What are the main causes of fire in the workplace?
It is an employer’s responsibility to provide their staff and customers with a safe and secure environment, ensuring that there are strict plans in place to prevent a fire. In 2020, government statistics revealed that a large proportion of fire incidents were caused by ‘misuse of equipment or appliances’ – 8,636 to be exact. Not only this, 3,862 incidents occurred due to ‘faulty appliances or leads’, closely followed by ‘putting goods too close to heat’, with 3,301 recorded incidents.
Staff should be well informed of how to operate safely in the workplace, aware of the risks that could occur if they aren’t constantly aware of their surroundings. Other causes of fire in the workplace include storage of flammable liquids, smoking or unsafely using cooking appliances in an office kitchen, so it’s vital that clear regulations are in place to avoid emergencies.
Providing fire safety equipment
Time is of the essence when a fire starts, so it’s crucial that your employers are provided with the essential equipment needed to reduce the impact. Your building should be equipped with fire alarms to immediately alert staff and customers to an emergency, along with ensuring that there are fire extinguishers available – the number you need will depend on the size of your building. Both you and your employees will need to know about fire extinguisher colours too, as different extinguishers are required for different types of fire. In most cases, workplaces will be equipped either with a foam (cream) or water (red) extinguisher.
As well as this, it’s vital that you clearly indicate where the fire exits are in your building. This will enable anyone present during a fire to escape in an orderly manner.
Ensuring a tidy workplace
A messy workplace will inevitably lead to disaster, so maintain a clean and tidy environment. If the building’s floor is cluttered, this increases the fire load, meaning that there are more materials for a flame to catch on to. This would be particularly dangerous if there were flammable waste items in the mix, causing a fire to spread rapidly.
When ensuring fire safety in the workplace, employers will need to remind their staff to never leave items in the way of a fire exit, and instead provide them with a safe place to store items that aren’t in use. Without doing this, the speed that people exit the building will be significantly reduced – which could be fatal.
An understanding of where to store substances that could be hazardous is also vital, as outlined in the COSHH law. Employees should be COSHH trained, aware of the relevant precautions they must follow to ensure the safety of themselves and those around them.
Perform regular fire risk assessments
It is a legal requirement that a fire risk assessment should be completed regularly. By mapping out your workplace, you’ll be able to check for anything that could potentially lead to harm. Once you’ve acknowledged and evaluated these risks, and those that could be affected by them, you must remove them to prevent a fire. Be sure to make a record of any changes you make as you go along.
The fire risk assessment will need to be reviewed every 12 months after the original assessment is done, or if the building has undergone any significant changes in structure or purpose.
Staff fire training
It’s important that your employees are completely in the know about what to do in case of emergency, provided with regular fire training to ensure their own safety. They will need to know how to raise an alarm, what to avoid doing to prevent the risk of fire, where and how to evacuate the building, with a solid understanding of who the fire wardens are. Make sure to perform regular fire drills to enable them to practice the procedure, informing them of any mistakes that were made or how they can guarantee a safer exit.
Assigning fire wardens
It’s advised that, for low risk workplaces, there should be one warden for every 50 people. For medium and high risk workplaces, one will be required for every 20 and 15 people respectively. A fire warden will be responsible for implementing and maintaining fire safety precautions, helping an employer to provide a safe environment for all. Your staff will need to be aware of who they are, as they have a large role to play in helping with evacuations.
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