Home Lifestyle How to Vastly Improve Your Workplace Fire Safety Protocols

How to Vastly Improve Your Workplace Fire Safety Protocols

How to Vastly Improve Your Workplace Fire Safety Protocols

Fire safety and protecting your staff, customers, visitors, and your companyā€™s inventory and buildings is one of the utmost priorities and a serious legal obligation. 

Whether fire safety and risk assessments are solely your responsibility within your company or you are part of a team, you will naturally be committed to improvement. 

Here, to help you on your way, is a guide on how to improve your workplace fire safety protocols vastly. 

Install Emergency Lighting 

Even though a certain amount of emergency lighting is absolutely a legal requirement in some areas, it is largely true to state that the minimum required level of emergency lighting simply is not enough, especially if you work in a public building. 

The British Standard 5266-1 law states that offices, schools, hospitals, multi-story car parks, and other multi-level buildings and hospitals must all maintain a standard of emergency lighting in case the power fails in one or more areas of the structure. 

Emergency lighting ensures that your workplace is wholly compliant and will save your business money. Having an emergency backup power system may well mean your employees can keep working through an electrical malfunction or failure.Ā 

Provide Comprehensive Fire Safety Training

Even if you and the rest of the senior management department are entirely aware of exactly how to prevent the risk of a fire starting and, indeed, exactly what to do if a fire does break out, this is virtually no use at all if every single one of your employees are not adequately trained in such matters too.

The only real way to ensure that the risk of a fire within your workplace is at an absolute minimum is to provide training to all of your staff members above and beyond what is considered legally mandatory.

Invest in Industrial Fire Sprinklers

Firemen and fire officers alike are all likely to agree on at least one thing regarding fire safety: industrial fire sprinklers are incredibly effective.Ā 

Not only will they offer a much greater cover of fire management, especially when it comes to larger spaces such as theatres, schools, and hospitals, but they have also been proven repeatedly to extinguish a fire more quickly. 

Fire sprinkler systems also require little to no maintenance, and the only thing you need to do in this area is to ensure the outlets are never covered or painted over and that the system is not jammed. Other benefits of investing in industrial fire sprinklers for your workplace include the fact that they automatically react immediately to a fire, they notify nearby emergency services automatically, and they are a much more cost-effective and eco-friendlier alternative to fire extinguishers. 

Outsource Your Fire Risk Assessments

One of the most important ways to drastically improve your companyā€™s fire safety protocols is to take a long, hard look at your fire risk assessments, the fire safety equipment that you have around your business, and the fire safety training that you provide for your staff. 

When a business either underestimates or totally misunderstands fire hazards and potential fire risks, it can lead to serious injuries and even loss of lives. In a way, it makes far more logical sense to outsource all of your fire risk assessment duties to an established and expert company that can ensure every box is ticked. 

The main elements of a fire risk assessment include the following:

  • The identification of every fire hazard
  • The identification of every person who is possibly at risk
  • Protect, Reduce, Remove and Evaluate each risk
  • Train, Instruct, Inform, Plan, and Record 
  • Review fire risk assessment for the future 

Keep All Spaces Tidy & Clean at All Times

Finally, one of the most effective ways to reduce the risk of a fire breaking out in any part of your building, be that a public space or behind the scenes in an office, is to keep all spaces as clean and tidy as possible at all times. 

Not only can cluttered desk areas and blocked fire doors make the difference between one of your employees quickly making it to safety if a fire breaks out or getting trapped and severely injured if a fire were to break out.

In addition, it is crucial to ensure that all flammable liquids and other flammable items are safely stored in a locked cupboard, with only limited access by trusted employees and that each of your staff members always keeps their own personal workspace as clean, neat, and tidy as possible. 

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