Fires at waste management sites are paid for by the environment, the emergency services and the local community, but they also cost you and your business.

There is a recycling or waste management fire every day in the UK. A waste management fire can cause damage to the environment (water courses as well as air quality), health of local residents and are an extra burden on an already stretched fire service. FireVu saves waste management businesses money: reducing insurance premiums, risk of fines & fire with its disruption, loss of equipment, buildings and materials. They also cost your business through loss of materials, substantially higher insurance premiums as well as potentially lengthy disruptions to operations. Some waste management businesses, especially those without adequate fire suppression and detection measures, struggle to find insurance firms that are prepared to offer a policy.

VSD can zone in on key areas (screening out less important areas), detecting the first signs of smoke and flames – FireVu understands the behaviour of smoke and flame patterns and alerts the user immediately to any danger.

The benefits of intercepting a fire early before it takes hold are clearly evident, especially when a waste management fire often takes two or three weeks to burn out or be fully extinguished. Video Smoke Detection solutions identify potential fires early. Cameras can be concentrated on potentially dangerous areas as well as across large area sites where fires can start from any part of the plant. Areas of no interest can be screened out if wanted. Potential fire incidents can be assessed quickly by safety operators (on site or remotely) and dangerous situations can be escalated to fire services without hesitation. This reduces the risk of a fine levied by some fire brigades for false alarms. Some responders now ask for visual confirmation of fires before making them a priority. VSD enables operators to assess video of incidents to identify issues and make safety improvements. Using VSD significantly reduces the risk of loss of property, loss of operational time and potentially lower insurance premiums. The effect of not having Video Smoke Detection could be costly. Find out how it can help your business work smarter and safer. Many thanks to photographer Keith Trainor for the use of the video

Waste Management fire footage

The August 2013 waste management fire at Bredbury Industrial Estate, Manchester, destroyed some 1,500 bails of paper, fabric and plastic waste. It was not the first on this large site, which had serious business consequences for the owner. [/dt_fancy_image]