Adelae Posted February 25, 2014 Report Share Posted February 25, 2014 The question You are working in the lab when suddenly a fire erupts out of nowhere, what do you do? A. Throw water on it (obviously not as if its chemical this can make it worse) B. Use the fire extinguisher to you side (my Choice ) C. Advise other students to keep away and find a tutor/supervisor (this was the correct answer) D. Leave the area seriously we have to leave the fire and find a teacher, as opposed to just using the fire extinguisher that the tutor will use anyway, does the uni assume all students are retarded The good news I that this was my only wrong answer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adelae Posted February 25, 2014 Author Report Share Posted February 25, 2014 Please explain why C is the answer? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CephFan Posted February 25, 2014 Report Share Posted February 25, 2014 (edited) As opposed to a fire at the office in which case the correct answer is: "e. move to a safe place to watch and ask colleagues who has the marshmallows." >:-) Edited February 25, 2014 by CephFan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mantrid Posted February 25, 2014 Report Share Posted February 25, 2014 Thats the nanny state for you. Liability, insurance all that bullshit. You have to be trained these days to put out a fire, because if you do it wrong some opportunistic parasite will sue somebody. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adelae Posted February 26, 2014 Author Report Share Posted February 26, 2014 I see, so its better to let the building burn down, risk lives being lost, thousands of dollars of lab instraments and chemicals, then to just say "USE THE F###ING FIRE EXTINGUISHER THAT IS 2feet FROM YOU AND HAS INSTRUCTIONS A 3 YEAR OLD COULD FOLLOW". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adelae Posted February 26, 2014 Author Report Share Posted February 26, 2014 I see, so its better to let the building burn down, risk lives being lost, thousands of dollars of lab instraments and chemicals, then to just say "USE THE F###ING FIRE EXTINGUISHER THAT IS 2feet FROM YOU AND HAS INSTRUCTIONS A 3 YEAR OLD COULD FOLLOW". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CephFan Posted February 26, 2014 Report Share Posted February 26, 2014 On a more serious note I am surprised that the official advice is not something like (in order): 1. Advise other students to tell a member of staff, then leave the building. 2. Following fire training and if it does not put yourself at unnecessary risk; use a single appropriate extinguisher aimed at base of flames. 3. If a single extinguisher does not put out the fire leave immediately. Cheers, Steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adelae Posted February 26, 2014 Author Report Share Posted February 26, 2014 Its a 5min online test with 10 or 15 questions (didn't really count) and then after getting a score of 80% or more you can go do your practicals in the lab, so I suspect its more a legal requirement then an actual procedure we are to learn from, the uni does this sort o thing all of the time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mantrid Posted February 26, 2014 Report Share Posted February 26, 2014 I see, so its better to let the building burn down, risk lives being lost, thousands of dollars of lab instraments and chemicals, then to just say "USE THE F###ING FIRE EXTINGUISHER THAT IS 2feet FROM YOU AND HAS INSTRUCTIONS A 3 YEAR OLD COULD FOLLOW". Yep thats just about it. Why? because insurance will cover the cost of the building and compensation for loss of life but insurance will not pay out if an untrained person tackles the fire or any other reason they can use to riggle out of paying up. So college and any other institution wont take the risk. They are sneeky insurance companies, they would even probably argue that your actions made it worse. Its all about money not human life. The insurance companies argument will be along the lines of, if you seen the fire and told everyone to get out or keep away you would have saved more lives that tackling it yourself. Because you are not trained you didnt know how to tackle the fire in the right way allowing it to get out of control and killing all those people and destroying the building. So we are not paying out the money, college goes out of business Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
manders Posted February 26, 2014 Report Share Posted February 26, 2014 does the uni assume all students are retarded As a former faculty member i can honestly say yes, until proved otherwise. On a more serious note, the answer is probably c because if you use the wrong type of extinguisher on the wrong type of fire, theres a good chance youll kill yourself, or somebody else, before you've had time to raise the alarm. Better to get someone with some training to do it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adelae Posted February 26, 2014 Author Report Share Posted February 26, 2014 (edited) There are only one type of extinguisher in the labs, unless the others are hidden?, although I must admit I can see where they are coming from if its the "presume everyones an idiot" because 8/10 students i've met are tards, (expecially the city kids), I found that rural people are in general more acustomed to useing common sence, but in saying this growing up rural led to me meeting some extreme nut cases. Edited February 26, 2014 by Adelae Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
manders Posted February 26, 2014 Report Share Posted February 26, 2014 What type of fire extinguisher is it? There are no fire extinguishers that are safe on all types of fire. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adelae Posted February 27, 2014 Author Report Share Posted February 27, 2014 I have only ever seen the standard red coloured ones that spray a foam, they are all identical other than sizes. I presumed they made specialist extinguishers, but I am yet to see one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Evans Posted February 27, 2014 Report Share Posted February 27, 2014 As a former faculty member i can honestly say yes, until proved otherwise. On a more serious note, the answer is probably c because if you use the wrong type of extinguisher on the wrong type of fire, theres a good chance youll kill yourself, or somebody else, before you've had time to raise the alarm. Better to get someone with some training to do it. And training the people that are going to be right there is what? I'm not sure why we'd have extinguisher at arms length but you need to run down the hall and look for someone instead? I've heard of institutional racism, but in this case it is "institutional stupidity". Having a bunch of kids around that don't know how to use the extinguishers is a recipe for danger and cannot lower their liability. Pretending to lower liability by telling the kids not to use them might work on paper, but it don't work in the real world. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Odysseus Posted February 27, 2014 Report Share Posted February 27, 2014 I am sorry to see that the nanny state has reached Australia....I suppose the only place I can live in peace from the nanny state is in blissful ignorance. One day I will have a greenhouse and when I cross the threshold into that greenhouse I will block out all of my boiling frustration with the nanny state, lawsuits that have ruined small business and the path to "equality" through bringing everyone DOWN to an equal footing instead of bringing up those lagging behind for whatever reason they have. Ahhh a Greenhouse full of Nepenthes will be my sanctuary indeed..... Wait, what is the political affiliation of a Nepenthes bicalcarata? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
manders Posted February 27, 2014 Report Share Posted February 27, 2014 (edited) I have only ever seen the standard red coloured ones that spray a foam, they are all identical other than sizes. I presumed they made specialist extinguishers, but I am yet to see one. So you pick up a foam fire extinguisher and use it on say an electrical fire, your probably dead, or at least knocked unconscious, and the building is burning down around you. Edited February 27, 2014 by manders Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adelae Posted February 27, 2014 Author Report Share Posted February 27, 2014 Challenge accepted, I thought the foam extinguishers had very little conductivity, for such a purpose? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
manders Posted February 28, 2014 Report Share Posted February 28, 2014 Foam fire extingushers are water based. Thats not even the point although it goes some way to proving it. The first thing you should do on seeing a fire is raise the alarm. If you then choose to tackle the fire yourself and something goes wrong, like you get electrocuted or knocked unconscoius by fumes, help should be on the way. I spent a large part of my career working on oil refineries, have met very experienced ex-plant operators with 90% burns who, lucky to survive, now give safety courses and that person openly says he didnt follow some of those same basic rules your now questioning. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adelae Posted February 28, 2014 Author Report Share Posted February 28, 2014 Huh, well I asked one of the older students and apparently they also have a special one that sucks the air around it and that you have to wear some sort of respirator to use it, but I am yet to see anything like this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mantrid Posted February 28, 2014 Report Share Posted February 28, 2014 Huh, well I asked one of the older students and apparently they also have a special one that sucks the air around it and that you have to wear some sort of respirator to use it, but I am yet to see anything like this. ?? a wind up maybe :). Cant see how that will work. It will suck air in a nice steady stream over the fire feeding it oxygen and pulling the flames in your direction. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Odysseus Posted February 28, 2014 Report Share Posted February 28, 2014 The first thing you should do on seeing a fire is raise the alarm. If you then choose to tackle the fire yourself and something goes wrong, like you get electrocuted or knocked unconscoius by fumes, help should be on the way. I totally agree with this. Definitely make sure people are being alerted to a fire immediately. I also agree that you should use the fire extinguisher from a safe distance on appropriate outbreaks. And not need to wait for a faculty member. If I was in that situation I would definitely act to put out the fire, I wouldn't be comfortable waiting for others to arrive without doing something. Will that get me hurt in some situations, possibly, but I would rather act and not stand idly by. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mantrid Posted February 28, 2014 Report Share Posted February 28, 2014 Why risk your life trying to save a building its only bricks and mortar and can be rebuilt? You would be more use raising the alarm and directing people away from the fire and out of the building Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Evans Posted March 1, 2014 Report Share Posted March 1, 2014 So you pick up a foam fire extinguisher and use it on say an electrical fire, your probably dead, or at least knocked unconscious, and the building is burning down around you. True, true. But my point was the students do need this training as well. Accidents and fires can happen anytime, the sooner the people around those possible conditions are trained, the better. It is not like training random people that don't work/study there, these are the folks that need this information. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Odysseus Posted March 1, 2014 Report Share Posted March 1, 2014 (edited) Why risk your life trying to save a building its only bricks and mortar and can be rebuilt? You would be more use raising the alarm and directing people away from the fire and out of the building You are missing the part above where I said: "Definitely make sure people are being alerted to a fire immediately." and that I said I would still start the fight against the fire "on appropriate outbreaks". In my scenario, I was trying to stop a smaller fire from becoming big. I wouldn't risk my life saving the building, just like you said I would move people out who didn't know the classroom down the hall had a fire. I even have a life experience I can point to in order to vouch for that. My house caught on fire when I was in High School, after our attempts to put the closet fire out, that my toddler brother had started, all focus was on getting everyone out and letting it burn. With a nod, I bid my room goodbye and didn't waste even a second saving my Hank Aaron autographed baseball, any of my 3 years of Sunday Newspaper Calvin and Hobbes comics I had collected or any of my electronics. I nodded goodbye to my room and helped get my little brothers and sisters outside. Edited March 1, 2014 by Odysseus Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
manders Posted March 1, 2014 Report Share Posted March 1, 2014 True, true. But my point was the students do need this training as well. Accidents and fires can happen anytime, the sooner the people around those possible conditions are trained, the better. It is not like training random people that don't work/study there, these are the folks that need this information. Nothing wrong with training people. Raising the alarm is allways the first thing you should do which is why C was the right answer, although i think its badly worded. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.