Fire safety in waste recycling plants!

Honeywell’s FAAST, a market-leading Aspiration Smoke Detector (ASD), is being implemented by a growing number of recycling and waste management plants. Offering the earliest, most accurate smoke detection, class-leading filtration and system design that removes both dust-stimulated false alarms and problems arising from environmental fluctuation, FAAST provides the highest provision of safety.

Despite the WISH guideline release in 2014, fire events are still highly prevalent. In fact, five fires took place in April alone this year; the Recycling Lives fire in Lancashire on 9th April; the Recycling Lives Preston fire on 10th April; the Ramsey Heights fire in Cambridgeshire on 13th April; the Mangotsfield, Bristol fire on 24th April; and the JSW Waste fire in Salford, Manchester on the 26th April. In fact, Salford experienced two devastating fires in just eight weeks.

ASD technology is growing steadily in popularity; the WISH Guidelines (pdf) recommend its use on page 24 of the report, helping to increase this trend. Honeywell’s FAAST system is now installed in a growing number of recycling and waste management plants, with many more carrying out evaluations.

Tim Checketts, Business Development Manager for Honeywell Fire Safety, comments on the need for effective fire safety in the wake of recent incidents and how firms can negate traditional detection issues, satisfy stringent insurance requirements and reduce the total cost of fire safety. “The WISH Guidelines are helping more sites implement better fire protection, but the incidents in April alone, really do highlight the extreme risks. High dust prevalence and environmental fluctuations that cause increased false alarms demand both high performance and high stability solutions. False alarms lead to disruptions - at least 30 minutes unplanned downtime and resources to investigate per event - and also increase maintenance needs. These combined aspects lead many sites to implement solutions that only meet minimum regulations.

“Regulations and insurance pre-requisites are becoming more stringent, which from a safety perspective is a good thing, but for many firms already under pressure from raised premiums, the implementation of enhanced-safety solutions may seem economically unviable. Choosing a solution like FAAST really can deliver on all levels, while also reducing the total cost of fire safety. Unlike other aspiration solutions, FAAST uses a sophisticated three-stage filtration technique, dual-optics particle analysis and intelligent algorithms that effectively distinguish smoke from dust. FAAST is able to withstand temperature and humidity variations, auto-learning its environment. Integral replaceable components minimise device failure and improve maintenance, which can be costly in hostile environments.

“FAAST is ideal for any facility manager under pressure to guarantee undisrupted and safe operation. We have recently issued a free FAAST Aspiration Smoke Detection Applications Guide, with a detailed section dedicated to recycling and waste management, downloadable from the FAAST website; this provides full information on how FAAST works and why it is the premier solution for these applications.”