Fire Safety at the Office

12/5/2017 (Permalink)

Fire safety and prevention should always be a primary concern at your office and other commercial facilities. Here are top 7 ways to ensure fire prevention and safety in offices.

1. Don’t compromise with maintenance works Never compromise and delay the regular maintenance work for your central heating, ventilation and air-conditioning system, power backup solutions, computers, heavy electric appliances and other electrical components installed in your workplace. For manufacturing industries, all big machineries should be properly serviced from time-to-time.

2. Electrical Wiring & Circuits Make sure that your office’s electrical wiring and circuit is well-planned and installed properly. Replace all damaged and cracked electrical sockets, cords and wires without any delay. Never buy cheap wire or sockets for running heavy electrical equipment. Make sure that the electrical equipment which you are using is of top-quality and manufactured by a reliable name. Don’t overload electrical circuits.

3. Smoking Never allow your employees, staff or visitors to smoke indoors. Careless smoking can cause fire and hence, it should be done outdoors only. However, you can have a dedicated and separate arrangement for smoking, also known as ‘smoking area’ within your office premises. This place should have proper air ventilation and should follow the necessary guidelines.

4. Fire Extinguisher Your office premises should have fire extinguishers installed at clearly visible and marked placed throughout the office premises and commercial facilities. Make sure that the fire extinguishers are working properly and serviced on-time. Teach your office employees and staffs to how to use a fire extinguisher in the time of need.

5. Emergency Exit For big office buildings and commercial facilities, having a separate emergency exit is importantly required. Keep the emergency exit clean, dry and free all the time. Don’t use your office’s emergency exit as the way for office or canteen supplies. Also, don’t have any office furniture as an obstruction in the approach to the emergency exit.

6. Store hazardous materials separately All flammable materials, either in solid, liquid or gaseous form should be kept separately in designated and safe areas. Teach your office staff to handle the flammable substances very carefully.

7. Mock Drills A mock drill is the best way to re-create the situation of an actual fire emergency. It is also an effective way to analyze your fire prevention and safety preparations. Conducting a mock drill once in a year would also teach your employees, how to behave and evacuate the office building in less time under any similar situation.