Our guide on keeping your business safe from fires

We understand the pressures of keeping your business safe from fires. We’ help make sure you’re doing all the right things when it comes to fire safety.

Your responsibilities include:

• Carrying out a fire risk assessment of the premises and reviewing it regularly
• Telling staff or their representatives about the risks you’ve identified
• Putting in place and maintaining, appropriate fire safety measures
• Planning for an emergency
• Providing staff information, fire safety instructions and training

How to conduct a commercial fire risk assessment

To meet your responsibilities you need to conduct a commercial fire risk assessment. This fire safety check should cover five key areas:

1. Fire hazards within your premises

You first need to identify sources of ignition, sources of fuel and sources of oxygen.

2. People at risk

Identify people who are particularly at risk, such as those who work close to fire dangers and people who work alone or in isolated areas.

3. An evaluation of the risks and how they can be reduced or removed

You need to consider how risks can be removed or minimised. For example, you can replace highly flammable materials with less flammable ones, separate flammable materials from sources of ignition and make sure that you have a safe-smoking policy in place.

Once you’ve reduced the risk as far as possible, assess the risks that remain and decide whether further precautions need to be taken. Generally, your premises should have:

• A fire detection and warning system
• A way of fighting a small fire, such as a fire extinguisher
• A plan for how people can evacuate the premises
• Suitable fire doors

On top of this, you may also need:

• Emergency lighting
  
• Fire-safety signs
• A management system so your processes are kept up to date

4. A record of your findings

It’s important to keep a written record of the dangers you’ve found and the people you have identified as being at risk. You should also make a note of the steps you’ve taken to minimise risks. You’ll also need to make an emergency plan that’s tailored to your premises.

5. Conduct regular reviews

Finally, make sure your risk assessment is up to date. You’ll need to review this if the level of risk changes, such as if you start to store more flammable materials or suffer a near miss.

We understand that when it comes to safety in the workplace, being overcautious is non-negotiable.

If you’re concerned about fire safety contact our experts today. Partnering with us means you have access to experts across the group with over 100 years of collective experience in fire safety. We can conduct a fire safety check for your business and design and install fire alarm systems. Whatever the job calls for, we’ll take care of it.