Archive for August, 2010
Recommended Fire Safety Guidelines For the Workplace
Keeping your workplace safe from fires is equally important as keeping your home safe. This responsibility falls on the shoulders of the employees and employers. Here are a few recommended fire safety tips for your workplace.
Knowing the local fire code in place is a good place to start. This is a prescribed set of rules regarding fire safety. This is often included in local laws so it is in your best interest to abide by this code. Failure to do so often results in hefty fines and even jail time. Not to mention, your safety is also compromised.
Take note that these regulations are just the minimum standards that you should meet. If you can exceed these measures in any way you can, do not hesitate to do so. Also, compliance is your responsibility. The regulations are also updated from time to time so keep yourself posted.
Health and safety at work is important so it is a good idea to have regular inspections. You can ask your local fire department to carry out the inspection for you. The fire inspector often files a report on his findings and it is necessary that you obtain a copy of this report. You can base any changes or improvement that you should make from this document.
You can also do a fire safety inspection at your workplace on your own. Just be sure to know what you are doing. Be sure that you assess the fire risk and draw a plan on how to address this. See how people may be informed that there is a fire on the building. It is also important to have an evacuation plan in case of fire. Having adequate firefighting equipment and training in the building also works in your favor.
Fire extinguishers are the most obvious equipment to have. You can also opt to have an automated water sprinkler system for rapid response. Smoke detectors may even alert people to a fire and help prevent it from spreading.
When a fire breaks out, it often takes electricity down. The darkness and smoke may only add to the confusion and make escape harder. Finding your way around can be difficult and life threatening. Installing emergency lights helps you get around this problem. Signs warning of impending fire hazards are also important assets.
All these equipment are useless if your employees do not know how to operate them. Luckily, you can ask your local fire department to conduct training seminars for this purpose. The fire training gives you the necessary knowledge and readiness to deal with the situation. It also helps foster camaraderie and teamwork in the workplace. This is all part of promoting health and safety at work.
Your workplace is your source of livelihood and keeping it safe from fire is only natural. Planning ahead minimizes the risk and potential damage from fire. It is also a crucial component of health and safety at work. Learn to save lives and property with fire training.
Using Third Party Health and Safety Consultants
Health and safety can be a bit of a daunting task these days, quite simply due to the sheer amount of information that you need to absorb, along with the sheer volume of documentation that you need to keep on top of.
The documentation that you require does need to cover a wide range of health and safety risk assessments, which will cover, but are of course not limited to situations such as fire safety as well as the more every day occurrences, such as lifting and carrying, as well as even working with a VDU (PC Monitor!)
As well as this, there is also a small matter of training staff, so as you can see the health and safety demands of any business goes far above and beyond simply placing a “caution, wet floor” sign in the event of a spillage!
The health and safety aspect of a business should not be overlooked, but unfortunately there are many businesses which will do this, most often not deliberately, but simply because they may not have the necessary man power to really do so.
In these cases, it would make sense for companies to hire help from a third party, by this I mean hiring a consultant or advisor from a company which is dedicated to doing this.
These types of companies, which can provide Health and Safety Consultants on a regular basis are pretty widespread, so have a look in your city or town, it is more than likely that there is a suitable service near by.