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International Coatings operate a state of the art Fire Evacuation System which has been developed by Mitrefinch.
International Coatings Ltd
International Coatings in Gateshead is home to the world's largest manufacturing plant producing specialist yacht and marine coatings. The firm, part of multi-national company, Akzo Nobel, has over 800 employees and an average of 400 visitors and contractors on site every day. 
There are three companies operating on the Gateshead site; International Coatings, Protective Coatings Division and Powder Coatings UK which also has a training school and plant. Across the site, the companies manufacture domestic varnishes, yacht and marine paint which is an anti-fouling paint preventing the formation of barnacles, protective coatings for steelwork and powder coatings for application to refrigerators and engine blocks.
The specialist firms run a tight ship operationally and recognise that the biggest threat comes from the risk of fire due to the contents of the coatings components. From a risk assessment point of view, the secondary threat arises from the possibility of a chemical release. To give an idea of the scale of the operations, the safe disposal of International Coating's waste alone costs in the region of £1 million each year.
Prior to 1989, the only system in operation in the event of a fire or incident was a head count which would take place on the evacuation field.
Today, in recognition of the fire risk, International Coatings operate a state of the art Fire Evacuation System which has been developed by Mitrefinch. Alongside this, there is an in-house incident response team of 20 trained firefighters, 19 men and 1 woman. In addition, every single member of staff is trained on the use of fire fighting equipment as part of the company's standard induction procedure.
The Fire and Evacuation System (FES) covers all three operating companies and was first installed in 1989. Since this time, the Mitrefinch system has been regularly upgraded to take advantage of software developments to enhance its efficient running. The system operates on a DOS platform as this has proved to be the most reliable for running fire evacuation systems.
Now, all visitors, staff and contractors must be logged on the system at their point of entry which comprises a gatehouse and turnstiles. In the event of an evacuation, a full report of all personnel and visitors onsite can be produced instantly, providing rescue teams with vital information. The report for International Coatings is set up to print 8 minutes after an alarm has been set off, allowing time for personnel and visitors to be evacuated - only those persons who have not registered as ‘safe' after the pre-set time are then reported on, ensuring the most recent data is used.
The report users comprise the Emergency Control Team and the Crisis Communication Team. A regular weekly report is run to verify staff attendance during appointed hours and distributed to departmental managers for information.
Regular tests and reports are run to ensure that the FES is running effectively and it has been put to the real test -albeit thankfully just once in the event of a very small fire which was instantly contained with no casualties.
Ongoing fire and safety training is provided in-house by qualified fire fighter, Gordon Jeffrey, who is the Fire and Security Manager at International Coatings.
The system has proved its worth and the technology has also been adopted by International Coating's parent company, Akzo Nobel within its Silvertown operations, near London.
Whilst secure in the knowledge that in the event of an incident the Company now has the right technology in place to ensure the safety of personnel and visitors on site, International Coatings is able to turn its attention to what it does best - manufacturing leading edge coatings. Within its research and development laboratory, the firm has achieved a first in producing an anti-fouling paint which is tin-free. This is an important development as tin can cause poisoning in sealife and other wildlife and by the start of 2003, all anti-fouling paint will have to be tin-free by incoming legislation.
© 2010 Mitrefinch UK
