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Danger lurks in innocent nooks
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Watch out, that wobbly plug you have always ignored holds the potential to spark off a mighty disaster
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BURNING PROBLEM Most fires are caused by poor quality electrical products or lack of precaution
You usually need a match to start a fire. Sometimes it only takes some carelessness.
How many times do we end up taping up a frayed iron box wire, only to have it spark a few days later? How many times have you run screaming at your child just in time to stop him from putting his curious fingers into the electrical socket?
When the day's newspaper lands in your lap and you read of a fire at a house that killed someone, you tend to sit back and reassure yourself: "This will never happen to me."
But watch out. That innocent-looking wobbly plug or that vague smell of burning plastic you can't trace may be danger lurking in your own home. There's no need to panic. But there is need for some precaution.
"On the home front, it is a widely known fact that the two biggest causes of accidents are poor electrical factors and LPG-related problems," says R.A. Venkitachalam, MD, Underwriters Laboratories (UL) India Pvt. Ltd. UL, a product safety certification organisation, tests over 18,000 categories of products ranging from laptops and table fans to medical equipment and building material to fire protection gear. Post 9/11, their lab also tested the World Trade Center's building material and floor replica to find out why the towers didn't hold up.
Unsafe products
"Most often fires and other accidents occur because of the poor quality of electrical products, or because products are poorly used and precautions not taken," he further explains. In the cities where people are building and buying apartments a dime a dozen, checking out the safety of what will be your home is important. Glassy façade buildings have sprung up all over the city to house modern office complexes — especially of the IT and BPO industry where wiring is a key component. "Most of these buildings are of good quality with a good level of compliance. But that's probably because the MNCs operating them have put pressures to comply. It may not be from awareness as much as from a demand," says Venkitachalam.
But he does admit that call centres and other MNCs are perhaps the only ones that even practise fire drills and teach employees the usage of fire extinguishers. Of course maintenance is the key question and constant checks need to be done of fire fighting and detecting equipment, he says, or it may be the case of the fire-fighters reaching a disaster site on time only to discover that the hydrant doesn't have water!
"All fire detection and abatement equipment must be activated and checked every six months. Evacuation must be practised. It's also not surprising that in many offices there will be a fire exit, but with a filing cabinet stacked against it!"
Theatres, marriage halls, shopping malls, schools and colleges, factories — all places where people gather in large numbers — need adequate number of exits and large ones at that.
The ISI mark often indicates the compliance for electrical products, says Venkitachalam, but this often indicates a product performance standard rather than a safety standard.
UL's listing has been predominantly for the North American market, but Indian manufacturers who export to the U.S. and manufacturers of IT equipment and fire protection equipment have been insisting on being UL-listed.
Now the company is busy conducting awareness campaigns about safety in schools, where all learning begins.
BHUMIKA K.
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