The Importance of Regular Fire Safety Training

Fire can devastate homes, businesses and people.  It can take a long time to fully recover from the effects of seeing your home or your workplace go up in flames and some people and businesses never recover.

A fire can start so easily; often unnoticed until it has become out of control. Almost anything can ignite a fire from faulty wiring to a discarded cigarette end to failing to turn off an appliance.  A fire can spread very quickly and when the situation is compounded by people not knowing what they should do in the situation; it can soon become very serious.

If you are a business owner or landlord of ‘non-domestic’ premises, it falls to you to take responsibility for the safety and well-being of your staff and one of the things you are responsible for is fire safety.  It is wise to carry out regular fire risk assessments throughout your business premises.

Identify Any Hazards.

It makes sense for you and all your staff to know exactly where and what the fire hazards are and who would be most at risk.  Make sure everybody is fully aware and kept up to date with evacuation points and fire doors, etc. including what is needed to evacuate any vulnerable people on your premises like the disabled, elderly or young children.  You should designate certain staff members who will have responsibility for marshalling people in the event of a fire.  Most importantly, you and your staff members should know the location of all fire fighting equipment on the premises and be knowledgeable about how to use it.

Fire Safety Equipment, Drills and Training.

If you are busy running your business we appreciate it can be difficult keeping up with all the regulations relating to fire safety and the equipment involved and it can also be tough remembering to organise fire extinguisher servicing and maintenance as well as the instructions on how to use the equipment.  It is essential, therefore, to ensure that your business has access to fire safety equipment training courses on a regular basis.

Fire extinguishers need regular maintenance to BS5306 by a trained and qualified competent person to ensure they work correctly and safely when needed.  Poor servicing or lack of maintenance can have catastrophic consequences.  Extinguishers can corrode, lose pressure and become damaged.  An extinguisher that fails to work or injures the operator because of a lack of poor maintenance can have catastrophic consequences.

Regular fire safety training will not only give you peace of mind that the safety of your staff and property is being taken care of, but can ultimately save your business if the worst should happen.