Fire Safety Design Considerations

Fire! A means of cooking in some remote parts of the world, can be dangerous, if generated or propagated in large quantity. In any building design, fire is one of the factors to be considered, to avoid harvoc.
Here are a few factors to be considered during design stage;

Type of Occupancy.

This is the first point to be put into consideration, when designing. The question is, what is the purpose of this building? Is it residential, or industrial. This will trigger the basics of the design, not tampering with the standard of construction. The number of people that will occupy the space, and the dimension of the building will help a lot.

Building Construction.

This particularly deals with the material types to be specified in the design. There are couples of materials to be used, relative to the durability, resistivity, or non-combustibility of such materials, the designer must choose the best that suites the purpose of the building. The materials must be the type that must, if non-conbustible, be fire resistive.

Cost.

This is funny! But, it must be considered, not all fingers are equal, so, before you decide on which materials to be used, consider your client’s financial stands.

Means of Egress.

This is the most important life safety consideration. This actually deals with the ease and how the occupants will escape from the building, to avoid being consumed by the raging fire. The designer should put into consideration, the travel distance; which is the distance to be travelled before reaching the exit points. Also,  the exit width; this deals with the dimensions of the exit points, it must be well dimensioned enough to accommodate occupants.

These are the few factors to be put into considerations, that will harness safety from inferno.

Safety tips on construction sites

A construction site

Work becomes more interesting, and more energetic, when a site, where such a work, is being carried out is accident free, but, on the contrary, it is always enervating, when it is full of energy sapping, and pain aggravating accidents.
These health hazards, which  cause  retardation  to the rapid  pace of site  works,  and at times, make contractors lose money, are often  caused  by mistakes  and  negligence.  Meanwhile, for the purpose of those who care about safety, here are some safety tips that enhance safety;

Boots – As a worker on a site, always put your boots on,  your work   might not be related to  nails,  but,  never  can tell,  you may want to  take  a trek,  a nail will not inform you about its intent to  give you a long, sleepless night of pain. But, if you tread on a nail, quickly make twenty hits on it,  with a hammer

Tuck in your trouser – Do not  hesitate to always tuck your hard jean trouser  into your boots, this  actually concerns  site managers, surveyors, and  architects,  going on a reconnaissance survey – a new site with  fresh  vegetation may be breeding high venom reptiles.

Wear glasses when welding – taking a closer look at the type of materials used to weld, you need to shield your eyes away from those strands of sharp flames.

Helmet – in a case of stories, or hoisting works generally, you need a helmet to shield your head from dropping items, dropping items, ranging from 2” nails, to a hammer, to steel sections. It sounds funny, but, many people have died because of dropping items.

Do not trust  temporary structures wholeheartedly – as  it sounds, they are temporary, and workers in charge, especially carpenters, try to make them temporary as they can, so, do not trust those structures by leaning on them, you might just  see yourself  kissing the floor afterwards.

Do not joke with delivery trucks – putting up a “hard-man” mode, or acting like “jet li” when delivery trucks are moving around might be a real deal of catastrophe, especially, when the unexpected occurs. The gist is, move away from them when they are performing their duties.

Watch heights – the essence of this is to let you know that heights can be deceiving, although, some do not have phobia for heights, nonetheless, you have to be extra careful when mounting.

Use your eyes well – in everything you do, use your sense of sight effectively.
Thank you.

Ego kills

To be candid with you, picking up a pen at this time of the day to write is really drab, but, it seems I will not have a good day if I do not express my humble mind, and add this to my corpus. Anyway, do not mind me.
“Religion is the opium of the people”, so i heard from a friend of mine studying law in the same university where i am. But, i do not understand, is it because he’s an atheist? I can’t say really.
Then, that reminds me of EGO, ego, ego, ego… This rings a bell in the ears of many, both young and old, it sounds like an everyday radio topic. Going by definition, “ego” is simply a sense of self importance, when one attaches too much importance to oneself. But wait, is everybody not important? Yes, of course, everybody is, but, that should be objective, that should be a reflection of oneself to the public, it should be people’s definition about oneself, not subjective, not trying to show it off to the whole world that you are, not trying to pressurize others, not making others suffer because you want them to feel your importance, we all know that you are important,  of course, you are, if you are not, nobody will respect you to that extent,  nobody will bow when your presence is underway. Everybody knows you are important, so do not let them fear you.
Many superiors today want their inferior to fear them, because, they believe only fear can bring forth the importance in them, that should not be, for crying out loud, these inferiors also want to see you smile with them, wine and dine with them, they want to secure their safety with you, they don’t want to be fugitives, they don’t want to leave for a reason being you.
Once, I was told by a colleague of mine, “guy, when you see that man, do not try to hide, just run”, is that supposed to be? No, it should not be, people running away when they hear your voice will not pay you, this is not about you maintaining a good standard, it is what they know about you, people already know that you are not capable, so you want them to think you are, that is overkilling, it is more that you trying to immortalize yourself.
Many people have died! That does not absolutely mean “demise, in the real sense”, ordinarily losing one’s self-respect and love connotes death at times. Simple courtesy promotes good human relations, I have met men, men of honour and respect, men with vision, men of accomplishments, men that work so hard to make organizations places of harmony, they are able to do all these with “simplicity, competence, and coordination” simply put, “s.c.c” that’s what you need, as a man, to reach a state of objective importance,
Mr. and Mrs., drop ego, it will not help, many people lost their way a long time ago without knowing, they came back to realize, but it was just too late. Simplify yourself, let others relate with you. Don’t be a hard-nut to crack, that does not mean you are stupid. Be flexible, and stay cool. This is my delivery.

Building Thermal Comfort ‘Bask in the sun, and dance in the rain’

   When the whole wide world was created, it was empty so i heard, funny right? But i kept on wondering how it got transformed into what we have now, not until i read, and listen to tales.
   Our environment has been so perfectly designed, to the extent of accomodating the greatest and the biggest exploit of all time. Our ability to make perfect and complete use of our environmental endowments, makes us live in comfort. Well, as an environmentalist, i believe in some principles that can make us live confortably in our shelters.
    ‘Man will still be sleeping in caves and treetops, if not for builders, said a colleague of mine, how true is that? Have you ever imagined yourself sleeping on treetops? I mean for real… How comfortable will you find it? But, thanks to those who made shelters a reality. Nonetheless,  one should watch how one’s shelter will be, so that too much will not be sacrificed.
    There are certain factors to be considered when planning to build, and when constructing a residential building, factors that can make one spend less, and comfortable in one’s building. One of these factors is THERMAL COMFORT. Most building owners do no consider this when planning, and mind you, other stakeholders do not care.
     Let’s start by checking up what building thermal comfort is;
  Thermal comfort is observed when there is a particular state of mind which expresses satisfaction with the thermal environment
  Now, on a very long run, there are seasons, year in year out, how do we balance our thermal conditions with this seasonal variation?, there are some things meant to be taken into considerations before going for the first port of call in building construction, which is the setting out.
  Here they are;;;
i.   Building Orientation
     The weather condition, relative to the four cardinal points, is an important factor you need to put into consideration before deciding which orientation to put your building,  confused? Okay, let me break it down, first of all, consider the sun, the east brings out the sun i.e. the sun rises  from the east, and sets in west.  Now,  in deciding which orientation to choose for a residential building, in the tropics, the sides of the building must not be parallel with the east-west, because, when the sun rises, it comes through the windows of one side,  and when it sets, it comes through the windows of the other side,  there by causing too much heat to radiate in the building.
  The breeze  often move in north – south direction,  a residential building whose orientation is west-east will enjoy  cool breeze  especially when it is hot. This must be taken care of at the pre-construction stage.

ii.  Construction materials and Openings’ dimensions
      The regions dictate this, for instance,  in the tropics,  where it’s hot, building elements, like doors and windows must  be largely dimensioned, not neglecting the type of materials to be used; the naterials must be types that do not radiate heat into the building.
  In the cool-temperate regions, the dimensions  of the openings must not be wide, because, it is cold already.  This factor must be put into consideration in the construction stage.
iii.  Location
The geographical area where a building  will be located is very paramount when planning, a building located very close to a steel producing factory will always experience heat, and exhaust from the factory, causing thermal dissatisfaction.
A building is said to be thermally comfortable when eighty percent (80%) of the occupants find it comfortable, therefore, the afforementioned factors must be considered in the pre-construction and construction stage.
  As much as i know, there are two affecting factors of the thermal comfort; environmental factors, and personal factors.  Now, personal factors are personal, funny right? Do not mind me. Personal factors depend on one’s metabolic and physiological body reactions, but, there are many things to put in place to rectify the awkward effect of the environmental factors.
  Tree planting is one of the things to put in place while planning to build a residential building. Trees, apart from the aesthetic appeal, they add to the building, they also serve as wind-breakers, and regulate breezes in terms of quantity that enters a building.
  Relative humidity, when high, reduces the evaporative cooling and when low, causes irritation- skin becomes too dry and cracks appear in some membranes, building services equipment like air – conditioner will curtail the effect of relative humidity.
  Personal factors, as i emphasized, are based on individual physiological and metabolic body reactions relative to the region one finds himself/herself
  The clothing materials used by an individual must be in accordance with his/her body reactions, clothing provides a cheap and clear way of controlling the micro-climate.
  A building built unconsciously or consciously against the factors of weather will absolutely make the owner/occupant spend more on his/her comfortability. Endea our to study your environment before nailing on the profile board. Bask in the sun, and dance in the rain. Stay thermally comfortable.

STAKEHOLDERS, IN THE WORLD OF CONSTRUCTIONS “Those that work so hard to make it look so simple”

From statiscal records kept over years, it has been reported that construction industry, as simple as it may sound, generates one-third of the total employment drive in any national economy.
  In nigeria today, construction industry accounts for about seven percent of the national GDP, and you know what that implies.
  There are many stakeholders in this great industry, but, the industry is usurped by three main stakeholders;;;
the client,  the contractor, and the consultants.

The client
   The client is the financier and the owner of any project, the backbone and the supporter of any agreement. He is the godfather, he promotes the construction projects to any level. The client gives his brief (what he really wants) to the consultants(the design team) expecting them to produce what he really wants graphically. The span of activities depends on him, because, he is the only one that stakes his money on it.
   A client can either be a public client (government agencies), or a private client (individuals,  and corporate bodies)

The consultants
      The consultants are also known as the design team, and the examiner of any project. They examine all activities being executed on site to avoid compromised standards. They approve/disapprove  activities. They represent the client on site. ‘Most  consultants are corrupt’, says a contractor i met on site.’ ‘They just want money, not the standards and quality of the work,  this is one of the major drawbacks of the industry ‘ He continues
     The consultants do come to inspect the ongoing project on fixed days. They effect any changes made on the working drawings (the design).

The contractors
      The contractors are meant to perform their duties,  follow specifications, and examine drawings to ensure objectivity. They are responsible for the actualization of the graphical representations and drawings, i.e they transfer what is on the drawing to the ground. The contractors tender for projects from the clients. They are the executors of projects.
      A contractor is either informed or uninformed, when a contractor is former, he handles his projects personally. But,  on the contrary,  if the contractor is latter,  then, the issue of site managers or site supervisors, come knocking. Such contractor will have to delegate his functions to the site manager.

     These are the main stakeholders in the industr, but there are other stakeholders performing their own roles to aid the main stakeholders;

The statutory bodies
     They are at the helm of affairs, they control the activities of the professionals in the industry, they make rules and regulations for the pros to abide and conform with. They work towards the improvement of standards of the industry e.g the building code. Examples of such body are COREN, CORBON, NIOB, and IEE.

The financial institutions
        They are the suppliers of neccessary funds to the client when needed.  a client might not be capable of financing the project,  he goes to the bank, and a loan can be granted (i.e. mobilization fees are not always paid at the beginning of the project).

Materials Manufacturers
      These are the innovators, they produce materials needed for the actual construction projects, without them, there will be no construction. They cogitate everyday, for new inventions, as technology developes.

     Walking around everyday, looking at structures, appreciating or criticizing them, some guys worked them out.
     They staked everything, put in their best, to get those fantastic structures erected, these are the stakeholders, those who work so hard to make it look so easy.

ATTRIBUTES OF A SITE MANAGER

  As a site manager, you have a huge responsibility to shoulder, you are sandwiched between three main stakeholders – the client, the contractor, and the consultants, conjoined with the labour force on site. So, you have to buckle up. The big question is ‘As a site manager, what must you do to keep up with these four set of hooks making only you the bait ready to be drawn into a big ocean?’ I pity you,  but, i know the following will answer the  As a site manager, you have a huge responsibility to shoulder, you are sandwiched between three main stakeholders – the client, the contractor, and the consultants, conjoined with the labour force on site. So, you have to buckle up. The big question is ‘As a site manager, what must you do to keep up with these four set of hooks making only you the bait ready to be drawn into a big ocean?’ I pity you,  but, i know the following will answer the question.

  Be balanced
Balance the equation between your client, the consultants, and your boss (the contractor), and also, the labour force. Don’t be too free with any party, don’t swing, keep your head straight and look forward. Bearing in mind that loyalty and fair service must be given to your boss.

   Don’t argue with your consultants
One thing that  infuriates the design team is you arguing with them, don’t create a debate, even if you know that they are saying the wrong thing, just say ‘YES SIR’. That does not mean you will implement what has been said without reviewing it, act like a ram, don’t be a barking dog.

  Incentivize the artisans
Artisans are not slaves,  they are not robots. Although, you got them all employed, but at least, always encourage them. For instance, you can buy them lunch.  As a follower of Elton Mayo, i believe that workers perform better when motivated, as motivation results into better performance.

   Don’t hide under boss’s influence or shadow
Being in this great industry for long, the contractor has made a good name over years. Don’t ruin it in a twinkle of an eye. Don’t hide under your boss’s skirt. Don’t have the mindset that even if standards are compromised, your boss’s influence will cover it. Mr. Manager, if you nurture such mindset, you are as good as being thrown out of site. That will be the easiest for your boss.

    Don’t be over-confident
As the saying goes ‘no one is a fountain of knowledge ‘. No one expects you to know all the necessary technical know-how required to get the project executed, so, don’t form kyle xy, because,  there are many kyle yy out there ready to take you down. Stay focused, when  an artisan is giving ideas,  don’t  shun them, welcome all, but, review them, from there, you can learn too.

    Be smart
I have seen slow and sluggish site managers, they infuriate me, a kind of a site manager,  not  capable of any sort of charisma, it’s quite disgusting. Try to be smart in everything, in actions, in diction, and in carriage. Be up and doing, i am very sure, everybody will respect you on site.

    Relate with your workers
As a student of human relation management school of thought, influenced by oliver sheldon statement  of philosophy of social responsibility, i know that management responsibility is beyond scientific management maximum efficiency. Workers tend to work more, put in their best, when the good face of the site manager is obviously shown.
  Motivation increases when there is social interaction between the  site manager and the workers. So, don’t hesitate to relate.

  The most difficult being to control in the whole nine realms is human. Even, the angels complained when we were about to be created. But, what makes you a real and competent site manager, is you being able to contain yourself. So,  ‘you,  as a site manager, try and contain yourself ‘
    HAPPY NEW MONT H

THE CYNOSURE: SPAN OF CONTROL

Do you know that it is generally considered that the practical limit of number of people that can be effectively managed under one person’s control is between 5-7, when it is greater than that,  efficiency will definitely be lost,  due to poor coordination,  low morale and team spirit will also be obviously effected, thus,  encouraging,  reduced quality of work.

A site manager must be considerate in coordinating the labour force to avoid drawbacks.

WHO AM I ??? (Vol. 1) THE CLIENT……………

I am the client

The first to reckon with

The financier of any contract

I employ the services of the consultants

I am the owner of the project

Come and see different contractors bidden

They’ve got no choice than to submit their quotations

I am the godfather

Other stakeholders respect and envy me because I pay them

I sit in my house waiting for the final product to be delivered

If it is not well done, I won’t accept

Because, the standards must not be compromised

I am the real deal… I am the client…

Do you know?

Do you know that the construction industry employs one-third of the total national labor force.