Fire breakouts pose risks to individuals, businesses, buildings, and communities. Although different systems can be used to prevent the fire from causing more damage, providing fire warden training is one of the best ways to do so.
However, since training isn’t enough to keep fires at bay, this means you need to employ other suppression systems such as fire prevention and fire protection measures. The two sound alike at first glance, but they are surprisingly very different and rely on different systems to function.
Knowing these differences could potentially save your business property in case of a fire and even save lives.
What Is Fire Protection?
Fire protection is the system that minimizes damage if a fire erupts. These systems limit the capability of the fire and reduce the rate at which it spreads. By doing so, they prevent serious damage from happening and save lives.
Fire protection systems can be divided into active and passive measures. Active systems help counter the fire using sprinklers, fire alarms, and smoke detectors.
Meanwhile, passive systems are measures put in place to help contain a fire and prevent it from spreading. Examples of passive systems include fire doors and cavities, air sealing, and constructing buildings with fire-resistant materials.
Since fire protection mainly involves slowing how fast the fire spreads across the building, it gives people enough time to evacuate the building safely. It also reduces property damage and the amount of repair work that would have been done after a fire erupts.
What’s Fire Prevention?
Fire prevention focuses on preventing fires from igniting in the first place and reducing the damage the fire could potentially cause. You can achieve that in several ways. Most buildings or businesses with many people usually have several fire prevention systems to protect everyone.
The term “fire load” refers to the risk a fire can pose to a business, building, or its occupants. There are ways that you can use fire prevention systems to reduce the fire load. Some of them include:
- Identifying potential hazards in the building, like combustible materials and flammable products
- Maintaining and inspecting electrical systems, appliances, and heating equipment regularly
- Proper care and storage of flammable chemicals and materials
- Implementing smoking policies
- Lastly, promoting fire awareness programs and safety education.
Fire prevention rules should be followed to lower the risk of a fire. Some of those rules include ensuring that all fire exits are accessible and preventing the occupants from smoking inside the building.
In Conclusion
The main difference between fire prevention and protection is that prevention systems keep fires from occurring, while fire protection promotes safety and minimizes damage when a fire occurs.
Another difference is that the measures taken during fire protection involve detecting, suppressing, and controlling fires, while during fire prevention, they include identifying and eradicating potential ignition sources.
Both systems are important in creating a safer environment, and you should implement them in either residential, business, or industrial settings.
