Fire Safety for Business, Part 2: Preparing Employees for a Fire Emergency

Disaster can strike at any time, and anywhere. An important step in ensuring the safety of you, your employees and customers, and business is making sure you have the best equipment on hand, as discussed later in Part 4 on choosing fire extinguishers. It is necessary that your staff knows how to use such equipment quickly, properly, safely, and are familiar with proper procedures. Then they will be ready in case such an emergency still strikes.

As already touched on, knowing the capabilities and proper use of fire safety equipment must be part of any basic employee training. Such training can help stop a fire early, which will keep people safe and protect your business. However, the circumstances where an extinguisher will resolve an emergency are limited and your employees need to know how to react when it may be dangerous to use an extinguisher.

Every business is different, and you need to account for what is unique for you when training your employees. Sometimes it is necessary to run shutdown procedures in the case of emergencies. If that is the case, make sure to train your staff on those procedures, and it is especially important to make sure they know when it is unsafe to remain in the building. There may be other unique circumstances for your business, in each case make sure employees know who has which responsibilities and how to stay safe when fulfilling them.

Once training and an emergency plan are in place, running drills will refresh the needed skills and allow time to practice special procedures. Then, if real disaster strikes, you and your business can be ready.

It is our hope that your business and staff will never have to deal with such a situation; one way to act preventively is by preforming proper maintenance, which can ensure that your fire safety equipment is working and can help prevent the worst. In addition, make sure any and all flammable materials are properly stored and there is proper ventilation where needed. You can perform an inspection and rid spaces of flammable clutter, such as unused boxes, paper waste, and wooden pallets. At the same time, check that emergency exits are kept clear of obstruction so they can be used quickly and safely if necessary. Finally, make sure there is a space outside for smoking and that employees use it, and that they dispose of their butts safely.

The final tips may seem obvious, but those are always the most dangerous and often forgotten or ignored. Our next article in this series is on some best practices, so check it out here.

For additional information contact a representative at Gate Keepers Fire & Safety at (303) 915-3670 or click here to send us a message.

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