Most Australian Standards that deal with fire protection offer an appropriate fire solution based on risk analysis and management in the form of prescriptive fire solutions. These prescriptive fire solutions are presented within mandatory clauses for scope and technical requirements.
The Australian Standard AS 5062-2006: ‘Fire Protection for Mobile and Transportable Equipment’ is the pre-eminent Standard for fire protection of heavy vehicles used in industries such as mining.
The Standard promotes thorough processes for risk analysis and assessment as a prerequisite to determine the design and installation of the best fire protection system for each individual heavy vehicle application. It is the first fire protection Standard to base fire protection on a risk analysis model, rather than a fixed prescriptive model.
Fire protection specialist Wormald has welcomed the assessment and reporting process of the Standard and its strict quality processes that now include:
1. Formalised Wormald Vehicle Fire Suppression (VFS) System risk assessment and reporting is designed to assess critical considerations. This incorporates a formal technical assessment for each vehicle application, which is ‘peer-reviewed’ by an accredited, experienced Wormald VFS System technician. The reports include:
- Fire hazard identification
- Fire risk analysis
- Fire risk treatment/reduction
- Recommendation for the most appropriate fire solution
2. A risk assessment accreditation process, ensuring that only experienced and formally accredited Wormald VFS Systems technicians perform the ‘peer-review’ and risk assessment.
3. A strict training structure providing the necessary technical knowledge and on the job experience and mentoring in Wormald’s VFS Systems.
4. Wormald’s technical electronic library has been developed by the Technical Services Group and contains technical information to support the Wormald VFS Systems including Australian Standards, system manuals, testing and listing approvals, procedures and much more for its entire VFS Systems staff to access.
Steve Oxley, National Products Manager – Vehicle Systems, Wormald said “Since achieving AS 5062 compliance, we’ve continued to develop our assessment and reporting processes in order to provide quality customer service. This Standard is essential for the industry and we hope to see more companies adopting it in the future.”
Richard Harris from Atlas Copco Specialty Rental added “Should a fire occur it’s vital that our rental compressor units are equipped with fire suppression systems that ensure the safety of operators, protect our machines and minimise the risk involved in the hazardous situations in which we operate, such as underground mines and oil refineries.
Richard Harris also commented that Wormald had been pushing for this Standard from the very beginning and this is testament to the dedications of the company to ensuring a safe working environment for operators.
Wormald Foam Water Spray System and the Ansul A101 Vehicle Powder System as well as Dual Agent Systems are systems available from Wormald. The Foam Water Spray System features high pressure, small droplet nozzles that target high and medium risk areas, such as engine and transmission compartments and hydraulic areas. They also use the fire suppression and containment features of Aqueous Film Forming Foam (AFFF). The A101 system discharges a dry powder known as Foray into the hazard volume to suppress fire and is suited to three dimensional liquid fuel fires.
