Safety It'S Just Good Business

Fax machine fire shuts down local restaurant

On Sunday, my husband and I pulled into the parking lot of our favourite breakfast stop in Burlington - Apple Annie's - when we noticed a pile of junk on the patio. Further investigation, showed a notice on the door saying, "Due to an unfortunate fire, we will be closed for an indefinite period".   We managed to catch the owner of Apple Annie's who said the fire started that night at midnight in the office, at the fax machine.  Local papers, report cause is unknown, damage estimated at $250,000 and blessedly no injuries but 15 staff members are out of work during this busy Christmas season.

I was always been told the proximate cause of most fires is electrical but with this happening, I decided to check out the stats on office equipment fires in particular.   HP and Brother both had recalls on office equipment, which caused fire hazards. The NFPA (National Fire Protection Agency), provided the following stats:

In 2003-2006, there were an estimated 780 reported U.S. non-confined non-home structure fires involving office equipment per year, resulting in:   17 civilian injuries per year but no deaths, and $34 million in direct property damage per year. The office was the leading area of origin (48%) for non-confined non-home structure fires involving office equipment. The ignition of wire or cable insulation or appliance housing or casing started roughly half of the non-confined structure fires in non-homes (45%).


The Ministry of Labour for Canada acknowledges they are seeing an increase in amount of electronic office equipment.  We have an aging electrical grid, that is over worked at times to provide the power we need and yet we are plugging more and more equipment into that grid.   Electronic or low voltage equipment is particularly susceptible to fluctuations in power.

The cause of failure in electronic equipment during spikes or surges is due to the increased current heating up the wires. Once these wires reach a certain temperature, they can burn. This extra current can also cause strain on the electronic components, thus wearing them down over time and increasing their chance of burning with the next power spike or surge.

The Ministry of Labour has an excellent set of guidelines on power strips, surge protection and fires to help businesses (and homeowners) deal with this growing issue.  Their recommendations include

Do

• Use only surge protectors or power strips that have an internal circuit breaker. These units will trip the breaker if the power strips is over loaded or shorted to prevent overheating.
• Avoid using power strips fabricated in plastic.
• Remove and replace the surge protector or power strips if it is hot to the touch. The electrical load for this strip should be evaluated for overloading.
• Replace any surge protector or power strips that does not have an internal circuit breaker, that has frayed wires or that has a unit that is not working properly.
• Verify that all surge protectors or power strips are approved by a listing agency, such as ULC or CUL (Underwriters Laboratory), CSA (Canadian Standards Association), ETL (Electrical Testing Laboratories), etc. The certifying label from the listing agency on the unit must never be removed. On the underside of the casing, there should be the manufacturer’s name and the name of the testing lab where the unit was tested.
• Visually inspect all surge protectors or power strips on a regular basis to ensure that they are not damaged or showing signs of degradation. During the visual inspection, ensure that the plug is fully engaged in their respective outlets.
• Shut off and unplug all surge protector or power strips when the equipment attached to the surge protector or power strips is not in use. 
• Replace any surge protector or power strips showing signs of overheating, such as discoloration or distortion with a newer model that complies with the latest safety standards.
• Follow the manufacturer’s instructions provided with the device.
• Only use power strips or surge protectors with the appropriate equipment and power loads since not all power strips or surge protectors offer the same protection despite their CSA or ULC accreditation.

Don’t

• Do not substitute surge protectors, power strips, or extension cords for permanent wiring.
• Do not allow a surge protector or power strips to be placed in a moist environment.
• Do not plug a surge protector or power strips into an existing surge protector or power strips. This practice is called “daisy chaining” or “piggy backing” and can lead to serious problems.
• Do not plug more than one surge protector or power strips into a single duplex electrical outlet.
• Do not locate a surge protector or power strips in any area where the unit would be covered with carpet, furniture, or any other item that will limit or prevent air circulation.
• Do not staple, tack, or tape a surge protector or power strips.
• Do not use a three to two prong adapter to power the power strips. The surge protector or power strips should always have either a polarized plug with one of the blades being larger than the other one or a three-prong grounded plug.
• Do not plug sensitive electronic devices such as computers and VCRs into outlets on the same circuit as appliances that require a large amount of power. For example, beware of sharing circuits with space heaters, clothes irons, refrigerators, washers or microwave ovens.
• Do not use surge protectors or power strips not designed as construction grade at construction sites or other similar locations. A non-industrial product in general lacks the required durability.
• Do not use surge protectors or power bars to power equipment with high current electrical motors, electrical motors found in power tools refrigerators and other equipment require up to 300 % starting current, this inrush of current may exceed the capacity of the surge protector or power bars, leading to frequent tripping and long term damage.
• Do not cut off the grounding prong of a three-prong plug.
• Do not use power strips or surge protectors in an area that may contain flammable vapours (e.g., paint cabinets, solvent storage areas, etc?)

Do not plug equipment with a heating element (e.g., coffee pot, toaster oven, hot plate, etc.) into a power strips or surge protector.