for portable fire extinguisher production in the UK. It entered into force on January 1, 1997, so each new fire extinguisher must comply with BS EN3 for it to be approved. fire extinguisher. The main feature is that the body of the fire extinguisher should be red, regardless of its contents.
However, in paragraph 57.1 it is allowed that a maximum of 5% of the surface area of the fire extinguisher’s body should be color coded to indicate its contents. The selected area should be visible 180 degrees when the fire extinguisher is in the normal position.
