Many business owners have this unrealistic optimism when it comes to fire safety in the workplace. This mindset prevents employers from taking major fire precautionary steps. Fire safety is a huge risk in workplaces, and certain fire safety tips should be taken seriously.

A fire can be disastrous for businesses and life-threatening to the employees working in the building. Not only that, but fires can destroy important documents in the building, the expensive equipment, and even the structure of the building. That is why it is important to follow fire safety guidelines to prevent fire in the first place.

In case of fire damage, reach out to a restoration company, such as 911Restoration, for professional restoration services and experienced workers to clean up your workplace and protect your belongings after fire damage.

Here are a few fire safety tips that you should start practicing with your employees from tomorrow.

1. Install Fire Detection Systems

This is a legal requirement, and all office buildings should have fire alarms and smoke detectors on different building levels. Smoke detectors would alert the employees in the building about a starting fire and help them evacuate the building immediately.

Some fire alarms may alert automatically, but some are manual so make sure you teach employees how to operate them in case of fire. However, the best option is to install automatic ones if the fire starts in an unoccupied empty room such as the storeroom.

2. Keep Your Workplace Clean and Tidy 

Having clutter around and a messy workplace can lead to health and safety hazards. With excess mess and untidiness around, the fire load of the area increases. Meaning more items in the workplace can catch fire, and the fire can spread quickly. Cluttered rooms can also prevent evacuation, so it is essential to ensure the fire exits, stairs, and corridors are as clear as possible.

When cleaning the place, ensure all flammable items are kept separately away from the center of the area to ensure employees’ safety. Store them in a separate box or in a cupboard where they can’t catch fire.

3. Make Sure You Have Relevant Fire Safety Equipment

Even if you are following all the fire safety tips, there still can be fire accidents. To reduce the damage to workers and employees, make sure you have the right equipment to control and extinguish the fire before it spreads out of control.

Ensure your place has all the necessary equipment such as fire exit signs, lighting, smoke alarms, fire escape ladders, fire extinguishers, and sprinklers to prevent damage to property and human life.

4. Conduct Thorough Risk Assessments

Safeguard against fire successfully by knowing the hazards in your workplace. Before you start implementing fire safety tips, make sure to conduct a detailed risk assessment of your workplace.

Risk assessments are legally required and are a great way to protect your business and workplace from potential fire hazards and threats and identify them. During the assessment, things at the workplace are assessed to see what could cause a fire, the level of risk posed, what could be affected in the building, and lastly, how you can mitigate these risks.

5. Ensure All Employees Are Trained in Fire Safety

To make sure all employees are safe during an accidental fire, they need training in fire safety. Basic training about what to do if a fire starts is necessary to keep employees safe. They should know how to raise the fire alarm and evacuate the building from which exit. Other than that, they should also be aware of who their fire wardens are.

Regularly practice fire drills; this will train employees for actual catastrophic incidents, and they would learn better what to do in case of a fire. If the employees remain untrained, they can make the fire situation and result in more injuries.

6. Don’t Forget Electrical Safety

There is some electrical equipment in every workplace, such as printers. Where there is electrical equipment, there is a risk of fire. Fire can be caused by faulty wiring and overloaded plug sockets. To prevent fires due to electrical cords, make sure to get rid of faulty electric wires or get them fixed.

Also, ensure that no sockets have too many machines plugged in and the equipment in the workplace is regularly checked and maintained to reduce fire risks.

7. Appoint Fire Wardens

If you don’t have a fire warden in your workplace yet, make sure you appoint one soon. Fire wardens are members of the workplace who are responsible for creating and maintaining fire safety procedures.

During the event of a fire, they will be the ones to ensure evacuation of all employees and check no one is left behind or injured. Fire wardens need to learn these tactics through training to keep everyone working in the building safely.

Call 911 Restoration

If your workplace has experienced fire damage, it is time to call a restoration company in San Diego to help you deal with the aftermath. At 911 Restoration, we provide experienced staff and workers to deal with fire and smoke damage. Call us at (858) 216-2488 for our services!