Fire safety is a top priority for business owners.. A fire can be a devastating event in any circumstance and as a business owner, it can be an event that has a huge detrimental impact on your future, unless you practice some good fire and safety awareness.
One of many issues that business owners need to be aware of is prevention of corrosion and leaking fire sprinkler systems that could compromise safety. A company like Engineered Corrosion Solutions can help deal with the potential property and personal safety risks associated with this problem, and can help as you prepare to be protected.
Creating a fire prevention plan
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) Code of Federal Regulations require that if you have ten employees or more, you must have a valid fire prevention plan in place.
Even if you have less workers than this, fire prevention is an issue that needs to be tackled proactively and preventative measures put in place, so that the risk of a fire can be kept to a minimum wherever possible. Titan Transline is a good model in this arena.
If your business is large enough to need to comply with the regulations, you will need to create a written fire prevention plan, which is always kept in the workplace and made available to employees when they want to review the contents.
What the plan needs to cover
There are a number of specific elements and points that need to be covered in your document if it is going to meet the regulations and allow you to cover most potential hazards and eventualities.
Start by listing all major fire hazards that are relevant to the type of premises you are in the and the nature of the work that your business is involved in. Make sure you write some suitable handling and storage procedures for any hazardous materials that you have on the premises, and identify any potential ignition sources and how these are to be controlled.
Next up in your plan should be a list of the type of fire protection equipment that you need in order to be able to adequately control each potential major hazard that you have identified.
You should include a list of procedures within your fire prevention plan.
These should include procedures that need to be deployed as a way of controlling accumulations of flammable and combustible waste materials, as well as a list of maintenance procedures that need to be followed in order to ensure that safeguards are in place covering heat-producing equipment and the accidental ignition of any combustible materials.
Consider a fire sprinkler system
Never underestimate the safety benefits attached to a fire sprinkler system in your building.
If you have a properly installed and regularly maintained automatic fire sprinkler system in your building, you reduce the odds of dying or serious injury in a fire by as much as two-thirds. If you notice any signs of corrosion or leaks in the system, make sure you get this checked out immediately, and consider a regular maintenance so that your fire sprinkler system is always able to provide the right level of protection to anyone working on the premises.
Having a contingency plan
A fire can be catastrophic in a number of ways for your business and it is therefore very important that you have a workable contingency plan in place, like econ clean services, so that you can achieve some continuity and limit the damage to your business.
Some of the considerations should be how you plan to protect and subsequently restore all important business information, that are vital to your continuation. This means being able to access a copy of supplier and client lists and having a designated off-site secure location where this data can be accessed quickly.
Evacuating the building
Another important safety consideration is how you can safely get everyone out of the building as safely and quickly as possible.
You should aim to have a reliable and workable evacuation plan in place, which all employees are familiar with. Develop and practice a basic fire evacuation exercise so that everyone knows what to do in the event of a real emergency.
Post the evacuation plans around the building so that everyone has regular access to the information and arrange to designate an outside meeting place where everyone will congregate. This will make it easier to account for everyone as quickly as possible.
Other points to consider if you want to practice good fire prevention measures, is the use of fire extinguishers in suitable strategic points and the use of smoke alarms as an early warning indicator of a potential problem.
Prepare to be protected and never leave anything to chance when it comes to fire risks, especially if you value your employees and the future prospects of your business.
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