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Fire safety - do you have a plan?

As you review your overall fire strategy, your responsibility for the safety of your employees, visitors, pupils and patients means you must take reasonable steps to ensure that you have a plan.

Chubb Fire has devised a model that suggests all organisations should follow: prevent, detect, contain and escape. The following four activities are detailed below:

Fire prevention

Minimising the risk of fire breaking out is the number one priority in your fire safety strategy. Good housekeeping, including some simple steps such as banning smoking, testing electrical appliances, removing electrical heaters and training staff can have a positive impact on reducing the risk of fire.

The first step to preventing a fire is a fire risk assessment. Carrying out a fire risk assessment delivers real benefits to business. By taking a few simple steps to reduce fire risks, employers can prevent fires breaking out. When you consider that 70% of businesses suffering a fire never reopen, or close within three years of the fire, then taking the time to do a fire risk assessment looks like a very sensible investment. Furthermore, it is a legal requirement.

The questions you need to ask yourself are:

* Have you been proactive in doing a full fire risk assessment for your business?

* Are you aware that full documentary evidence of this risk assessment needs to be kept to allow inspection at any time?

* Would your business stand up to an ad hoc inspection from the fire brigade who not only needs to see evidence of a fire risk assessment but also full documentation if you employ five or more people?

If the answer is NO, then it is time to act!

How do I do a fire risk assessment?

Luckily, there are lots of options available to help South African businesses carry out their fire risk assessment.

One option is to get a fire risk assessment consultant to do your fire risk assessment for you. This is probably suitable if you do not have a health and safety officer, a fire safety manager or a responsible member of staff who is competent to carry out a fire risk assessment or if you have a site considered to be high risk.

Fire risk management

Managing your fire safety does not end with a single fire risk assessment and the installation of some fire safety equipment. The process of managing your fire safety should be a daily part of your business's safety culture. Risk assessments should be reviewed regularly to ensure that precautions are still working effectively, particularly if there are any changes in the workplace or you have a 'near miss' fire situation.

Review your fire risk assessment following:

* A change of work place.

* A significant change of staff levels.

* Any structural or material change.

* Any change in fire precautions in the premises.

* A near miss or fire incident.

Fire detection

While the main focus of your fire protection strategy is to prevent fire, should a fire accidentally break out, early automatic fire detection is essential to help you contain the fire.

Fire detection is key to:

* Save every second through early warning facilities, which could make the difference to a site's ability to recover from a fire without too much disruption.

* Provide the earliest possible warning of a developing emergency situation.

* Facilitate safe and swift evacuation of people.

* Provide accurate information concerning the location of the fire to enable fire brigades to easily locate fire.

Fire detection systems

It is a fact that many businesses in South Africa do not have a fire detection system in the workplace. These systems range from basic entry level to very sophisticated complete solutions that may be combined with a fire suppression system and a PA/evacuation. Can your business afford to ignore the threat of fire?

Containing a fire

Selecting the right application of fire fighting equipment gives your company the best chance to contain a fire before it develops into a major incident, saving both lives and property... and possibly even the future of your business.

Fire extinguishers - are they essential for my business?

Tackling a small fire with a fire extinguisher may make the difference between a small incident and a full-scale disaster.

* Extinguishers are essential for the preservation and safety of staff and visitors.

* They help with the preservation of property.

* Fire extinguishers ensure business continuity – do not let a small fire develop into a major one.

* There is a requirement to service and install quality fire fighting equipment, especially fire extinguishers, to the highest recognised standards.

Fire extinguishers do not only come in the form of the common red container/canisters as we know them. They come in various other forms such as suppression systems - from sprinklers to gas suppressions systems; vehicle suppressions systems to foam and water systems; carbon dioxide (CO₂) systems to argonite systems which is an inert gas blend of argon and nitrogen to FM-200 - a halon replacement type system.

Escape

If your building should suffer from a serious fire, the evacuation measures that you have put in place can help people to escape and ultimately save their lives.

Evacuation/public address (PA) systems/signage

All large corporate companies should have state-of-the-art computerised public address and evacuation systems in place. Ideally these systems should be fully managed, via a graphical user interface with built in pre-recorded messages, which can be played when certain events occur such as fire alarms, critical building alarms, general messages, etc. The systems are designed with built-in redundancy, which will automatically switch to a standby rack in the event of a failure.

Having the right signs in the right place will help you to comply with the SABS 1186 regulations, as well as keeping your employees safe by minimising confusion during evacuation.

The power of one supplier

Imagine how much simpler managing your fire safety responsibilities would be if your risk assessment services, staff training, extinguisher supply and servicing, automatic fire alarm systems, emergency lighting (to name but a few) could be carried out by just one company, on a single total fire service and maintenance contract.

What are the benefits of switching to one contract?

There are clear advantages for adopting the single contract such as total visibility of your fire safety strategy; asset registers of all your fire safety equipment; complete understanding of what needs servicing and when.

But perhaps most importantly you can rest assured that there will be no gaps or overlaps in your levels of fire protection, that will commonly occur if you have several fire providers.

Protecting your investment

Without effective service and maintenance, even the best installed fire protection equipment will deteriorate. A service and maintenance agreement gives you:

* Compliance with the South African Bureau of Standards (SABS) and insurance company requirements.

* Reduced risk of false alarms and failure - saving you money and business disruption.

* Extended life from your equipment due to preventative maintenance visits.

* Quite simply, preventative maintenance means peace of mind.

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