Fire protection in the workplace – what you need to know
As an employer, you have a legal and moral duty to protect your employees. Fire represents one of the most broadly applicable risk factors that different businesses can face; it doesn’t discriminate between different niches and brands, and can strike literally anywhere.
The effects of any fire can be absolutely catastrophic; without proper safety measures in place, even a small fire can take down an entire building, along with the lives within it. Let’s look at some essentials that you need to know when it comes to managing the risk of fires in the workplace.
Risk assessments
When it comes to any hazard in the workplace, risk assessments play a central role in identifying those hazards and then mitigating the risk posed. This is no different when it comes to fire. For employers with over five employees, it’s a legal requirement to carry out risk assessments, but more than that, they’re an incredibly effective way of protecting your business.
Risk assessments allow you to identify potential fire hazards – this might be loose wiring, old outlets in proximity to a water source, or old or broken appliances – and then come up with ways of mitigating those risks. Control measures will vary depending on the type of hazard and the level of risk that the hazard poses. No workplace is an unchanging environment, and as a result, risk assessments should be reviewed and revised on a regular basis.
Complete regular fire safety exercises and training
One of the most important things when it comes to fire safety is making sure that when things turn south, all your fire safety plans actually work. Complete regular fire safety drills, including emergency evacuations. All your staff need to be trained in appropriate fire safety procedures, from how to raise the alarm in the case of a fire to appropriate actions that they should take in the case that they spot a fire hazard.
Fire training needs to be carried out on a regular basis – it’s not something that you can be relaxed about. The London Fire Brigade have some excellent information on fire training on their website if you’re unsure of where to look for suitable resources.
In certain situations, fire training should be completed more frequently than usual. These include if you have a high staff turnover, or if your business deals with vulnerable individuals who might be trickier to evacuate, such as elderly people or medical patients. Of course, it should also be carried out more frequently if there is a higher than usual risk of fire in the premises.
Keeping the workplace tidy
In dirty, cluttered workplaces, it’s almost impossible to assess all of the risks. Dust and dirt, for example, can lead to electrical fires that can be avoided simply by keeping the workplace clean. Cluttered spaces make it harder to evacuate a property effectively, and can cause slips, trips and falls in the often rushed process of leaving a building during a fire.
Certain items require further care – these include flammable materials, which need to be stored in line with COSHH regulations. Regular cleaning has multiple benefits for your business, from increased productivity to decreased risk of damage to stock. The fact that it can also significantly impact fire protection should be another important consideration when it comes to creating a cleaning plan and schedule.
Practical fire protection methods
There are a variety of practical solutions that can help to mitigate the risk of fires in the workplace.
Fire safety equipment
There is a wide variety of fire safety equipment that should be present in workplaces. Common examples that should be present in most properties include smoke alarms, fire exits, and fire mitigation systems such as sprinklers and fire extinguishers.
With all of this equipment, it’s not enough to get it and then simply leave it be. Smoke alarms need testing on a regular basis, and likewise, fire extinguishers tend to have a limited lifetime. Testing your fire safety equipment is crucial, and should be scheduled on regular intervals.
Fire and smoke curtains
Another effective way of mitigating the risk of fires in the workplace is by using fire and smoke curtains. These are essentially massive fire doors, and they allow you to create compartments in large spaces that you wouldn’t be able to with normal-sized doors.
By creating compartments, you can significantly slow the speed at which a fire spreads, with each minute gained providing you with an extra minute of evacuation time, potentially saving lives. Each minute saved also increases the chances that the emergency services, when they arrive, will be able to control the fire and save your business.
They’re manufactured and fitted by industry specialists such as LBS Group, who will survey the property in question to analyse the most effective locations to place these shutters in.
As an added bonus, fire and smoke curtains provide further security to premises; they can be closed manually when the property is vacated, and will close automatically in the case of a fire.
Main causes of fire
Now that we’ve covered the basics when it comes to fire protection, we can look at some common causes of fires in businesses and homes. While these won’t necessarily be applicable to your specific workplace, they will give you a good idea of things to watch out for, allowing you to learn from common mistakes that others have unfortunately made.
Smoking
While smoking is banned in workplaces, a significant number of fires are still caused by improperly discharged smoking materials. Make sure that any smokers in your business are aware of the risk that they pose and dispose of their cigarettes responsibly.
Electrics
Faulty electrics are the most common cause of fires in the UK, leading to 12,000 fires each year. Besides the fact that it’s a legal requirement, this should really drive home the importance of having your outlets and appliances checked on a regular basis.
Flammable materials
Improperly stored flammable materials are another common cause of fires in UK workplaces. It only takes a small spark to light commonly found liquids such as ethanol, and that fire can then spread incredibly quickly.
