Fire prevention and fire safety have clear positive effects on the environment. However, it’s important for fire safety equipment to become as sustainable as possible to support this. This can include optimizations in the materials that are used, the design of products, or battery life, all of which can help to make fire safety equipment more sustainable.
The priority for manufacturers in developing fire safety equipment is largely focused on safety, but in many cases, optimizations can be made that improve safety while also contributing to improved sustainability efforts.
How Sustainable are Fire Extinguishers?
The fire extinguisher is the most widely recognized piece of equipment in fire safety. Continued engineering progression has led to more sustainable fire extinguishers being developed.
Today, the efficiency, wastefulness, and sustainability of the extinguisher may be heavily scrutinized by eco-conscious companies, leading manufacturers to make sustainable advances in safety with every update.
‘Fluo-free’ fire extinguishers
‘Fluo-free’ fire extinguishers ensure the same efficiency and protection as those containing fluoride
However, the chemical composition in many extinguishers has traditionally included fluorine, a compound that does not degrade over time. Fluorine has been found to accumulate and the toxicity of this compound leads to adverse effects throughout the food chain, causing health issues for humans and animals alike.
To push sustainability in firefighting, ‘fluo-free’ fire extinguishers are the preferred choice for those considering the harmful effects their equipment might have on the environment. These fire extinguishers ensure the same efficiency and protection as those containing fluoride, without the damaging effects to the food chain.
Flame-retardant chemical
Designers and developers of fire safety equipment are working hard to improve sustainability by reducing the materials expended when dealing with a fire. With a particular focus on the expenditure of the flame-retardant chemical (is it water, foam, or another substance), engineering advances have produced more efficient nozzles, altering the pressure of the product to ensure more efficiency in the usage of the flame-retardant material.
Developments in the pressurization of handheld fire safety equipment lead to a significant overall reduction of potentially harmful chemical compounds. As it is not always possible to use fire extinguishers without fluoride, the reduction of the chemical’s expenditure is vital for environmental efforts.
The Sustainability of Wireless Fire Safety Equipment
The prevalence of wireless fire safety systems on construction sites has delivered increased sustainability The prevalence of wireless fire safety systems on construction sites has also delivered increased sustainability, as well as improvements in deployment time and adaptability that lead to safer working conditions.
Thanks to the modularity that wireless systems provide, they can scale to meet the needs of any site without concerns about trailing wires, or units failing because they have been unplugged.
Battery technology
Modern systems also benefit from improvements in battery technology, which ensures longer lifecycles. In newer wireless units, batteries can last for up to three years, a vast improvement over the six-month lifespans of earlier models.
This significantly reduces the number of batteries being disposed of throughout a long-term project and adds greater efficiency to on-site fire safety efforts, as well as a decreased environmental impact.
Fire safety equipment unit
Wireless fire alarms and call points can deliver a sustainable and adaptable solution for the modern construction site
The life of a fire safety equipment unit is vital, as the product needs to be fully functional and reliable throughout its lifespan. Units can signal to one another, and indicate when there is a fault in a single unit - or the connection between units - and register a low battery, all of which can help to easily identify problems with the system and ensure it remains consistently operational.
By diagnosing faults in the system using this information, fire safety professionals can also avoid the problem of throwing away seemingly faulty units when, in fact, the unit is fully functional and the issue has arisen elsewhere. With longer battery life and modular design, wireless fire alarms and call points can deliver a sustainable and adaptable solution for the modern construction site.
Easier transportation and installation
As well as the equipment itself, it’s important to consider sustainability in how equipment is transported, and even the smallest enhancement can deliver a valuable impact.
Fire extinguisher stands are generally a necessity that does not receive much consideration, but they can be bulky and require a lot of packaging due to their shape. However, new designs such as those by Modulex are modular for easier transportation and installation and present a more sustainable solution.
Reducing Packaging
Modular stands can be taken apart and packed flat, which means they take up far less space in transit. More than 400 units can fit inside a standard delivery van, which is more than double the number of traditional stands that can be transported in one vehicle.
Alongside this, a design that packs flat means less packaging is necessary, reducing waste on each unit. Together, these advances decrease the emissions associated with distributing these products over time.
Quick installation
Modular designs are beneficial for any site where fire safety equipment needs to be installed quickly Modular designs are beneficial for any site where fire safety equipment needs to be installed quickly, or sites that regularly change in terms of scale, meaning that extinguishers must be moved around. They can also be fixed together to create stands for multiple extinguishers, while under normal circumstances, larger stands result in more wasted space inside their packaging.
Emissions can be reduced even further by buying products that have been manufactured locally. For UK sites, there are many excellent manufacturers of fire safety equipment whose operations are based in the UK, and site managers aiming to reduce the carbon footprints of large-scale construction projects should consider this as a way to offset this impact.
Positive, environmentally friendly choices
The environmental effects of shipping a product internationally are significantly higher than those of shipping domestically and with high-quality British products available, it’s important to weigh your choices against their ecological impact and consider local alternatives.
Ultimately, it’s good news that manufacturers are still making advances in both the sustainability and safety specifications of their products, but it remains the responsibility of those responsible for procuring fire safety equipment to make positive, environmentally friendly choices.