Whether your company is well established or just starting out, fires in the workplace can be catastrophic for any business. Many organisations never fully recover from a workplace fire as irreplaceable concept designs, and documentation that has yet to be digitised can be lost in the damage. Prevention of fires is essential to avoid your business ever suffering irreparable losses.
Fire Alarms
Fire alarm systems are a legal requirement in every business; in the event of a fire, there needs to be a system in place to detect and warn everyone in the building to vacate and meet at the assembly point. Swift Fire & Safety is a leading fire protection service supplier and the perfect company to help you find the best fire alarm systems for your office.
Emergency Plan
As the owner of a business, it is your responsibility to keep people safe if there is a fire on your premises. A suitable emergency plan should have clear instructions for all the steps everyone needs to take and be tailored to your business.
The basic elements of an emergency plan remain the same for all organisations; if your office handles machinery or equipment that poses a fire risk, you may need more steps to ensure adequate safety.
- Actions to be taken when discovering a fire or hearing the alarms.
- Evacuation strategy to get everyone out of the building safely.
- Who is in charge of calling the fire services if the alarms don’t do that automatically.
- Appoint and train fire wardens.
- Clearly marked escape routes with emergency lighting.
- Emergency doors that open quickly.
- Staff training on escape routes, the assembly point and who the fire wardens are.
- How to help those with impairments or disabilities out of the building.
- An assembly point that is a safe distance from the building.
Employee Training
Often companies only cover fire safety and evacuation procedures during the initial induction. However, it is essential to hold regular sessions to refresh the memories of your employees to ensure that if a fire does ever occur, everyone will know what to do.
Fire Wardens
Fire wardens are a vital part of any office; they are staff members that have undergone the fire warden training and play a key role in a fire emergency. Fire wardens must ensure that all visitors and staff are safely evacuated from the building, checking rooms or toilets to ensure that no one is left inside.
Fire Extinguishers
When you have your fire extinguishers installed, it is crucial to train all staff on how to use them correctly. You should also ensure that your fire extinguishers are serviced by a professional on an annual basis, as they can degrade over time.
Fire Drills
Practice fire drills on a monthly basis to ensure that your staff understand what they need to do if there is a fire. This is also an excellent way to help new fire wardens improve their skills when it comes to checking rooms so that they don’t miss anyone during the inspection sweep.