Reza Barzegar, Omid Kalatpour, Maryam Farhadian, Rashid Heidarimoghadam,
Volume 13, Issue 4 (12-2023)
Abstract
Introduction: Industrial firefighting (IFF) constitutes a high-risk occupation within the domain of process industries. Firefighting teams serve as the operational component of the incident command team. This study aims to assess the alignment of physical fitness assessments conducted in selected Iranian process industrial firefighting settings and to scrutinize the extent of compliance with The U.S. National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) requirements by analyzing the resultant percentages of similarity in test outcomes.
Material and Methods: A cross-sectional observational study was undertaken across 14 Iranian process companies, encompassing two refinery companies and 12 petrochemical companies, employing a census sampling approach. The study’s benchmark was NFPA1582-2018. Data analysis was performed utilizing SPSS 27 software. This investigation focused on assessing the percentage of essential parallels within five distinct groups, along with their corresponding sub-components, in alignment with the tests and elements stipulated in the NFPA standard.
Results: Most of the selected companies (58%) lacked a cohesive program or established standard to assess the fitness of their firefighting personnel. Among the subset of companies (42%) that did employ an evaluation standard, in the majority of instances, a minimal proportion (less than 20%) underwent individualized assessments in line with the components outlined in NFPA 1582-2018 for physical fitness evaluation tests.
Conclusion: Given that 58% of the surveyed process companies in this study lacked a cohesive fitness assessment program and 42% demonstrated limited compliance with NFPA 1582-2018 in the assessed components, this issue underscores the critical need to evaluate the components quality and conduct a technical needs assessment. Developing adaptable and suitable components aligned with the work conditions prevalent in the process industry becomes imperative. Additionally, there must be existed a legal mandate for the pertinent ministry to implement an integrated framework. This scenario necessitates that process companies reevaluate their approaches concerning the selection and oversight of their firefighting personnel.
Mojtaba Shafahi, Khadijeh Mostafaee Dolatabad, Mohammad Najafi Juybari, Leila Omidi,
Volume 16, Issue 1 (3-2026)
Abstract
Introduction: This study aimed to identify and prioritize factors leading to the failure of crisis management systems in a process industry. An integrated approach combining Fault Tree Analysis (FTA) and the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) was employed.
Material and Methods: Initially, FTA was used to systematically identify factors contributing to the failure, resulting in a hierarchical model with one top event, four main intermediate events, 16 sub-intermediate events, and 42 basic events. Subsequently, the AHP method was applied to prioritize these identified factors based on pairwise comparisons conducted by a panel of 11 industry and academic experts.
Results: The AHP results revealed that among the main phases of crisis management, failure in the prevention phase held the highest priority (weight = 0.380), followed by failure in the preparedness phase (0.280), response phase (0.245), and recovery phase (0.095). Key basic events identified included knowledge-skill gaps in leadership, inadequate periodic inspection programs, malfunctioning warning equipment, and untimely budget allocation.
Conclusion: The study findings confirm that prevention is the most pivotal phase in crisis management within process industries. By utilizing the integrated FTA-AHP framework, managers can systematically prioritize failure factors and align corrective actions with the most influential determinants, thereby enabling targeted resource allocation and strategic reinforcement of the crisis management system.
