Finally trained in fire safety
Jan. 15th, 2010 03:38 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sawylAs of this afternoon, I am now officially trained in fire safety. Having completed a slightly patronising on-line course, I now know what fire exit signs look like, what sort of fire extinguisher to use on what sort of fire, what a fire triangle is, and what not to do when the fire alarm sounds.
So, far so obvious, especially for those us with a background working in physical science labs, but I guess these things need saying. Most people in HPC remember the great NCEP fire of September 1999, which saw their C90 totalled after the fire department used dry powder extinguishers on the still running system — the consensus in Princeton, a week or two after the event, was that the methods used to put out the fire had caused far more damage than the original conflagration.
Still, I picked up a few interesting bits of info from today's course. I discovered that a clear desk policy is vital if fires are to be prevented from spreading. No big surprise this; I can't think of a single civil service safety or security course that hasn't recommended locking up documents as a universal cure for anything that ails you. I also learnt the temperature at which human muscle tissue starts to break down, which might come in handy if I decide to move into crime scene forensics or necromancy or something...
So, far so obvious, especially for those us with a background working in physical science labs, but I guess these things need saying. Most people in HPC remember the great NCEP fire of September 1999, which saw their C90 totalled after the fire department used dry powder extinguishers on the still running system — the consensus in Princeton, a week or two after the event, was that the methods used to put out the fire had caused far more damage than the original conflagration.
Still, I picked up a few interesting bits of info from today's course. I discovered that a clear desk policy is vital if fires are to be prevented from spreading. No big surprise this; I can't think of a single civil service safety or security course that hasn't recommended locking up documents as a universal cure for anything that ails you. I also learnt the temperature at which human muscle tissue starts to break down, which might come in handy if I decide to move into crime scene forensics or necromancy or something...
