Znaczenie rozwoju metodyki analizy i oceny zagrożeń pożarowych oraz innych miejscowych zagrożeń
Authors: Janik Paweł 
Published: February 2025

In this study, on the basis of the author’s scientific and professional experience, efforts have been made to present the results of research for the improvement of the methodology of hazard analysis and assessment, focusing attention on fire hazards and other local threats, in the fight against which fire protection units are involved, especially the national rescue and firefighting system. In the first chapter, the results of an analysis of selected statistical summaries for the years 2012-2022, based on data from incident records maintained by the National Fire Service Headquarters, are presented against the background of KSRG tasks. Attention was also paid to the role played by the entities of the national rescue and firefighting system in the national security system, seeking to answer the research questions posed on this occasion relating to: • location of KSRG in the structure of national security; • tasks performed by the entities of the system under consideration; • forces and resources available to KSRG units; • factors that determine the effectiveness of the tasks carried out by the system; • impact on the aforementioned efficiency of the analysis of statistical data of the events that have occurred. The second chapter is devoted to a discussion of the method of assessing the threat of municipalities and counties, seen as one of the main achievements in the scientific and research output of the author of this monograph. The method was developed as a tool to meet specific practical needs related to the planning of rescue operations of units of the national rescue and firefighting system. From the perspective of more than a decade of using the considered methodology for the needs of KSRG, and taking into account that no fundamental demands have been formulated by its users as to the need for significant adjustments in its structure and criterion values, it can be said that it meets the expectations placed in it. The third chapter is devoted to presenting the author’s experience of assessing the risk of major industrial accidents and using the results for the purpose of drafting documents for dealing with the aforementioned emergencies. Using selected examples, a synthetic review of the types of risk assessment methods used to determine the probability of occurrence and possible consequences of the accidents considered in this chapter was made. With regard to the methodology for assessing the risk of major accidents, taking into account the main division of risk assessment methods into comparative and basic methods, the method of conducting analytical and assessment activities in each of these groups is approximated. The fourth chapter is devoted to analyses and threat assessments prepared in connection with the need to verify the level of threat for a specific project or building. Addressing the issue of how to properly analyse and assess the threat in special cases, two examples of the mentioned analysis and assessment are characterized. The first was a methodology developed for analysing threats at facilities related to the organization of the UEFA EURO 2012 European Football Championship final tournament, and the second was a methodology for assessing threats at seaports. In each of the above cases, efforts were made to confirm the veracity of the research hypothesis that it is possible to conduct a reliable analysis and assessment of the threat at a given place and time. Proposing a methodology for assessing the threat to seaports is in turn the result of a discussion undertaken more than a decade ago in terms of developing optimal solutions for fire protection in Polish seaports. One of the topics of this discussion was the adaptation of the structure of the company’s operating emergency services to the level of risk present at a given location. The presentation of the results of the work, which began several months ago, on the creation of analytical tools to diagnose the state of safety associated with the use of unmanned aerial vehicles in rescue operations and the installation of electric car charging points in garages was the latest aspect of the author’s long-standing commitment to research for the improvement of methodologies for the analysis and assessment of fire and other local hazards, presented in this monograph. At the beginning of chapter five, issues concerning the implementation of risk analysis and assessment methods as one of the tools of fire safety engineering are discussed, pointing out the rationale for their wider use in this area than before. On this occasion, it was characterized what types of the mentioned methods can be used as fire safety engineering tools, to what extent it is possible to improve the existing methodology of risk assessment carried out before performing certain operations with unmanned aerial vehicles (BSPs), taking into account issues related to the use of the said vessels in rescue operations, and how the risk assessment of equipping garages in buildings with electric car battery charging devices can be carried out. The selection of this topic as the closing theme of this monograph also serves to emphasize that the spectrum of possible adverse events is constantly changing. In the former case, they are related to the use of new technological advances in rescue operations, which help ensure the effectiveness of the operations in question, provided, however, that certain safety criteria for air operations are met. Meanwhile, in case of electric vehicle battery charging processes, we are talking about a change in the specifics of the fire hazard in garages, raising the need to modify the way in which both the fire protection of these facilities and the conduct of possible firefighting operations are carried out. The above makes it clear that changes in the characteristics of threats should be accompanied by undertakings in the preventive sphere and in the area of mitigation, in case a given threat materializes. Therefore, there is no doubt that the above activities should be continuous. Concluding the summary, the author would like to express the hope that the content presented in the monograph has provided convincing arguments regarding the need for continuous improvement of the methodology in the area of hazard analysis and assessment, also taking into account within its framework the ever-changing reality, in which the number and variety of random events shows – unfortunately – an upward trend. The intention of the study was also to make it clear that the proper response to the growing scale of threats is to prepare effective measures to prevent their potential from being unleashed, and when that fails, a response system designed to mitigate the consequences of a given emergency. In the above context, the author also wished to draw attention to the fact that an effective anti-hazard system cannot be built in practice without laying a foundation in the form of a reliable diagnosis of each foreseeable risk. On this occasion, with the above considerations as a reference, an attempt has been made to present a significant part of the scientific and research output of the author of the monograph, who has been accompanied by the issues of risk analysis and assessment for most of his 35 years of service in various organizational units of the State Fire Service. Its evaluation remains the prerogative of the readers.