Fire Safety Not to Please Authorities but to Prevent Losses

does your company come in especially, when you are not design engineers? And this is where mechanical and electrical (M and E) engineers come in as people might even die trying to escape and not being killed by the fire itself.

This means of egress we are talking about exit, in and out and process of evacuation during emergency. All these have to be designed properly by the architect and after that, the M and E come in. They design their own at the fittings and installations that they need. It is the M and E that look at things the architects had omitted. But majorly, the problem is that some architects believe they know everything and they want to design everything. What you are supposed to have at construction sites are architects and M and Es. The architects do their own and then the M and Es make their own input. It is the M and Es that are supposed to involve us fire engineers so we can put in our own inputs to minimise costs, reduce risks and ensure that the right products are used. There is what we call over-spec and under-spec. Over-spec means that there are certain things you don’t need which are put in the design. There might be areas where they put six-inch pipe whereas, what you need is four-inch pipe. I have a design that they spec a 10inch pipe and I started to wonder if we were providing water for Lagos State. If we were involved during the design, we would have told them they did not need these materials. Under spec can occur when you recommend conventional fire fighting system instead of addressable fire fighting system.

What do you mean by addressable fire-fight system?

In fire fighting system, we have what you call the conventional and addressable fire alarm system. The conventional uses zone which simply means that on each zone, you can have about fifteen detectors and those detectors will be on one zone. So, if there is fire, the alarm system will only show zone one or zone two. If it shows zone one, you know where it is and you have fire extinguisher in your hand but you have to be moving from one location to the other. By that time, early detection is easy but early attack will not be easy. It is easy if it is just a floor where you can move easily. In addressable, it gives you the exact location where the fire is. For instance, in this my office, what the panel will say is that there is fire in MD’s office and the person will know where to go. So addressable fire alarm system is very efficient but very expensive. The cost can be four times higher than the conventional own. If you want to do high-rise building you cannot have conventional system. And also in palatial homes where you have so many rooms and chalets, it is always better to do addressable system.

However, you give this advice but there is nothing that says the M and E consultant will take your advice. I am not blaming them because the client has already told them his budget but what is the essence of putting a system in place and it is not efficient? It is not about obeying the law but ensuring that lives and the property itself. Unfortunately, you see a situation where by the client just wants to obey the law and not for the need and necessity of the system. Then the clients should be able to know who are the people handling their jobs. We have had cause to go and inspect what others had done and we discovered that what was done before was a shoddy job.

How do you deal with quacks? Do you have an association?

Fire protection operators don’t have an association for now. We belong to quite a number of bodies but no associa- tion.

So, how do you deal with quacks? It is a tough job especially for people like us who represent genuine OEMs. At Surveillant, we will never give you substandard products. And that is why we always tell our clients to go to people that will give them genuine products. Some people may pick up old and expired products, repaint it and even put the name of the original OEM that manufactured it and they will resell. It is that bad. We have our website and check products and you will get what you need. We don’t source for products; we always have products in stock. When we give you time, we adhere to it.

We learnt you are building a new office.

Yes. We built this place but it is no longer enough for us. We need space to store products so we are building and office with a big warehouse. We will also have an experience centre where clients can come and see products and live demonstration of the use of these products. Apart from that, we believe so much in training and we want to change the face of the industry by training installers such that when they go out, they know what to do. We want to also train graduates who want to go into this industry and make a living. My belief is that we owe the society this as a way of giving back. Our OEMs are coming and they want to use Nigeria as a hub for the whole of West Africa. So we need more space.

Who is Mr. Jumade Adejola? I am just another Nigerian. I am an accountant and also and economist.

How did you find yourself in fire engineering?

Good question. When I finished school, the first place I worked was at a fire engineering company and I became the general manager with the company called Banjoko Fire Safety. It was then I developed interest in this industry. I left the company for a financial institution but then, I was not really into it because of the interest in the fire engineering business. I left the finance house and went back to where I started, got more training and also travelled to the United Kingdom to get more training about the job. Now I am passionate about it and it has now become part of me. It is my life.

Do you relax at all? I relax when I want to. I am member of Lagos Country Club. I play lawn tennis and squash.

Recently, you treated your wife to a lavish birthday party. Why?

She is a wonderful woman who does not disturb my life and who is very humble to a fault and manages my home very well. God gave her to me. There are ways God does His things. She is a gift to my life and that was why I thing she deserved everything we did that day.