Fire & Safety Engineering: A Challenging Profession

Fire Engineering can be defined as, “The application of scientific and engineering principles, rules and expert judgments, based on understanding of the phenomenon and effects of fire, its reactions and behaviour of people, property and the environment from the destructive effects of fire”. This nature and characteristics of fire and the mechanics about how fire spreads is most understood by fire engineers. They are the experts with varieties who can tackle fire and reduce the losses due to it. By virtue of its growing role in saving life and property on a large scale, Fire Engineering is fast becoming one of the world’s noblest professions. Industrial statistics has put the upcoming Indian requirements of over one lakh personnel of Fire and Safety per year. Moreover, unlimited opportunities come from abroad, especially from the Gulf countries. Students investing their time in this sunrise industry are creating a great career opportunity for themselves, in addition to getting a head start over job seekers in other fields. Fire engineers find job openings in the Government Fire Services, Architectural and Building Design, Insurance Assessment, Project Management, Aircraft Industry, Refineries, Industrial Processing and in any area where the possibility of fire or combustion represents a hazard with increasing urbanisation, the use of electrical appliances, office automation, etc. The increasing number of fire disasters in Refineries, Petrochemical Plants, Industries and other strategic places is causing tragic loss of precious lives and large scale destruction of property. This confirms the necessity for Fire Fighting Engineers

Fire Engineering

Fire is one of the simplest forms of energy known to man, Ever since man learnt to use it; it has been used for a variety of purpose. In the early days it was used to safeguard one from cold, as a source of light and as a medium of cooking food. Today, we see fire being used for a number of purposes. However, fire, like many other boons, is hazardous. This necessitates due care in its use. Invaluable lives are lost every year due to inadvertent fires. Similarly, property worth crores of rupees is destroyed by uncontrolled fire incidents. A number of industrial units suffer huge losses due to fire. Hence, it is necessary to understand the mechanism of fire and methods of prevention of losses from it, for the safe working of any industry. The analysis of major fires, which break out in office type buildings, the main causes finally identified, were due to electrical short circuit / overheating of electrical equipment and open flame / unextinguished smoking materials. In industrial buildings, in addition to these sparks due to electricity / impact / friction and poor housekeeping are also identified as causes of major fire hazards. So while planning the fire prevention measures for any occupancy it is necessary to study in details the possibilities of fire due to all these sources and the preventive measures required. At last we know the fact that many valuable lives and crores of rupees of material are lost in fire accidents in all over the world. This has created demand of trained fire safety engineering and fighters. This has also created wide business potential as well as growth in overall fire protection industry as a whole. Overall, the demand for highly trained Fire Protecting Engineers CFESM presenting fire and safety engineering courses to train students and promote knowledge of fire and safety engineering to join the new profession. The systematic growth of fire industry mainly was in large sectors as well as Government sectors, but in recent times, the private sector has also shown tremendous growth due to accurate Fire law provisions and their implementations by authorities in each city, town etc. In future, the Government will enforce strict implementation of Fire codes in commercial industrial and other institutional sectors.

Safety Engineering

Aerospace, Military, Medical, Scientifically-advance project and High-Tech industries have relied on the system safety specialist to develop concepts, designs and product that have a high reliability of operations and low level of risk. Such specialists ensure that the safety concepts and mechanisms work correctly every time, without harm to users, operators or the equipments itself. Safety professionals play an important role in the safety of all forms of Transportation, Railroads, Aviation, Shipping Corporations, Oil and Gas Pipelines, Chemical Plants and many Engineering involves the identification, Evaluation, and Control of hazards in man-machine system (Products, machines, Equipment, or facilities) that contain a potential to cause inquiry to people or damage to property Safety management consists of a set or safety programme elements, policies, and procedures, that manage the conduct of safety activity. Safety Engineering and Safety Management make up the integrated whole. While Safety Engineering can be viewed as being the administrative or software side of such prevention. Safety Management provides the structure within which the techniques of safety engineering are applied. The purpose of this course is to provide the students with an understanding of industrial safety and accident prevention. By this course the student will gain knowledge of hazards in work place, management’s liability and role in risk reduction, and the responsibilities of State and Central Government. The educational goal of CFESM is to introduce students to the technical means in regard to prevent and reduce injuries or accidents in work places, because it directly or indirectly threatens a right to live for mankind. Another goal is to contribute to the industry and development of the country and promotion of citizen’s welfare in accordance with education of special engineers. Industrial safety engineering concerned with preventing accidents and minimizing their consequences as well as with reduction stress and inquiry to human being at the work place. Another important aspect is minimizing of property damage as chemical, electrical, mechanical, architectural safety engineering. Therefore, the trends in the recent research are technical means for effectively interfacing operations on the Man to Machine to Machine System.

Environmental Engineering

Industries worldwide are trying to either eliminate the release of materials that can harm the public or damage the environment, or recover and recycle excess materials for environmental conservation. An environmental Safety Officer can help in regulating these processes. The officer should have extensive knowledge or environmental standards, laws and regulations. Environment at problems exist in many countries and industries. Engineers may work in such diverse industries as Water Supply and Drainage, Irrigation, Mining, Power and Petrochemical and other Heavy Industries. Demand for professionals in the area of Industrial Hygiene the Scientists, Engineers and others who grapple with a variety of workplace and community health issues is rising, according to those working in the field. Their responsibilities can include a range of activities, such as cleaning up oil spills and chemical leaks, measuring air samples, or designing safer manufacturing plants. Compensation for those in the field has been high, reflecting the increasing emphasis placed by government, industry and the public on improving the environment, according to recently released surveys. CFESM has created a specialized Environmental Engineering Core Group that can successfully integrate cost effective and practical solutions to meet environmental needs of the industry. Whether a problem may have an impact an air, water, soil waste management or employee’s occupational health, CFESM course teachers solutions for all which can thus reduce the short and long term environmental impacts an industry may have. Regulations and guidelines have been designed and produced to protect our environment from various threats and to ensure our quality of life. CFESM teaches its students to become familiar with the regulatory requirements and the potential relevance they may have on an industry. By working with our students during the course CFESM helps him / her to develop a comprehensive plan for an Industry’s problem that incorporates the appropriate measures to ensure sensitivity to environment and to meet regulatory compliance. We teach our students to interact with a team of Engineers, Geologists, Industrial Hygienists and Environmental Technicians available. This team integration helps an industry to develop the solutions as per the situations. CFESM teaches the students to conduct and evaluate recognizable environmental conditions, using Initial Site Assessment to help evaluate specific parcels of property to determine if the site is contaminate or could be potentially contaminated by off-site sources. This is followed by informing the students about site investigations. Here students are taught standard sampling and laboratory analysis to verify whether contamination is present and, if so, the type of contamination. The course goes on to cover issues such as Re-meditation Design, Landfill Design, Indoor Air Quality, Spill Prevention Control, etc.