Top 10 Tips to Prevent Commercial Fires
Commercial files can be a disaster for businesses, regardless of their size, location, or revenue. Yet, it’s easy to treat fire prevention strategies as an afterthought for another day and prioritize operational processes. For most businesses, a commercial workplace fire is often a case of ‘if’ it may happen, instead of ‘when’ it can happen.
The risk of a commercial fire is too serious to significant to be ignored. Losses can occur in the form of:
- loss of life
- severe injury to employees
- damage to equipment and property
- loss of information
- damage to the community
- damage to the environment
- potential fines for reckless endangerment
If a fire is allowed to ravage businesses, they may never make a full recovery again. This is why prevention should be prioritized as soon as possible. It is also recommended to hire fire damage restoration specialists in Lansing.
Let’s take a look at ten tips to prevent commercial fires in Lansing.
Install Fire Detection Systems
First things first, implement fire detection systems in your office space to provide you with prompt alerts if something goes wrong. In some cases, fire detection systems may be a legal requirement for your businesses. In addition, make sure to teach your employees how to operate these devices to get the most out of them.
Preventive Maintenance
Hire fire restoration specialists or other experts who can perform preventive maintenance by conducting inspections and tests. In addition to your fire detection system, you should establish a preventive maintenance program that covers all your bases. Different commercial spaces have their triggers for office fires, so you can implement no one-size-fits-all strategy.
Prepare an Evacuation Plan
If a fire starts, your employees will be left with a few minutes or less to make their escape (along with any necessary valuables). This process can be sped up if you implement an evacuation plan well in advance of such an event and save precious minutes that could be used to get everyone to safety. A properly designed evacuation plan should contain a fully fleshed-out procedure about evacuation, including potential entry and exit points and alternative escape routes in case they get blocked.
Pro tip: Conduct regular fire drills so that your employees know what to do in the event of a fire.
Know Where You Keep Your Fire Extinguishers
If you don’t already have fire extinguishers, buy and store them in appropriate places. Make sure that everyone is fully well versed about the location of all the fire extinguishers available. You should invest in fire extinguishers most suitable for your business, e.g. carbon dioxide extinguishers often work best for commercial spaces.
Assign Fire Safety Role
Assign at least one person from your team to oversee fire safety. This individual could be your office manager, safety manager, human resources manager, or an employee from other roles. For obvious reasons, this individual should understand the conditions that may lead to a workplace fire. They will also stay behind to direct employees to exits and make sure everyone gets out safely.
Identify All Risks in Your Workplace
By identifying potential threats of a fire in your workplace, you can extinguish fires before the initial spark. In fact, there are a variety of factors that could cause a high risk of fire incidents. Common causes of workplace hazards include issues with:
- Power strips
- Arson
- Exposure to fire from cigarette butts
- Office equipment drawing in too much power
- Lighting equipment
- Cooking appliances
Designate someone from your workplace to keep track of all high-risk areas in your workplace.
Store Chemicals Safely
If you’re dealing with chemicals, make sure to read their safety data sheets and labels. Always store hazardous chemicals according to the manufacturer’s requirements. Provide plenty of ventilation to the storage areas and use personal protective equipment.
Formulate Specific Responses to Specific Threats
Fire can find any excuse to spiral out of control and wreak havoc. There is no cookie-cutter prevention strategy you can copy and paste to minimize your risk. Your first step is to understand the industry-specific risks of office fires at your workplace, you can take steps to mitigate those risks.
For example, the health industry will have numerous patients and specialists (doctors and nurses) to consider in the event of a fire. A manufacturing plant may require special fire extinguishers.
Use a Fire Safety Checklist
Protecting your commercial space from the risk of fires may seem like an overwhelming task. This is why it helps to have a simplified checklist that employees can refer to, maintaining safety at the workplace.
Designate ‘Permitted’ Areas for Smoking
Provide your employees with specific instructions about where to smoke during their smoke breaks. You should also provide a plan for the safe disposal of cigarette butts. This policy should be enforced to ensure no one is breaking protocols.
If the risk of smoking is too high due to the nature of your workplace, do not be afraid of prohibiting smoking at the office space.
911 Restoration of Lansing provides an extensive range of fire damage restoration services for small and large businesses. If you want to learn more about preventing fires in the workplace, contact us today.
