Galina Vashchenko | Dreamstime.com
Are you fully prepared in case of a fire? Being truly prepared means more than having a fire extinguisher on the wall. It’s about having a complete strategy, the right equipment, and trained personnel in place – we hope you never have to go through a real fire drill!
Regardless of the size of your business, having the right fire emergency procedures in place is crucial to ensure the safety of everyone and minimise potential dangers. This includes not only staff training on fire safety, but also having and regularly testing the proper fire safety equipment. As a business owner, you should also have several escape plans which all your team is aware of, as a fire could break out anywhere in your building.
Keep on reading to learn more about fire safety and how you can ensure your business is properly prepared, should a fire occur on your premises.
Staff Training
One of the first places to start is staff training. Training your staff members on fire safety is vital, as this can reduce the chances of someone causing a fire or getting hurt because of one. Part of your training should include safe practices, fire extinguisher training (a lot of people don’t know how to use one), as well as fire regulations and standard practices.
Our advice would be to look into emergency fire protection solutions such as getting in an external company to run a day learning session for you. By having a company come in, you know they will be able to teach you all the best practices as well as answer any questions you or your team may have on fire emergency preparedness.
Having the right equipment in
Do you have the right equipment to combat a fire, should one occur? Having the right equipment is essential, and as part of having the right equipment, you should be regularly testing it. Five key pieces of equipment that you should have include fire extinguishers, fire alarms, fire blankets, emergency lighting, and fire hose reels. If you haven’t got these, you should consider getting them. Along with these items, there are other pieces of equipment that you should consider getting – it’s best to speak to a fire specialist and see what they recommend for your building.
Have an escape plan in place
Having multiple escape plans in place is important, as you don’t know where a fire could break out from. When putting escape plans together, it’s important you clear out any obstacles that are in and around the paths of these plans and that you put up signage, to remind employee that these are their exits – as part of the escape plan, you should be running through it with your employees and doing test drills, so that they are aware and know instinctively where to go.
Take into account special considerations
When teaching or preparing your business for a fire, you must take into account any special considerations that your workplace may have. For example, you may have babies visit the office, you may have people with disabilities or pets, such as dogs. Your equipment, escape plans and training should include these to help make people aware. Your business should be wheelchair-friendly, and as part of this, you need to have ramps in your escape routes, as they will not be able to use stairs to escape.
Are your staff ready?
A simple way to know if your staff are ready in case a fire breaks out is to ask them and quiz them on safety protocols. Do they know where the nearest fire extinguisher is? Do they know how to use one? Do they know your different escape plans, and do they know where the fire blanket is? Create a tick sheet and ask these questions regularly, as by knowing all the answers, you know they will be able to act fast, should one break out. Training your staff is extremely useful, but a lot of the time, if it’s not regularly brought up, they will forget things. This is why having top-up training sessions is also very useful – these top-up sessions could be done online if you are trying to keep your fire training on a budget.
Being fully prepared for a fire is so important, as being prepared can reduce the damage hugely, as well as reduce the chances of your employees getting hurt due to a fire. We hope we have given you some useful pointers and things to think about when it comes to a fire emergency. What strategies have you implemented to make sure your workforce is prepared in case of a fire? Which of the suggestions above did you find most useful? Is there anything you think we are missing that we should be adding? Let us know in the comment box below, we look forward to hearing from you.
