Portable Fire Extinguisher Plan

Policy Statement

Our Company (Company Name) provides Portable Fire Extinguishers (PFE) for FLS Technicians /employees to use to extinguish initial fires. The extinguishers are located at a recommended distance within the facilities various easily accessible locations points so that they are easily identified and readily accessible to employees/technicians.

Authority

(Company Name) FLS Department has organized the following information to act as a guideline/checklist for (Project/Facility Name) Project’s inspection, maintenance, recharging and testing that is to be performed. All of the information can be found in the 2007 edition of the Standard for Portable Fire Extinguishers (NFPA-10) & 29 CFR 1910.157 (Portable Fire Extinguishers).

Scope

This Portable Fire Extinguishers Plan highlights the placement, use, maintenance, and testing of portable fire extinguishers to extinguish incipient fires at the workplace.

Plan Administration

Table 1.0 provides the personnel and contact information in details for the administration of the fire extinguisher plan.

Program Contact Information

Table: 1.0

Date:
Reference No:
Project/Site
Client:
Conducted by:
Review by:

Health Safety and Environmental (HSE) Manager

The Administrator will:

Establish and review the Fire Extinguisher Plan, when necessary.
Provide significant training to technicians who are authorized to use fire extinguishers.
Develop and implement a fire extinguisher (MEP) and update schedule.
Take corrective action when needed.

Project Manager/Plant Manager will:

Ensure that only authorized employees use fire extinguishers.
Plan Review and Update

The Plan will be reviewed annually. It will be revised when:

New fire hazards are introduced to the workplace
The regulations change
Operations at the site or facility change that affect accessibility and use of fire extinguishers
Near misses or accidents occurrences demonstrate a failure of the Plan

Incipient or Initial Fire:

A fire in its beginning stage that can be controlled or extinguished with a portable fire extinguisher without the need for protective clothing or breathing apparatus.
Portable Fire Extinguisher: A manually driven, pressurized container that contains an agent that when discharged can extinguish an early fire.

Portable Fire Extinguisher Use

All employees will be trained and authorized to use portable fire extinguishers to fight the initial type of fires.

Selection of The Fire Extinguishers

Portable fire types A, B, C and D extinguishers have been selected and distributed at the facility by (Facility/Project Name) based on the types of anticipated workplace fires and on the size and degree of possible and critical hazard that would affect their use.
Attachment (Name) includes the Fire Extinguisher Inventory that describes each portable fire extinguisher distributed in the facility r site, its type, and location.

Types and Ratings

This facility or project site (name of the project/facility) maintains approved extinguishers for the following types of potential fires:

Type A: Ordinary combustibles material for example wood, cloth, paper, rubber and many plastics.

Type B: Flammable liquids, e.g. a variety of petroleum products such as gasoline, oil, grease, tar, oil-based paint, lacquer, and flammable gas.

Type C: Electrical equipment & tools, including wiring, fuse boxes, circuit breakers, machinery and various appliances.

Type D: Combustible metals such as magnesium and potassium (uncommon)

Locations for the Portable Extinguishers Installation:

Portable fire extinguishers must be located in or in close adjacency to all fire hazard areas. Below is the maximum employee/staff travel distance to any extinguisher in the facility/building/site:

Type A-Extinguishers - 75 feet from a hazard area

Type B- Extinguishers - 50 feet from a hazard area

Type C- Extinguishers - Applicable Type A or B distance

Type D- Extinguishers - 75 feet from the combustible metal working area

Fire Extinguisher Operating Procedures

Authorized, competent and trained employees will implement the Pull-Aim-Squeeze-Sweep (PASS) system for extinguishing initial fires. Each employee will regulate whether he or she is efficient in fighting a fire on a case-by-case basis.

Following are the basic required conditions under which an employee may fight an incipient fire:

The fire is small and at it’s in the early stage
Heavy smoke is not present
An appropriate fire extinguisher is readily available
There is an unblocked exit promptly available for evacuation

One or more employees are authorized to get hold of the nearest appropriate extinguisher(s), move to a position upwind of the fire if the air is moving, and operate the extinguisher following the PASS procedure:

P - Pull the pin of the FE-located in the extinguisher’s handle.

A - Aim the nozzle at the base POINT of the fire.

S - Squeeze the lever or handle.

S - Sweep from side to side at the base of the fire until the extinguisher or the canister is empty.

Safety Precautions

Employees will evaluate the risks of fighting an early fire before attempting to extinguish it.

Escape if the Fire Grows.

If employees take an action to put out a basic fire and it grows too large to and not possible to extinguish, they will immediately escape through the nearest exit, and close-but “NEVER LOCK” the door behind them if possible.

Keep away from hazardous substances.

When hazardous substances and or material are involved, a severe amount of smoke and gases released from a fire can be toxic, so employees should never attempt to put out a fire if they have any doubts about their safety and health. If they have any confusion or ambiguity, employees will evacuate the area and wait for emergency respondents who have the proper equipment and are trained in fire-fighting procedures.

Inspection, Maintenance, and Testing

Proper maintenance must be carried out for all portable fire extinguishers, maintained in a fully charged state and operable condition and kept in their designated places at all times except during their usage.

Inspection and Maintenance

The responsible fire technician, employee or personal will visually inspect all portable fire extinguishers (Time Duration) according to the following guidelines:

Fire Extinguishers must be installed in their designated location, secured appropriately and the proper type for the hazard area.
Access to extinguishers is not obstructed.
Extinguishers are TESTED for obvious physical damage, deterioration, corrosion, leakage, or clogged nozzles.
Legible operating instructions are on the extinguisher nameplate facing outward.
Seals and tamper indicators are not broken or missing.
Fire Extinguishers pressure-gauge readings or indicators are within the operable ranges.
Inspection tags must be installed and dated

The (Insert Name) will conduct a maintenance check at least annually according to the following guidelines:

Conduct all monthly inspection checks.
Inspect the hose and nozzle for cracks, blockages, or other damage.
Inspect the extinguisher shell for corrosion, dents, or other damage.
Weigh Carbon Dioxide (Co2) fire extinguishers to ensure no weight deviation greater than 10%.

Corrective Actions

Defective extinguishers will be removed, marked or tagged with information about the defect, and placed in a designated location until repair and/or recharging is performed. The project engineer/inspector will provide the alternative units when portable fire extinguishers are removed from service for maintenance and recharging.

Hydrostatic Testing for Fire Extinguishers

All portable fire extinguishers will be hydrostatically tested at regular intermission and whenever they show evidence of corrosion or mechanical damage/deterioration. See Attachment (number) for a copy of the Certified Hydrostatic Test Schedule (CHTS) form. Project Engineer/FLS technician will ensure that portable extinguishers are hydrostatically tested at the intervals listed in Attachment (reference number) except when:

The Fire Extinguisher unit has been repaired by soldering, welding, brazing, or use of patching compounds
The cylinder or shell threads are damaged
There is corrosion damage that has caused pitting, including corrosion under removable nameplate assemblies
The Fire Extinguisher has been damaged and burned in a fire
A calcium chloride (CaCl2) extinguishing agent has been utilized in a stainless steel shell

Fire Extinguishers subject to the exceptions described above will be tested or replaced immediately upon discovery of damage. An internal examination of cylinders and shells will be made before the hydrostatic tests. Extinguisher hose assemblies. Hydrostatic tests will be performed on extinguisher hose assemblies which are equipped with a shut-off nozzle at the discharge end of the hose. The test interval will be the same as specified for the extinguisher on which the hose is installed.

Record Keeping

(Company/personal) will retain a certified record of hydrostatic testing for each portable extinguisher according to the time intervals listed in Attachment (reference number). Each record will include the date of the hydro test t, the signature of the conducting person, and the serial number, or another identifier, of the fire extinguisher that was hydro tested. Such records will be kept until the extinguisher is hydrostatically retested at the particular time interval, or until the fire extinguisher is taken out of service, whichever comes first.

Frequency

At intermission not exceeding those particular in Table 5-2, fire extinguishers shall be

hydrostatically re-tested. The hydrostatic retest shall be carried out within the calendar year of the specified test hiatus. In no case shall a fire extinguisher be recharged if it is beyond its specified retest date:

Sr.	Extinguisher Type	(Years
1.	Stored-pressure water, loaded system, and/or antifreeze	5
2.	Wetting Agent	5
3.	AFFF (aqueous film-forming foam)	5
4.	FFFP (film-forming Fluoroprotein foam)	5
5.	Dry chemical with stainless steel shells	5
6.	Carbon dioxide	5
7.	Wet chemical	5
8.	DCP, stored-pressure, with mild steel shells brazed brass shells, or Aluminium shells	12
9.	Dry chemical, cartridge- or cylinder-operated, with mild steel shells	12
10.	Halogenated agents	12
11.	Dry powder, stored-pressure, cartridge- or cylinder-operated, with mild steel shells	12
Table 5-2

Training

(The Company/Employer/Contractor) will provide employees with the authority to use portable fire extinguishers with an educational program upon the start of the employment and annually thereafter to familiarize them with the general principles of fire extinguisher use and the hazards involved with incipient stage firefighting. Employees who have been designated to use firefighting equipment as part of an emergency action plan will be trained in the use of the appropriate equipment.