How to Protect Your Business from FireHow to Protect Your Business from Fire
Fire is a major risk to any business, posing a serious threat of injury or death to customers and employees and causing damage and destruction to property, stock, and equipment.
Every year faulty appliances and electrical wires are responsible for thousands of fires in commercial buildings, with carelessness, a lack of regular maintenance/servicing, and lack of safety knowledge also posing a threat.
Many of the blazes could have been prevented if the fire security systems of the premises in question had been better equipped meaning that just a few small changes to the fire protocols of your company could significantly reduce the risk of fire.
Central FS are one of Scotland’s leading providers of fire security systems including fire alarms, sprinklers, alarm monitoring, and fire doors.
We have many years experience helping business owners protect their sites and reduce the risk of fire and have used this knowledge to put together this guide on how to improve the fire safety of your business.
How do fires start?
One of the best ways to reduce the risk of fire to staff, customers, and property is to prevent the fire from starting in the first place.
To do this it is important to understand the common causes of commercial fires that need to be focussed on.
In order for a fire to start 3 key components are needed:
- Ignition – Lighters, naked flames, electrical wires, cigarettes etc.
- Fuel – Wood, loose packaging, cardboard, paper, foam, furniture
- Oxygen
Clearly, fuel and oxygen are plentiful in any building across the world, but educating your staff on the risks of potential ignition sources and keeping them away from flammable materials is a simple way to improve awareness and reduce the risk of fire.
What can you do as a business?
Staff education is one thing, but in order to fully protect your site against fire, you will need to make some company wide changes.
Some of the steps that every business should take if they are serious about fire safety include:
1. Risk Assessment
Every owner or occupier of a commercial premises has a legal obligation to conduct a fire risk assessment and review it on a regular basis.
This can be done by the owner themselves, if they are confident in doing so, another responsible individual in the business, or the task can be designated to a professional firm.
A risk assessment should always involve:
- Identifying all possible fire hazards on site
- Identifying individuals most at risk of being exposed to fire
- Evaluating and taking steps to eliminate or limit the risks
- Creating a report, emergency plan, and fire safety protocols
- Providing training to all staff
- Regularly reviewing and updating the risk assessment to account for new risks and observed behaviour.
2. Early Detection and Alerts
The most crucial factor in a successful response to a fire in any property is early identification.
Installing a fire alarm system on site that is monitored by the emergency services, and is regularly serviced by a professional fire security expert, is by far the best way to achieve early detection,
Fire Alarms Glasgow will detect the first signs of smoke or excess heat and trigger an audio and visual warning, alerting those nearby to the situation.
This will allow staff to ensure that they and your customers are able to safely exit the building as quickly as possible.
Monitored alarms will also send an instant alert to the emergency services meaning help will be on its way as soon as possible.
By not requiring a physical 999 call your staff can focus on following established fire safety procedures, safe in the knowledge that help will be on the scene in a matter of minutes.
3. Evacuation
Ensuring that all staff and customers are well away from any potential fire should be the cornerstone of any fire safety plan.
An essential part of staff training should be to ensure that they are fully aware of evacuation routes, and the plan to clear the building in the event of a fire.
There should be a minimum of two separate escape routes out of the building in case one is inaccessible, and these should be kept well clear of any debris, or obstacles that may cause a trip hazard.
Escape routes should be clearly marked, and illuminated in case of a power cut, and all the external doors should be kept unlocked whilst the building is in use.
Finally, all routes should be interspersed with fire doors to prevent the fire spreading quickly through high traffic zones.
Contact Central FS
For more information on fire safety from an industry expert or to arrange alarm installation today contact Central FS today on 0141 530 1244 and our BAFE accredited team will be delighted to help.