Occupational Health and Safety Fundamentals for Employees

the impact of Health and Safety everyday plane and train crashes fires and explosions and other disasters have the very real potential to happen they can rob people of their lives and drastically damage the environment and communities around them because of decisions guided by health and safety many of those disasters are avoided your train commute sees you to work on time your plane lands safely and a lit match dropped carelessly doesn't erupt into a

fire at its most essential occupational health and safety helps to prevent incidents from happening in order to help you understand the impact Occupational Health and Safety has on your life already let's explore a simple scenario you engage in on a daily basis getting from point A to point B when mid-november 1987 where London Kings Cross st. Pancras tube station a major interchange on the London Underground

7:30 p.m. even though smokings been banned in underground tube stations two years prior a commuter lights a hurried cigarette dropping the lit match down onto the running track of the Piccadilly line escalator before disembarking shortly after several passengers report seeing a fire seven thirty six pm four fire engines and a turntable ladder are dispatched by the London Fire Brigade but due to the fires location under the

escalator it's impossible to get close enough to use a fire extinguisher while water mist extinguishers were available none of the staff had been trained to use it 7:39 p.m. the decision to evacuate the station using the Victoria Line escalators is made and firefighters are sent to assess the fire they deem it small enough to fight with a water jet 7:45 p.m. flash over the near simultaneous

ignition of combustible material and an enclosed area occurs creating an inferno a jet of flame comes from the escalator shaft and fills the ticket hall with intense heat and thick black smoke killing or seriously injuring nearly everyone present hundreds of people are trapped by fire below ground the only escape for most is on the Victoria Line trains others aren't so lucky those attempting to leave via the Midland City

platforms find themselves trapped for a second time blocked by locked gates over the course of the next several hours over 150 firefighters are deployed with 14 ambulances racing to take the injured to local hospitals 146 a.m. the fire has subsided in its wake 100 people are in the hospital 19 with serious injuries and 31 are dead

among them is fire brigade station officer Colin Townsley whose body is found beside that of a passenger at the base of the exit steps to Pancras Road who it's believed he tried to rescue