Fire Safety Essay Example for Free

Fire Safety Essay The entire casualty of a fire to a society may be equal to all the fire hazards in the society; this would comprise of the buildings, agriculture, transportation, and so on. A lot of factors contribute to the total cost. With regards to the damage caused by the fires we have, definitely, the direct casualty of life, harm and the real economic losses due to the occurrence of fire. There are indirect or important outcomes because of the disorder of amenities, loss of trade, and means of employment. There is also community distress and unease, specifically the subsequent chief catastrophes and the cost of any hassle caused. The outlay of fire safety procedures includes costs meant for fire prevention, fire control when they occur, and extenuating their direct and indirect aftermath. This comprises the cost of services such as the fire contingent, fire indemnity, and an extensive part of building power or other variable measures (Rasbash, 2004). The Nature of the Fire Hazard The hazard of fire is the result of unrestrained, exothermic responses, particularly involving natural resources and air. It is predominantly connected with flammable materials and energy resources utilized by people in daily life. Although fire intimidates both the living and their property, and its management costs much disbursement, the danger must be situated against the advantage achieved from these properties so that an unbiased view can be attained. Furthermore, existing principles are greatly reliant on the utilization of buildings. The additional risk when fires happen in an enclosed space, by means of the increased temperature and smoke being trapped rather than moving comparatively safely upward, requires being located against the essential worth of using buildings. It then follows that one cannot, in general abolish the danger of fire, although one can lessen it to an adequately low intensity by appropriate design measures (Kiurski, 1999). Major Fire Hazard Areas Loss and damage caused by fire can occur anytime activity happens. Maybe the most common setting for such activity is inside buildings. Such incorporate both domestic and nondomestic grounds, and the latter can expand to a broad array of tenure, such as various factories, establishment structures where there are particular dangers to the community, these includes areas of open assemblies and spaces where people sleep, like hotels and hospitals. Business occupancies broaden further than building structures to take in mines, process plants within open, offshore mechanisms, agricultural harvests, and forestry. Lastly there is an entire variety of amenities for highway, rail, marine, and air transportation even lengthening in current period to satellites and space sections. For most of these danger zones, a substantial and expensive fire incidence conditions has built up over the time being and has known to widespread necessities for fire safety. In the world of fire insurance, particular danger locations are regularly called â€Å"risks† (Rasbash, 2004). The Chemistry of Fire Fire is basically a chemical reaction that involves the rapid oxidation of combustible material or fuel, with the subsequent liberation of heat and light. In a typical community, all the elements essential for fire to begin are present – fuel, heat or ignition source, and oxygen (air). However, recent research suggests that fourth factor is present. This factor has been classified as a reaction chain in which burning continues and even action of the molecules from the material burning with the oxygen in the atmosphere. Fires have been divided into four classes based in the nature of combustible material and requirements for extinguishment: Class A: usual flammable solid equipment, such as paper, wood, plastic, and fabric. Class B: flammable liquids/gases and combustible petroleum products. Class C: electrical apparatus that are keyed up or energized. Class D: combustible/reactive metals, such as magnesium, sodium, and potassium (Bishop, Fody, Schoeff, 2004). Fire Extinguishment and Inhibition The most basic and most efficient approach on hand to the architect to guarantee fire safety is to avoid fires from starting, that is fire prevention. If this tactic is successful, then there is no need even to attempt any other fire safety measure. Prevention of ignition and the limitation of the fuel available are the twin methods of fire prevention. In scheming to lessen the explosion danger, there are two things the architect has to do: firstly plan out the assumed explosion danger or causes; and secondly, to facilitate the infrastructure to be controlled in such an approach that the danger of explosion is get rid of. The actual design against the risk and the design to permit management against the risk must be seen together. The first necessity for the designer is an understanding of the most likely ignition risks in the particular building type under construction: it is essential to know your enemy if it is going to be defeated. Probably the most common cause of ignition, and certainly the hardest to design against, is human carelessness. Almost all fires started by smoking materials or matches could be avoided, and yet these are one of the major causes of domestic fires and consequent loss of life. Similarly, the continuing high incidence of fires concerned with cookers and stoves are normally due to human carelessness (Stollard Abrahams, 1999). Types and Applications of Fire Extinguishers Just as fires have been divided into classes, fire extinguishers are divided into classes that correspond to the type of fire to be extinguished. Be certain to choose the right type – using the wrong type of extinguisher may be dangerous. For example, do not use water on burning liquids or electrical equipment. Pressurized-water extinguishers, as well as suds and multi-use dry-chemical types, are used for Class A fires. For Class B and C fires, on the other hand, multi-use dry-chemical and carbon dioxide extinguishers are used. Halogenated hydrocarbon extinguishers are particularly recommended for use with computer equipment. Class D fires present special problems, and extinguishment is left to trained firefighters using special dry-chemical extinguishers. Personnel should know the location and type of portable fire extinguisher near their work area and know how to use an extinguisher before a fire occurs. In the event of fire, first evacuate all personnel, patients, and visitors who are in immediate danger and then activate the fire alarm, report the fire, and attempt to extinguish the fire, if possible. Personnel should work as a team to carry out emergency procedure. Fire drills must be conducted regularly and with appropriate documentation (Bishop et al. , 2004). Fire Safety Codes Fire safety codes and regulations exist to provide a reasonable measure of safety in a building from fire, explosions, or other comparable emergencies. The model code used by most jurisdictions is the Life Safety Code written by the National Fire Protection Association, Covering many of the same concerns with design, construction, and materials as in the building codes, the Life Safety Code attempts to lessen the danger to life from fire, smoke, and hazardous fumes and gases. The intent of these codes is to prevent a fire whenever possible. However, since all fires cannot be prevented, the codes also focus on fore control. Fire prevention is facilitated by the regulation of hazards and such things as controls on the kinds of material – both construction and furnishings – that can be used in buildings. Fire safety control is facilitated by the requirement of fire sprinklers, fire doors, and the like. Fire codes focus on such matters as egress interior architectural finishes, and fire protection equipment such as sprinklers and smoke detectors. Fire regulations related to furniture construction and fabrics or finishes are more a matter of federal, state and local regulations (Piotrowski, 2001). Contribution of Fire Safety Engineering Fire safety engineering can be defined as the application of scientific and engineering principles to the effects of fire in order to reduce the loss of life and damage to property by quantifying the risks and hazards involved and to provide an optimal solution to the application of preventive or protective measures. The concept of fire safety engineering may be applied to any situation where fire is a potential hazard. Although this text is mainly concerned with building structures, similar principles are equally applicable to the problems associated with oil or gas installations or other structures such as highway bridges. The additional hazards from gas and oil installations are primarily caused by the far more rapid growth of fire and the associated faster rates of temperature rise. This has been recognized by considering the testing of material response under heating regimes other than those associated with the more conventional cellulosic fires. The design methods are, however, similar to those for the situation covered by the more normal cellulosic based fires (Purkiss, 1996). Conclusion: Sticking to Basics Most instructive programs of any kind boil down to making an audience aware of a few key points. A rule of thumb in virtually any kind of education is that the more elementary a skill or given bit of knowledge is the more valuable it is. A general, fundamental rule can be more generally applied in everyday life than one that is tied to more advanced principles. For the fire service, this means educating an audience on basic means of prevention and coping with emergencies – subjects that professional firefighters might almost take for granted or consider obvious, but about which the average citizen may never have given much thought (Kiurski, 1999). References: Bishop, M. L. , Fody, E. P. , Schoeff, L. (2004). Clinical Chemistry: Principles, Procedures, Correlations (5th ed. ). New York: Lippincott Williams Wilkins. Kiurski, T. (1999). Creating a Fire-Safe Community: A Guide for Fire Safety Educators. New Jersey: PennWell Books. Piotrowski, C. M. (2001). Professional Practice for Interior Designers (3rd ed. ). Canada: John Wiley and Sons. Purkiss, J. A. (1996). Fire Safety Engineering Design of Structures. Oxford: Elsevier. Rasbash, D. (2004). Evaluation of Fire Safety. England: John Wiley and Sons. Stollard, P. , Abrahams, J. (1999). Fire from First Principles: A Design Guide to Building Fire Safety (3rd ed. ). London and New York: Taylor Francis.

Money and Power Dont Bring Happiness Essay -- Happiness Essays

Abstract Do people who live in more developed and wealthier countries find more happiness than people in lesser developed countries? This paper analyzes the results of happiness between two sets of countries that fall on opposite sides of the industrialization and democratization scale. The results show that people between the two sets of countries are equally happy. It also shows that people in both sets of countries also are equally likely to be happy when finding things like family or friends important. As it turns out, happiness has little to do with GDP or wealth income of one’s country. In the second part of the study, happiness does not change much as a country industrializes. The author explores the point to industrialization and democratizing given one of the main goals of government should be happiness of their people. Review of the Literature It is a generally accepted idea that when countries industrialize, they improve living conditions for everyone in the country most importantly the rural poor. Britian was the first country to industrialize over a century ago, now each country that wishes to follow Britian’s example must use more state intervention. Resources and workers must be moved from rural agriculture to urban life in factories. This theory is known as the Gerschenkronian collective dillema and suggests that countries should want to industrialize and do it quickly with government coercion. Along with more state intervention in the domestic markets, industrialization also includes opening up a countries markets to international free trade. Theories introduced centuries ago by Adam Smith and other neoclassical economists state that countries will be able to increase wealth and gross do... ... of Gandhi. This speech reflects some of the views of Gandhi, himself, such as the lack of need for material items. Overall, this speech illuminates the idea that people must find inner happiness and rely less of the material world around them to get by. http://www.prosperity.com/#!/ (prosperity index) This post talks about the different countries they have analyzed throughout the years. They use a â€Å"prosperity index† by Legatum Institute to figure out and rank the different countries in the world. This index ranks countries according to economy, health, personal freedom and etc. The index shows that small countries like (Norway) can be small and not so developed but have very happy people. It goes to show that happiness is not attained by working more hours but by having more hours with close friends and family. http://www.worldvaluessurvey.org/wvs.jsp

Hca Case Study

I. Introduction The business-level strategy is acombined and synchronized collection of the obligations and actions that are used by the firms to attain a competitive advantage. The firms try to consume core abilities in certain product markets. Under this strategy, the firms stipulate their choices on that how they plan to strive in individual product markets. It’s important that every firm should improve a business-level strategy to generate the differences between its own place and its competitors’ places.The bond between the customers and business-level strategies is very important because the customers are main cause of the strategy’s success. The bond that a firm develops with its customers creates the value and profitability. There are five business-level strategies that a firm shouldor can practice to create and support its chosen strategic position against competitors. These include the variation, the cost leadership, the focused cost leadership, focused differentiation, and the unified cost leadership/differentiation. In chapter 6, it argues these five strategies and side by side with the risks that are associated with each other.In chapter 6 they also argue corporate level strategies. The corporate-level strategy has emphases on the actions that a firm takes to attain a competitive advantage by choosing from and handling a collection of different businesses competing in different product markets. These strategies help the firms in choosing on new strategic positions that are likely to increase the value. The product diversification is avital type of the corporate-level strategy. The diversifications also can differfrom the low levels to the high levels. Well normally, the diversification strategy is used to raise the firm’s value by improving its whole performance.It is essential that the managers should attentive to their firm’s internal organization and to its external environment when making decisions regarding t he most advantageous level of the diversification. In chapter 7 there is discussion of mergers, takeover, and acquisitions. A merger is formed when the two firms mix their businesses with each other. An acquisition is a strategy that involves when one firm purchasing the bulk or all interest into another firm with the aims of making it into a subsidiary company within its own group.A takeover is a type of acquisition where the acquired firm does not ask for the capturing firm’s proposal. Acquisitions are used for thenumerous reasons, which contain increasing in the market power and conquering the entry obstacles to new markets. Sometimes a firm must restructure its self in order to change its pool of businesses or financial procedure. This can be done through the downsizingor leveraged buyouts. A firm’s major goal for restructuring is to improvement or successful in strategic control. II. SWOT Analysis A. External environment The U. S. healthcare industry is one of the biggest industries in U. S. The U. S. ospital industry is split with thevarious ownership and noticeably different revenue sources with a small number of the main firms. The HCA was operating in a conservative industry where their aremany challenges and financial constraints. One of the major aspects that affected HCA is the increased quantity of the uninsured Americans citizen. The Columbia/HCA’s goal was to emphasis on the providing beds for insured patients to have the profits up. As the number of uninsured Americans citizen increased, it made it harder to keep the beds at full capacity. The increases in health care costs also played a role in the HCA’s actions.The Tenant and Triad Hospitals are recognizedas the big competitors for HCA. The HCA’s business strategy also puts them in competition in the urban areas mainly against autonomous non-profit hospitals. Many do not have the equal financial performance aims and this helped HCA to be the market leader. B . Strengths and Weaknesses The HCA’s strengths involvedarethe leading position in the hospital market, thespacious and infinite service offerings. The HCA developed such a strategy that dedicated on a main group of market-leading hospitals by utilizing its own financial resources, medical related, and management proficiency personnel.At current, the HCA still utilizes this whole operating strategy. The HCA controlledits advanced business practice. After selling its non-hospital business and the other facilities that did not resemble with its strategy, HCA is still persistent to focus on the providing of high quality healthcare. The company also has some weaknesses including its negative past and spoiled public image that included charges of the fraud, which headed to the federal government investigations. Over the years, the organization’s strengths have mostly remained same, except the fact that HCA does not provide the spacious amount of required services.The HCA mad e a clever choice to focus on only giving the hospital services in order to increase its quality and not to be putteringthemselves in other industries. The HCA still is known for its previous corruption, but still remains the prominent firm in the hospital industry. C. The Case of HCA 1. The HCA’s core capabilities consist of the greater patient care and its functioning strategy it that has been using for many years. It’s other core capabilitiesare includesthe financial resources, medical background, and the management proficiency.These competencies build the value for the company by specializing in the removal of excess capacity and the gratitude of the economies of scale. The HCA’s organizational resources add the unique value for the firm. In 1968, the HCA was founded and they operated under aunited cost leadership/differentiation business-level strategy. There was achance in the hospital industry to create the low cost services with differentiated qualities, and this is what HCA desired to implement in their system. The HCA was able to adapt quickly to the new technologies and fast changes that arose in the external environment of the HCA.The company focused on two resources of competitive advantages-cost and the differentiation in various aspects. The HCA establisheda strong network with physicians and with other healthcare practices under this strategy (HCA, 2011). 2. The HCA’s arepurchase of many small rural hospitals and the opposing investor-owned health care companies created a positive return on the firm’s invested capital in market. The HCA acquired these health care facilities in the faith of revolving them into the most profitable hospitals and control the industry for that specific region of state.There were problems of the recruiting in small rural hospitals, but HCA’s investments in the equipment and facility renovation have signified improved the firm’s ability to gain the support from small ru ral physicians. The external factors, such as the great unemployment in the certain or various locations and in the farming communities affected the purchasing of said facilities. The acquired hospitals constantly had the small staff in contrast with their competitors. However, the HCA focused on modification of the bed size. The acquired hospitals also had a good amount of oard-certified experts in comparison with their competitors. The HCA focused on main renovations and developments for the acquired hospitals for the creation of financial economies. 3. The HCA used both horizontal and vertical integration for the cultivation of mergers and acquisitions. The Columbian &HCA had such an acquisition strategy in place and the purchasing facilities and in building new facilities that prohibited its offers to purchase. In the firm’s own integration strategy, the company simply acquiredthe physician practices where HCA were not steadfastin its investments.The company fixed admissi on goals for the acquiring of physicians. The company then owned the coarsely 2,700 medical practices, and these acquisitions then began purchases by nonprofit competitors. 4. The HCA did not aspect too much integration because of its management proficiency. The company established a working strategy to obtain its goal and to succeed in gaining market authority. However, the management appeared to be too focus on the acquisitions and obtaining total power, which landed the company in such trouble that, consisted of a federal investigation for fraud.The company had lost focus on the point of quality of service. The firm also had become too huge due to acquisitions. Before the downfall of the Columbia/HCA, it had 2,700 medical practices, many of which were the non-hospital practices (Goldsmith, 1998). The HCA soon understood that the focusing on size was not really a good strategy for the success path. Overall, the HCA was between the 60% of failures in the merger/acquisition strategy . The merger with Columbia and the hostility to go into the several acquisitions was one of the reasons of HCA’s downfall. III. My Impressions of the CaseThe HCA had a great operating standard of the concentrating on patient care, but they lost focus by pushy to control the health care industry. Their business-level strategy primarily started off well but some are developed into one that only attentive on profitability of success of the company. The company soon lost sight of the main goal of satisfying the customer to achievethe value for the company. The HCA focused on the developing acquisitions and mergers to gain more profitability and variation in market. This caused the company to enlarge beyond its ethical operating means.It took the benefit of integration systems in order to take over the industry. This case revealed how a firm can negatively and positively usesthe acquisitions, mergers, and leverage buyouts. Overall, this case was one of a decent case to transmit to Chapters 4, 6, and 7 of the text. References Hitt, M. , R. Hoskisson, D. Ireland. (2012). Strategic management: Competitiveness & globalization. (10E ed. ) Mason, OH: South-Western,Cengage Learning. Montague Brown, Ph. D. (April 1, 1992). Physicians and Management in Health Care. Jones and Bartlett Learning. April 1, 1992.Jeff Goldsmith. (1998). Perspective: Columbia/HCA: A Failure Of Leadership. Health Affairs, 17, no. 2 (1998):27-29. Retrieved November 21 2012 from: http://content. healthaffairs. org/content/17/2/27. full. pdf HCA Holdings, Inc. (2011). Our History. Retrieved November 21 2012 from: http://hcahealthcare. com/about/our-history. dot McCosh, Jonathan G. (2003). A Strategic Analysis of the Hospital Industry and HCA Incorporated. Journal of Applied Management and Entrepreneurship. Retrieved November 21 2012 from: http://www. highbeam. com/doc/1P3-1178660521. html

The Epidemic Of The Hiv Virus - 1747 Words

Stephan Ziccardi Professor Becher ENC 1101 October 24th, 2015 Since the discovery of the HIV virus in 1983, there have been many precautions taken to control and prevent the spreading of this deadly disease. Helen Epstein, who is the author of â€Å"AIDS Inc,† informs her readers about the sexually transmitted disease known as the Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS). Epstein enlightens her audience with crucial information in regards to the ruthless disease that is devouring the lives of innocent people, typically in Africa, where people are especially prone to acquiring AIDS. South Africa, having one of the highest amounts of rape crimes in the world, is also home to the highest amount of people living with HIV in the world, at about†¦show more content†¦We must enforce safe sex procedures to ensure a healthy future for generations to come. Transmission of the HIV virus, as well as any other types of STDs, is a subject that needs to be discussed seriously and cautiously. There are many ways that one can acquire HIV/AIDS and it is very beneficial that every person is aware of the certain procedures to follow in order to avoid such an afflicting harm. The most common transmission of HIV is through sexual intercourse, where bodily fluids such as semen, vaginal secretions, or even blood are transferred from an HIV positive person to a non-infected person. AIDS is the deadliest sexually transmitted disease reaping about 13,700 deaths per year(Web, HIV in the US). There are approximately 36.9 million people living with the HIV virus, which is why more prevention techniques should be utilized across the globe. Safe-sex practices should be taught in every school district and household in the world. If more people were informed on how serious this disease is and how easily one can get infected, there would be a tremendous decline in transmissions. The simplest way to prevent the spread of HIV is obviously to be abstinent, however with social reform in modern day society more and more teenagers are beginning to become sexually active. In hindsight of this inevitable change, the development of a higher educational program concerning sexual intercourse needs to be developed. Education in the fragile aspects of