JOIFF's Guideline for the use and maintenance of fire extinguishers containing foam
Published: 01 January, 2006
JOIFF, the Organisation for Emergency Services Management, concerns itself with the protection of life, property and the environment in those sectors in which its members operate.
JOIFF members recently concluded a period of consultation on the use of foam in fire extinguishers. As a result of this consultation, the following JOIFF Guideline has been issued, writes Alec Feldman.
This Guideline relates to the importance of the environmentally-friendly use of foams in fire extinguishers even when comparatively small quantities are discharged when a foam fire extinguisher is activated. The validity of universally using foam fire extinguishers to cover certain risks is questioned - as is the requirement for periodic testing by discharge of such extinguishers.
The issues
The fire extinguisher industry is a major user of firefighting foams and if you added up all of the individual small quantities of foam discharged from every fire extinguisher worldwide, the total amount is huge. The intention of this Guideline is to highlight the importance of the environmentally-friendly use and the efficient and controlled application of foams in fire extinguishers.
The wider issue of firefighting foams - discharged in large quantities by emergency response teams through pumps, hoses etc. in sectors such as the aviation and petrochemical industries - is already being addressed in JOIFF at another level and JOIFF members have been voluntarily taking action to reduce such discharges of foam, particularly in training and non-fire related incidents.
Preventing pollution
For some time, there has been a growing awareness of the possible damage to the environment and to human health by uncontrolled discharge of firefighting foams.
Before this issue came to major prominence - as a result of the cessation in May 2000 by 3M’s production of PFOS (Perfluorooctane sulphonate), a constituent of some of the best-selling firefighting foams - the European Union had published a wide-ranging Groundwater Directive.
The object of this was to prevent polluting substances entering groundwater primarily as a consequence of the disposal of waste substances. As an EU Directive, its requirements apply throughout the EU and in the UK the Directive has been implemented by the Groundwater Regulations 1998 and Regulation 15 of the Waste Management Licensing Regulations 1994.
The Directive specifies groups of substances considered to be particularly undesirable in groundwater, falling into two lists, List I and II substances, and requires that substances in groups included on List I should be prevented from entering groundwater, directly or indirectly unless they are contained and disposed of correctly.
Any Aqueous Film Forming Foam (AFFF) will contain one of the organohalogen substances in List I of the Directive and discharge of these products to open land or to drain may risk these substances entering groundwater, thus contravening the requirements of the Directive.
Whilst this European Directive relates specifically to the European Union, it should be regarded as Best Practice and its proposals may be adopted in countries outside the European Union.
Foam fire extinguishers are discharged not only in Training and 'in anger' on actual fires, but also as a result of the requirement of National Standards/Codes of Practice for service and maintenance of fire extinguishers in a number of countries. Every five years, fire extinguishers containing foam are tested by discharge. In many cases, these extinguishers are tested by discharge in car parks, grassed areas, into drains or rivers etc. without any containment, therefore where applicable, putting large quantities of fluorinated material into the environment.
JOIFF Guideline proposal for use
Use: JOIFF supports the use of fire extinguishers containing foam where companies have decided - based on a risk assessment which includes an environmental impact assessment - that it is ‘the most effective’ type of fire extinguisher to suit their needs.
However, when considering the potential damage that the discharge of such fire extinguishers will cause to the environment, the validity of using them to cover certain risks should be questioned. Perhaps other types of environmentally-harmless extinguishing media might be just as suitable?
Maintenance: The validity of regular test by discharge of fire extinguishers containing foam (as required currently in National Standards/Codes of Practice for the Maintenance of Fire Extinguishers) should also be questioned from the point of view of the value of this requirement versus the potential environmental impact of the indiscriminate discharge of such fire extinguishers by service technicians.
Concluding comments
In the UK discharging a fire extinguisher anywhere without the relevant permission constitutes a technical offence under various environmental statutes - this probably applies in many other countries too. JOIFF issues this Guideline in the hope that this subject will move the issue into the public arena for a wider debate.
In particular it is hoped that manufacturers of fire extinguishers containing foam will come forward with suggestions to assist customers in complying with the relevant statutes.
National standards bodies responsible for the Standards/Codes of Practice relating to service and maintenance of portable fire extinguishers are also encouraged to constructively and responsibly join the debate and change the relevant clauses of their Standards/Codes of Practice to reflect the concerns expressed by JOIFF in this Guideline.
JOIFF invites applications for
membership
JOIFF, the Organisation for Emergency Services Management, is a group of organisations represented by their Hazard Managers - or equivalent position - and one nominated Deputy. Full Members of JOIFF are Industrial / Commercial Organisations which have nominated personnel as a Hazard Management Team, Occupational Firefighters, Emergency Responders. Corporate Members are organisations which do not comply with the requirements of full membership but which nonetheless wish to associate with and support JOIFF.
JOIFF aims to fill the information vacuum that exists in the industries represented by its members, by sharing valuable information through its Shared Learning e-mail cascade amongst all its membership - and to work to ensure that members benefit from the misfortunes of some to ensure that the same mistakes are not repeated.
JOIFF provides a forum for discussion amongst peers, accreditation of job competencies accredited training, information dissemination and technical advice. JOIFF welcomes interest from organisations who wish to become members - contact the JOIFF Secretariat, details on the JOIFF website at www.joiff.com
