Written by Sandrine Lasserre
14 February 2019



According to the ARIA database on technological accidents [1], the most frequent accidents that occur in industrial buildings in France are:

1. Fires

2. Discharges of hazardous materials

3. Explosions

Fires are observed in 60% of technological accidents in France. The socio-economic consequences can be disastrous for your company: material damage, loss of production, technical lay-offs, uncertainty about the recovery of activity, etc. Zero risk does not exist for your company, but it is possible to put preventive measures in place. In this article, find out how to:

  • Identify the most common causes of industrial fires
  • Implement a fire risk prevention plan
  • Continue to produce after a fire

 

1 – Identify the most common causes of industrial fires

Three elements are necessary to start a fire (the fire triangle):

  •  Fuel: material capable of burning in the presence of an oxidizer
  • Solid = paper, cardboard, wood, plastic, etc.
  • Liquid = solvent, gasoline, varnish, oil, etc.
  •  Gas = methane, butane, propane, acetylene, etc.
  • An oxidant: a chemical substance that allows the combustion of a fuel (very often oxygen
  •  A source of ignition


Many raw materials, packaging or technological aids
(machine lubricants, glues, cleaning products, etc.) can burn or release inflammable vapours. Only inorganic materials and compounds (sand, concrete, salts, etc.) cannot burn. It is therefore necessary to provide storage areas adapted to your materials, and to protect your components and employees during processing stages that involve an open flame, or that produce sparks: grinding, welding, flame cutting, etc.

The Eurocodes classify substances according to their fire behaviour (reaction and resistance), especially for building materials. The component parts of the structure must remain stable during the evacuation of personnel.

 

EUROCODES



FORMER CLASSIFICATION

Components of the structure or with load

Other components (doors, enclosing panels, etc.)

R

-

Fire resistant

RE

E

Flame arrester

REI

EI

Firebreak

The fire resistance of the materials is evaluated according to the time the building component fulfils its role:

  •  R = bearing capacity or resistance
  •  E = flame sealing and no gas emission
  • I = thermal insulation

Carelessness or specific operations in your industrial buildings can also cause fire to start:

  • Cigarette butts
  • Overheating (clothing too close to a heater)
  •  Power surges (too many electrical devices on a multi-socket)
  • Works
  • Maintenance

Make sure your employees and contractors have the necessary training to ensure their own safety, and the sustainability of your buildings and equipment.

 

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2 –  Implement a fire risk prevention plan

Limiting fire risks is part of an overall approach to preventing industrial risks. In this case, it consists of:

  •  Remove causes of an outbreak (supply chain organisation and training of staff and service providers)
  • Limit the human and material consequences by installing an internal detection system and fire-fighting equipment

Identify the risks associated with the presence of inflammable materials

Risk situations are determined by the presence of the three components of the fire triangle: fuel, oxidizer and an ignition source.

Determine the risks associated with the presence of combustible products in your premises:
:

1. What are their physico-chemical characteristics?

2. What are their storage conditions (quantity, temperature, humidity, etc.)?
3. Which production steps are they used in? Is there a risk of combustion of the product or its vapours?
4. Can potential malfunctions in your production line affect your products (cooling system shutdown, product leakage, power failure, etc.)?


The sources of ignition located in your storage areas or workshops can be of various types:

  •  Thermal (furnaces, heating, processes using open flames or hot spots)
  • Electrical (power surges, overheating, electric arcs, etc.)
  • Electrostatic (risks of producing sparks)
  • Mechanical (friction, impacts, or failures causing high temperatures or the projection of incandescent particles)
  • Climatic (lightning, sun, etc.)
  •  Chemical (reactions between several substances)
  • Bacteriological (Bacterial Fermentation)

The results of your evaluation must be included in the Single Document (DU), imposed by the Labour Code. The DU enables you to establish an action plan specific to your company according to the pre-determined risks, their frequency of appearance, the exposure of your staff and your industrial buildings, etc.

 

Isolate your company's hazardous areas

It is difficult to eliminate the fuels in your industry completely without affecting the production rate or the quality of finished products. On the other hand, the INRS (National Research and Safety Institute) highlights certain risk areas that should be isolated from the rest of the premises:

  • Finished product storage
  •  Chemical product storage
  • Storage of gas cylinders and tanks
  •  The boiler room
  •  The waste room/skips
  • The battery charging room

You should also pay attention to your electrical installations. When opening or closing a circuit, an electric arc may appear. For a person this can cause burns; for your installations it can provoke fires or explosions (the phenomenon pulls electrons from the atoms of the air and this is accompanied by a projection of metal particles at more than 3,000° C).

OBSERVE SAFETY STANDARDS


The law requires establishments with more than 50 people, or otherwise handling inflammable materials, to have an audible alarm. If your site is made up of several isolated industrial buildings, each must be able to trigger the general alert separately. The alarm signal, which must be different from other alarms used in your company, should be heard from any point on your site during evacuation, and have a minimum of 5 minutes of battery life (Articles R232-12-18 and R235-4-16 of the Labour Code)

Furthermore, you must establish and visibly display fire instructions:

  •  In premises where more than 5 people work
  •  In premises where inflammable materials are handled
  •  In premises or emergency exits serving a group of premises

These instructions must include the following points:


1. Fire fighting procedures
2. Evacuation procedures
3. Internal and emergency alerts
4. Material inspection measures (at least every 6 months)
5. Staff training

 

3 –  Continue to produce after a fire

The partial or total destruction of your industrial buildings can have many negative consequences for your company:

  • Partial, total, temporary or permanent production stoppage
  • Deterioration of the production tooling
  • Risk of collapse of your buildings (the heat given off weakens the mechanical resistance of buildings)
  • Non-compliance of buildings or equipment following the incident
  •  Difficult or impossible access to storage areas or workshops
  • Risks of pollution of rivers, groundwater and air (drainage of fire extinguisher water and fumes)
  •  Deterioration of the company's internal social climate (uncertainties as to the company's future)
  • Damage to the brand name, and loss of confidence by existing and prospective customers


According to the INRS, 70% of companies that are victims of a major disaster close in the months that follow. Fire risk represents a real danger and, in the event of an incident, you must identify solutions to ensure the continuity of your activity. One solution to maintain your production rate is the setting up of temporary modular structures to house your production or storage area.

Locabri provides modular solutions that are flexible and quick to deploy. In particular, Proludic SA used Locabri solutions following a fire that destroyed 40% of its production facilities. In this case study, read Proludic's account of events, and discover how modular structures can be specifically installed on an industrial site:

Consult the case study

[1] Inventory of technological accidents occurring in 2016


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