Risk Management & Site Safety Flashcards
7 cards from real FPE practice questions. Tap to flip, then mark Knew It or Still Learning — missed cards come back until you master them.
Read the first 7 Risk Management & Site Safety flashcards as text
Which of the following BEST defines 'inherently safer design' (ISD) as applied to fire and explosion risk in chemical process facilities?
Answer: Eliminating or reducing hazards at their source—by substituting less hazardous materials, minimizing inventories, or moderating process conditions—rather than controlling them
ISD focuses on eliminating or reducing hazards intrinsically (minimize, substitute, moderate, simplify) rather than adding protective layers to manage hazards that remain.
A fire protection engineer is asked to assess the risk of fire spread in a multi-story atrium building. The MOST critical factor influencing smoke movement and tenability in the atrium is:
Answer: The stack effect driven by temperature differential between inside and outside air, combined with the height of the atrium
Stack effect in tall atria can drive rapid smoke movement vertically, overwhelming mechanical smoke control systems; the temperature differential and atrium height determine its magnitude.
Under NFPA 101 (Life Safety Code), which occupancy classification requires an AUTOMATIC fire detection system in ALL cases, regardless of the presence of an automatic sprinkler system?
Answer: Health care occupancy
NFPA 101 requires automatic fire detection throughout health care occupancies (hospitals, nursing homes) due to the inability of occupants to self-evacuate, regardless of sprinkler protection.
In developing an emergency response plan for a facility with on-site hazardous materials, coordination with the Local Emergency Planning Committee (LEPC) is required under which US regulation?
Answer: EPCRA (Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act, 42 USC 11001)
EPCRA (Title III of SARA) mandates that facilities with Extremely Hazardous Substances above threshold planning quantities notify and coordinate with their Local Emergency Planning Committee.
When applying the SFPE Engineering Guide to Performance-Based Fire Protection, the 'design fire' selected for analysis should represent:
Answer: A fire scenario that appropriately challenges the fire protection system and represents a credible worst-case for the design objectives being evaluated
The design fire must be credible and appropriately challenging—not impossibly extreme, but severe enough to test whether design objectives (life safety, property protection) are met.
A fire protection engineer is evaluating explosion venting for a dust collector per NFPA 68. The required vent area is MOST directly determined by:
Answer: The dust collector volume, the Kst value of the dust, and the maximum allowable reduced explosion pressure (Pred)
NFPA 68 calculations for deflagration venting use the enclosure volume, the dust's Kst (deflagration index), and Pred (the design strength of the enclosure) to determine required vent area.
Which of the following represents the CORRECT hierarchy of risk control strategies, from most to least preferred, as applied in fire protection engineering and occupational safety?
Answer: Elimination → Substitution → Engineering Controls → Administrative Controls → PPE
The hierarchy of controls ranks Elimination as most preferred (remove the hazard), followed by Substitution, Engineering Controls, Administrative Controls, and finally PPE as the least reliable last resort.