There’s a growing need to tackle fire risks in waste facilities. Specialist fire safety engineer Dr Jill Lethlean explains how and why the industry should adapt.
The waste management and recycling industry faces significant and evolving fire safety challenges.
Dr Jill Lethlean, a specialist in fire safety engineering with a background in the waste sector, underscores the need for heightened awareness and adherence to fire safety regulations within these facilities.
According to Jill, Director of Lethlean Fire and Environment, the fire risks are often underestimated but the unique nature of waste materials, when combined with a lack of fire prevention measures, can lead to potentially severe consequences.
Jill says the intricacies of fire safety regulations also present a considerable hurdle for facility operators, particularly when overlaid with the specific hazards of waste handling.
“The fire regulations, they get very confusing, which I think is what trips a lot of people up,” she says.
This complexity is further exacerbated by the diverse and often unpredictable nature of incoming waste streams, which can include flammable materials, batteries, and other items that increase fire risk.
Jill emphasises the critical role of qualified experts like herself, who have a comprehensive understanding of both waste management operations, and the specialised principles of fire safety engineering needed to address these unique challenges.
An evolving priority
While the waste industry has historically concentrated on issues such as dust, odour, and water management, Jill says there’s a significant and necessary shift towards prioritising fire safety.
This is being driven by the increasing number and diversity of recycling facilities processing a wider range of materials, a concerning rise in fire incidents often linked to new waste streams and storage methods, and growing scrutiny from regulatory bodies and local authorities concerned about environmental and community safety.
Jill says that while fire safety in buildings – encompassing many waste facilities – is primarily governed by the National Construction Code, the application of these codes can be challenging in the context of waste management.
The sheer volume of materials, the way they are stored (often in large, high piles), and the potential for rapid fire spread within these environments requires a nuanced understanding of the regulations.
That’s further complicated by individual states, such as New South Wales and Victoria, which often implement their own guidelines that further detail fire safety requirements specific to waste facilities.
Navigating this regulatory framework and applying it effectively to the realities of waste handling is a key area of Jill’s expertise.
She says that generic fire safety measures are often insufficient in the waste industry. Her approach involves evaluating waste facility designs right from the start, providing an understanding of how different waste materials behave in a fire, ensuring designs minimise fire spread and maximise suppression.
Jill also conducts site visits to assess specific risks associated with the types and volumes of waste handled, storage practices, and operational flow. This can include ensuring the correct installation and ongoing maintenance of fire protection equipment suited to the types of fires likely to occur in waste facilities, which may differ from those in typical commercial buildings.
Sophisticated software is used to predict fire behaviour in waste piles, taking into account factors such as material density, moisture content, and potential for off-gassing. This modelling allows her to recommend and implement procedures for material segregation, storage limitations, regular turnover of stock, and proactive measures to identify and remove potential ignition sources within the waste stream.
Jill strongly advocates for the early involvement of fire safety professionals who understand waste management during the planning or upgrading stages of waste and recycling facilities.
She says that retrofitting fire safety measures into existing structures, particularly when those measures need to address the unique challenges of waste, can be considerably more expensive and disruptive than incorporating them from the outset.
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“There’s a real need to raise awareness of people, to consider these potential hazards and identify them early on,” she cautions.
Underestimating the risk
Jill says it’s common within the waste industry to underestimate the potential for fire incidents, often due to a lack of understanding of the rapid and intense nature of fires involving waste materials.
While many facilities may have basic fire suppression equipment in place, she says there’s often a lack of understanding for how rapidly a seemingly small fire within a pile of mixed waste can escalate into a major catastrophe, fuelled by readily available combustible materials and airflow within the piles.
Increasing climate intensity leading to more severe bushfires is adding to the concern. Jill says that as waste facilities are being pushed further into bushfire prone areas, local councils are particularly concerned about fires escaping from waste facilities and damaging surrounding properties.
“When things go wrong, they go wrong very, very quickly,” she says.
Jill says that effectively tackling fire risks in waste facilities requires a multi-faceted approach involving increased awareness, enforcement of regulations that acknowledge the unique challenges of the sector, and the implementation of fire prevention strategies specifically designed for waste handling environments.
She says waste and recycling facility operators can work proactively with fire safety experts by conducting regular fire risk assessments, even before planning approvals are needed, inviting fire safety experts for site visits to identify potential hazards, training staff on fire safety protocols and early risk detection and staying updated with evolving fire safety regulations and best practices.
“The key is to view fire safety as an ongoing process, not just a regulatory checkbox,” she says.
“By collaborating with experts early and continuously, operators can create safer work environments, protect assets and potentially reduce insurance costs.”
For more information, visit:
www.lethleanfireandenvironment.com.au
