Fire Safety – Simple Steps To Protect Your Business From The Risk of Fire

Under current UK law businesses are now required to undertake certain measures to ensure the safety of their premises and the people who work there. The main elements of the law relate to the new duty to ensure that a Fire Risk Assessment is carried out. All a Fire Risk Assessment really does is give a structure to a series of fire safety measures which it would be sensible to do anyway.

We all have a vested interest in protecting our businesses and staff from any risk or disruption, let alone one as potentially disastrous as a fire. There are several simple steps to carrying out a Fire Risk Assessment, but much of it is applying common sense to identifying what may cause a fire, and what you can do to reduce the risk of this happening.

If you consider the following fire safety issues and record your findings, you will have completed a significant chunk of your Fire Risk Assessment already, as well as reducing the chances of a fire breaking out on your premises:

• Think about possible fire hazards, what could catch fire and what could burn? What can you do to reduce the chances of this happening?

• You need an efficient fire warning system in place. This will vary depending on your business, from someone shouting “FIRE!” to a sophisticated automatic fire detection system.

• Check that you have the appropriate number and type of fire extinguishers in the correct places throughout your premises. For basic water extinguishers in a normal environment, you need one extinguisher per 200 square metres of floor space.

• Are your fire exit routes clearly marked with ‘pictograph’ fire exit signs? From each point on an escape route you should be able to see the next sign.

• Are your escape routes adequate for each work area? You should ideally have at least two possible routes from each area, in case one is blocked by fire.

• Are your escape routes completely free from obstruction at all times? If an exit door is locked or blocked by heavy equipment, it may as well not be there. Exit doors should be ‘idiot proof’ and require no special knowledge in order to open them.

• Your escape routes and exits must have suitable emergency lighting. This must be properly maintained, which is best done under a service contract.

Your staff must be trained so that they know what to do in the event of a fire. It may be appropriate to give special training as Fire Marshalls to some staff who have specific duties in a fire. Appropriate action for staff in an emergency should be recorded in an Emergency Plan. Your plan should also consider things like action to take if a neighbouring building catches fire.

Fire Safety Tips - How To Protect Your Business From Arson

Recent statistics show that 45% of all fires in the UK were started deliberately. Of these arson attacks, 12,800 were on non-residential buildings such as your workplace. These deliberate fires caused 118 deaths and 2,700 other casualties.

Arson is a very real threat, and if you allow your business to be an easy target you are far more likely to be the subject of an attack. Taking steps to make life difficult for any would-be arsonist will almost certainly mean they give up and look for a softer target.

Follow the following simple steps to protect your business and your staff:

• Ensure you have carried out a Fire Risk Assessment and implemented any findings.

• Make sure it is a specific person’s job to be responsible for the prevention of arson attacks and other fire safety issues.

• Check the security of your doors and windows, and any perimeter fences. Arson is often linked to burglary.

• Consider CCTV to cover the outside of your premises – this will act as a deterrent.

• Fit metal containers inside letter boxes and minimise gaps under doors.

• Store bins and rubbish away from the walls of your building, and chain wheelie bins up so they can’t be set on fire then pushed against your building.

• Keep combustible materials away from your premises perimeter, to prevent matches, etc being thrown into them from beyond your boundary.

• Have proper systems in place for visitors to your site and encourage staff to challenge anyone who they think should not be on the premises.

• Check fire fighting equipment regularly to ensure it has not been tampered with.

• Store any flammable liquids correctly, in a secure store.

• Have a thorough locking up procedure that includes checks on all doors and windows, that alarms are on, that external illumination is on and that no rubbish or combustible material is left lying about outside.

Follow these simple steps and you will go a long way to minimising the chances of your business suffering as the result of an arson attack.