Fire Safety Management Plan A Chance Meeting With Mr. Gandhi

This was a chance encounter where-in I learnt a lot about human behaviour and the limitations.

After a hard days’ work in an industrial area on the outskirts of Delhi city , I was going home. Flavour of pakoras and a hot cup of tea was in my mind, when the thoughts were disrupted by the ringing of my mobile phone. On picking up, my manager asked me to immediately make an urgent meeting with someone by the name of Mr. Gandhi in a garment export factory.

All the way I was cursing my manager for the new assignment after the work hours. However, it was the demand of my profession not to miss any prospective customers. 

The Beginning 

On reaching Mr. Gandhi’s factory, I met an old man who was moving around anxiously in his cabin while I was sitting on a chair. Breaking the silence, he began by informing me that his company exports garments to the USA and even after repeated efforts of his junior managers and factory staff his factory has not been able to clear the fire safety compliance of his buyer. His buyer has threatened to cancel all orders if the factory does not clear the fire safety inspection after the next two days.

The Problem 

Without allowing a reaction by me, he began with details. He said , “ Dear Vani, I am totally devastated as even after paying more than 7 vendors over the last 5 years and investing 50 lakhs INR – sometimes the auditor finds a fault with a fire alarm system, next time the fire drill is not done properly other times the fire extinguisher documentation is found to be fake. Due to one or other reason, the fire safety audit is not cleared and his stores are beaming with material ready for shipment.”
Then he looked up at my face as if challenging me to give a solution if I can. 

The Analysis

I was also prepared and bluntly told him of his mistake of just expecting results by throwing money at anyone who approached with a business card mentioning “fire safety” on it. I made him understand that safety compliance of a garment export factory consists of more than twenty major aspects of fire safety and can’t be completed by just spending money on buying installations of fire extinguishers, fire alarms, safety signs, fire sprinklers, fire hydrants, fire pumps, emergency evacuation maps etc.

The Solution

I made him aware of FSMP (fire safety management plan) for his building as a basic need before initiating any fire safety work in the factory. Just as it is necessary to have professional drawings ready by an architect for any new building, it is important to have the FSMP (fire safety management plan) ready and then only execute the fire safety activity for the building.

This is the only way to control cost, have compliance-ready fire safety installations and a professional company managing the regular upkeep and internal fire safety audits and training.
 
Getting interested, as soon as he asked me if I my company could take up this urgent assignment of his factory, I informed him of the complete long-term FIRE SAFETY MANAGEMENT PROGRAM (FSMP) offered by IMPACT FIRE AND SAFETY APPLIANCES PVT. LTD (IF&S).
After which he stopped roaming around, sat down, and offered me a glass of water before asking me for the contract papers to take up the job by IF&S. And I smelled a meeting closure indication before furthering my thoughts to pakoras and tea waiting at my home.