Enhancement of Safety Practices of Research Laboratories (ESPReL) of the Faculty of Science at Prince of Songkla University Thailand: Fire extinguishe

Abstract

This study, carried out at the Faculty of Science, Prince of Songkla University, focuses on the provision and management of fire extinguishers, which are the basic component of safety practices for research laboratories in Thailand (ESPReL). The Faculty has deployed three types of fire extinguisher: portable dry chemical powder extinguishers, portable volatile liquid extinguishers, and portable water-based chemical extinguishers. Our analysis showed that four buildings in the Faculty have installed fire extinguishers according to building control regulations: the Basic Science Laboratory Building, the Animal Experimental Service Center Building, the Rubber Technology and Product Transfer Center Building, and the Gas House Building. Most areas of the Faculty are laboratory spaces, covering 56,560.4 square meters or 76.8% of the total area. Within this area, there are 265 fire extinguishers, accounting for 82.3% of the total. According to the characteristics of the various laboratories, all departments follow the ESPReL standard safety guidelines. The types of fire extinguishers installed are appropriate for the laboratories: 124 dry chemical powder extinguishers (46.8%) for Class ABC fires, 63 volatile liquid extinguishers (23.8%) for Class ABC/ABCK fires, and 78 water-based chemical formula extinguishers (29.4%) for Class ABCDK fires, which are capable of extinguishing all types of fires. The study used the
5 Why Analysis method to identify root causes of problems, finding that operators did not study the requirements, lacked training, and that management was not systematic. A PDCA (plan, do, check and act) cycle was drawn up to improve processes. The project included providing training, assigning responsibilities, implementing quarterly fire extinguisher inspections, and measuring safety survey results. The evaluation of laboratory safety in terms of emergency systems and communication systems showed an improvement from 59.4% before process improvement to 67.0% after, representing a 12.7% increase in assessment scores.