Fire Safety at the Workplace Regardless of your industry, or the particulars of your business, fire safety should always be a top concern. An effective fire safety plan is the key to protecting your staff and the assets of your organisation. The first step of your fire safety plan is the ‘fire risk assessment’. Fire risk assessment - A fire risk assessment evaluates all areas of your premises, identifying potential ignition sources and any personnel at risk. We believe your fire risk assessment to be the foundation of your fire safety plan. The fire risk assessment process: Step 1: Identifying the hazards - Every employer is obligated to conduct health and safety assessments of their workplace, reducing or removing possible risks that have been identified. Examples include; slips and trips, excess workload, hazardous chemicals, any contagious illnesses present in the workplace. Step 2 : Identifying the people at risk - Employers must conduct periodic assessments to identify any risks that employees, contract staff and visitors may be exposed to. An example of this; Computer workstation to be adjusted to suit each individual employee before use. Step 3 : Assessing risks and taking action - Assessment of hazards to ascertain the likelihood of causing injury, and taking the necessary preventative action. Examples of step three would be; Fire training and evacuation procedures. Fire training - Regardless of how many times employees have been informed of evacuation procedures, when a real fire presents itself, panic has a tendency to override self-control. Training is critical to the adherence of procedure. Safety experts believe that properly training employees on how to deal with fire, leads to compliance of the correct evacuation procedure. The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 has ruled it a mandatory requirement that every staff member of an organisation is to undertake appropriate fire training. Every employer is responsible for ensuring that this happens whenever a staff is newly recruited or when new risks are introduced. Fire training needs to be carried out periodically and should be appropriate to each individual workplace. A record of each training session should be recorded for future reference and for refresher training. Fire training should cover topics such as:
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Evacuation at the time of a fire Use of fire extinguishers Identifying and understanding fire safety notices Importance of fire exits and the need to keep them clear at all times The point of contact in the event of a fire.