Concept and Care for “Line of Fire”

Perception of Line of Fire and Fire Line is very important because they signify two distinctly different aspects. While a “fire-line” is defined as the area within or adjacent to the perimeter of an uncontrolled wildfire of any size in which action is being taken to control fire, “line of fire” indicates position where someone is aiming their gun at me - if I move into their line-of-fire, I move into the position between them and the thing they are aiming at. In any work front we remain surrounded by many types of hazards including “line-of-fire” hazards which have potential to cause minor, serious or even fatal injuries. Hence it is necessary to follow specific system / protocol while dealing with such hazards. Line-of-Fire hazards are not constant and vary with work progress too. Line-of-fire injuries may be caused by gravity, moving machinery, flying objects / projectiles, contact with rotating hazards, automated equipments and also human behaviour (e.g. spitting, sneezing, throwing/hitting etc.). To avoid “line-of-fire” incidents we must keep our body parts in a safe zone all the time in relation to work that we perform / that are performed around us. Of course the universal principle for hazard control is equally applicable for “line-of-fire” too - (a) identify hazards, (2) recognise hazards, (3) evaluate risk level of those hazards, (4) control the hazard by elimination / adjustment and (5) protect human by enforcing use of personal protective equipments.