Analysis on the Relationship between Fire Security Investments and Corporate Profits

摘要：企業(yè)的消防安全投入作為企業(yè)固定生產(chǎn)成本的組成部分，它意味著在為企業(yè)和社會(huì)帶來效益的同時(shí)所花費(fèi)的代價(jià)。對企業(yè)的消防安全投入和經(jīng)濟(jì)效益的分析將是消防工作需要解決的一個(gè)緊迫而且重要的課題。本文從闡述企業(yè)消防安全投入的定義、內(nèi)涵與內(nèi)容入手，深入分析與總結(jié)了消防安全投入給企業(yè)帶來的直接與間接經(jīng)濟(jì)效益。Abstract: A company’s fire security investment is part of its fixed costs for production， which means the necessary spending to bring corporate and social benefits. The analysis on the links between the company’s fire security investments and the economic benefits is a very important and urgent issue. This paper will provide deep analysis of the definitions， meanings and contents of the corporate fire security investments and also make a summary of the direct and indirect economic benefits brought by such investments.關(guān)鍵詞：企業(yè)；消防；投入；效益；管理Keywords: company， fire security， investment， benefit， management1. The Definition and Contents of the Company’s Fire Security Investment1.1 DefinitionA company’s fire security investment is the company’s planned and in advance input aiming to prevent fire accidents and their consequent losses. The fire security investment includes preventive input， which is the company’s planned input into the fire control and management work to prevent fire accidents， and also the controlling input， which is the input into the post-accident relief and loss control， such as the installment of fire extin- guishers. The fire security investments are counted as part of the company’s production costs， and are used for ensuring working security and protecting labors.1.2 MeaningThe fire security investments bring economic benefits to the company， but these benefits differ from those brought by production or operation investments. The latter always manifests itself in the rise of profits and sales revenues， or the fall of production costs， while the benefit derived from fire security investment is quite unique， and could not be seen directly as other common investment benefits. To put is simply， the fire security investment benefits are reflected in the production process， which is to ensure the production smoothness and profits， and prevent or minimize fire accidents.2. Contents of the company’s fire security investments2.1 Management fee for fire security investmentsThe security management fee means the costs incurred by operation of fire prevention and security projects or facilities， fire security management and supervision， hiring of firemen， security trainings， etc. It mainly includes the following payment items: operation fee of fire prevention and security proj- ects and facilities， fire security management fee， fire security training and education fee; fire security publicity fee， fire security examination fee and fire security testing fee.Fire security project and facility operation fee: labor costs， and other costs to ensure the normal operation of fire security projects and facilitiesFire security management fee: fees for office work， publicity， researching information， making security standards， compiling security and health system files， and holding security activities， to prevent fire accidents and ensure safe productionsFire security training fee: fees for training managers and operators of the fire prevention system about security awareness， management knowledge， and operation procedures， to reach the security standards and enhance people’s overall quality.Fire security education fee: fees for purchasing and compiling security technology and labor protection books， buying equipment for electrifying education， setting fire prevention education office， holding fire security exhibition， training about the usage of fire apparatus and self rescue exercises.Fire security publicity fee: fees for fire prevention slogan， sign labels， posters and blackboard newspapers.Fire security examination fee: fees for on-site examination and supervision about the fire prevention work.Fire security testing fee: fees for testing fire prevention facilities， equipment and apparatus.2.2 Technical fees of fire security investments:fire security facility fee: fees for purchasing and installment of fire apparatus， ground hardening and facility repairs.fire security monitoring apparatus and measuring instrument purchasing fee: fees for purchasing， maintenance and repair of the monitoring apparatus and measuring instrument， and also salary for security staff.fire security technology introduction fee: fees for designing， reviewing and technology introducing for the fire security projects.3. Economic benefits of companies’ fire security investments3.1 Fire Prevention BenefitsFire prevention benefits are those created through all kinds of fire prevention activities， and could be divided into two parts.First， the fire prevention could alleviate or eliminate human， social or natural losses caused by fire accidents， and the benefits protected from fire could be called “l(fā)oss reduction benefit”， which means that reducing accident-caused losses is part of the security benefits. When the security condition is deteriorating， the possibility for accident happenings would definitely increase year by year; if fire security investments are made， within a period of time， the accident potential will be eliminated， and the security condition will be improved with the possibility for fire accidents falling sharply. Therefore， the right approach is to estimate respectively the accident-triggered economic losses “with security investments” and“without security investments and calculate the margin， also called the“with or without comparison”. Therefore， the loss reduction L=initial loss(estimated fire accident losses without fire security investments)-late-stage losses (with fire security investments)The fire accident loss items should include: direct economic losses， including corporate facility， equipment， machines and other fixed assets， the floating assets such as materials and products， and resource losses; indirect economic losses， including fire accident investigation fee， costs for restoring production， penalties paid for the fire accident; legal costs， and human casualties.Second， since the fire prevention activities could protect and ensure the normal production， and the indirect corporate and social benefits it leads to might be called value-added output. The added value mainly emphasizes on the contribution of security to the economic production， which reflects “security equals to productivity”. The production function of fire prevention activities is realized through three parts: first the corporate production materials include fire prevention apparatus， equipment and facility. Since production materials belong to productivity， these security facilities also play the role of productivity. The second part is the secure environment created by fire prevention for technological creation. Therefore， it also plays an indirect role of productivity. Finally， the staff’s security is also composition of productivity， and could raise the staff’s sense of working satisfactions in the secure environment， and then enhance the productive efficiency.It is hard to accurately measure the value added production. Generally there are two ways: the first is called approximate estimation， which is to define the contribution rate according to the proportion of the added value brought by fire preventions among all the economic growth factors， and then calculate the absolute value added production. The computing formula is:Value added I=contribution rate of fire prevention *gross production3.2 Protected value of fire extinguishmentThe Protected value of fire extinguishment amounts to the gross financial asset and human values saved or protected by the fire extinguishment activities. It includes direct protected value， indirect protected value and life saving value.The direct protected value is the financial asset value saved and protected by fire extinguishing activities. It includes those values directly saved by the department suffering fire accidents， and also the economic losses to be caused by production and operation halts of the suffering departments but prevented by putting out the fire. The financial asset value is calculated by actual value or replacement value， while those covered by insurance should be calculated by insured value.The indirect protected value of fire extinguishment is the loss value of suffering departments prevented or reduced by fire extinguishment activities. Take the fire accident of the power supply system for example， it might lead to economic losses of the power supplier， but also cause severe indirect losses to the electricity users due to power failure. The lost value prevented by fire extinguishment belongs to indirect protected value， the amount of which would depend on the characteristics of the suffering department and its economic links with other departments.Life saving value is people’s life value due to the fire extinguishment and rescue work. There are many theories both at home and overseas concerned about the life saving value calculation:Human capital method: calculate from the social losses， which include the payments brought by human casualties in the accident， and also the losses due to negative impacts on productions.4. Other implicit or additional economic benefitsThe non-economic benefits of the fire security investments are the social benefits， which reflect the active role the fire security work plays in promoting the national and social developments， stabilizing the corporate and collective productions， and realizing family and individual happiness. As a matter of fact， the noneconomic benefits of fire security have been earlier and more deeply recognized by the social public. Such benefits are realized through raising corporate reputations and minimizing environmental contamination and damage. When investigating the non-economic benefits of fire security investments， it needs to economically quantify the non-economic benefits， for analyzing and quantifying the problem in a clearer and systematic manner.Take some industries for example， such as textile， oil and chemistry and transportation， where the fire accidents are easy to break out. With other conditions as the same， it is easy to know that those companies with sound security condition would win users’ trust and love. This is called security reputation， which is some companies’ sound reputation among customers due to its good security condition. These companies will also take an advantage point in competition， and gain the average return rate above the average level in the same industry. Fire security plays the role of indirect asset， and could raise the corporate profits.(Author: from Chancheng Brigade， Fire Prevention Department， Foshan City)