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fire safetyWith business ownership comes great responsibility. One of those responsibilities is creating an environment in which your workers can feel safe particularly focussing on fire safety. If there is something which can seriously put your and lives of your workers in danger it is a fire outbreak at your place of work. For the purpose of preventing, minimizing and suppressing the damage of such an unfortunate incident, you need to take some of the precautions. Make sure your workplace is equipped with following items, in order to achieve maximum safety for yourself and your employees.

Have a fire plan

It is important that you have a well-formed plan in the event of fire threat, since you can suppress the degree of panic which emerges in such situations.  You fire safety plan should be visible for everyone, and you should also have fire drills for the purpose of preparing your staff how to act properly. Place pointers in your work place, thus marking the correct route for escape and ensure that the way is not obstructed or cramped in any way to avoid tripping on your way out. Once your employees learn the procedure perfectly, you can feel more secure that both you and they will survive.

Problems with power strips  

Although they are quite efficient, overusing power strips may aid fire to spread with greater haste. If one device plugged into fire strip is caught on fire, rest assure that other devices which are plugged in will follow soon, thus creating a bigger threat. Also, check your wires, a faulty wire is very likely to cause a small flame that can spread on rugs or drapes. Do not allow yourself to be careless, change these devices regularly, cables are not that expensive.

Organizing your office

Every workplace has different cleaning chemicals which can be flammable, and if not kept properly, even a tiny spark can lay waste to your office. Make sure you keep them in a well-ventilated space, since it is their vapour that can be highly flammable. Additionally, ensure that people throw out the trash since papers in a trash bin can catch fire if there are smokers in your office. If possible, you should ban smoking in the office to increase safety, one tiny mistake or an act of carelessness can take a huge toll on your office.

Water sprinklers

A great and efficient solution for fire suppression and fire safety, but keep in mind that any piece of pricy equipment will be destroyed if it is not waterproof. This is a good solution if you are not working on computers, because the damage done by fire will be the same if done by water. Other security measures involve everyone leaving the room so that security system can suck all the oxygen from it, thus preventing the fire from spreading, but this system is potentially dangerous for workers as well. If you are using this system as a safety measure, you should probably have a backup system that can retrieve your files via internet, like Cloud technology or Google drive, this way you can salvage your work if equipment is broken.

Fire extinguishers

Probably the most important piece of equipment when it comes to achieving fire safety. Your office should be equipped with multiple fire extinguishers – in case you can’t reach one due to the flames, the other one should be available. Make sure everyone knows how to use fire extinguisher and you can minimize the damage before it spreads further, without any need for sprinkles to activate.

Fire doors

Fire rated doors are essential for fire safety.  This type of door has a fire resistant vermiculite core. Fire rated doors can be customized to look professionally and still keep the functionality of a safety measure. Fire rated doors are widely used in offices, basements, schools, hospitals and shopping centres. These fire doors are approximately 2 meters tall, 80 centimetres wide and 4,5 centimetres thick, thus serving as an efficient safety measure.

Protecting your assets, your workers and yourself through fire safety should be one of your priorities as a business owner. In any case, most councils and local governments require fire doors in most commercial buildings.  Do not hesitate to be rigid and strict about the rules in your office, and acquire the equipment needed to form a secure environment.

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