Fires can happen suddenly, without warning, and when you least expect them. It’s essential to ensure you are always prepared. As a building owner or employer, you are responsible for maintaining all areas of your commercial building for fire safety.
If you are running a business in a commercial building and don’t know where to start for fire safety, use the checklist below to help you protect your building, occupants, and assets in case of a fire.
Fire Alarms
Fire alarms are the primary means to safeguard against fire. They quickly alert everyone in the building of emergencies, informing people to evacuate immediately. It is essential that the fire alarms are working and regularly tested.
Emergency Lights
Even the most familiar building can be confusing to escape or leave during an emergency. Dark and smoky conditions, failed mains electricity and panicked people can make finding a clear way to safety extremely challenging. It is therefore crucial to test your emergency lights at least monthly, but ideally weekly.
Exit Signs
Fire exit signs are essential to safely guide inhabitants to the emergency doors of the building. Most emergency lights and exit signs come with a ‘test’ button, which you can press to ensure they switch to standby power and work well during fire emergencies.
Fire Extinguishers
Extinguishers allow occupants to put out small fires and prevent them from spreading into more extensive ones. The fire extinguishers should be inspected monthly by the building manager and yearly by a trained inspector. It’s also a good idea to ensure everybody in your building is trained to use a fire extinguisher.
Fire Hose Reels
Heavy-duty and UV-stable fire hose reels are crucial for fire safety in buildings. These easy-to-operate, uniquely designed hose reels can be quickly deployed and deliver high performance to ensure minimum casualties and damage to property.
Evacuation
- Emergency exit doors should open from the inside without needing a key.
- The exit door should not have any secondary locking system or device.
- There must not be any obstruction for smoke or fire doors.
- There should be an emergency evacuation plan, and it must be placed where all the inhabitants of the building can see.
- First aid personnel should also be available.
Apart from the above-mentioned checklist, you may require the assistance of a trained risk assessor to develop a thorough fire safety plan. You can also invest in superior-quality fire safety products, such as fire hose reel covers and cabinets, and more from FSP Oz Products. As a leading manufacturer and designer of plastic products in Australia, we provide high-quality fire safety products to enhance fire safety for buildings.
For more details on our fire safety products, call us at 1300 847 901 or drop an email at sales@fspozproducts.com.au .
