Developing your own fire strategy plan is essential for the safety of you, your employees, and the building in which you work. Working within a fire safe building is not only a common sense way of ensuring people’s safety and security, but it is also a legally required aspect of running a business.
In this blog, we have laid out all the information you need for when you are planning your own fire strategy. If you require more general information about the legal fire safety requirements of business owners within the UK, check out this comprehensive guide here.
To put it plainly, a fire safety plan is a straightforward, generic, and simple to follow plan that lays out the most effective fire safety procedures for your individual building. This is used to inform occupants about specific fire safety measures.
Who Creates a Fire Safety Plan:
If you have responsibility over any building or premise (other than a home), it is absolutely necessary that you develop a sturdy and effective fire safety plan. If you are an owner of a business, a manager, an employer, or a landlord of non domestic premises, you need to take the steps to ensure the safety of all people within your building.
What is in a Fire Safety Plan:
A fire safety plan should include the following aspects:
Method of Warning: This includes warning signs such as a fire alarm, intended to alert the occupiers that there is a fire within the building. This should also feature visual warning signs for those who have hearing difficulties, such as emergency lighting. This should not be ignored.
An Escape Route: This should include a clear and easy to understand map or description of the fire escape routes within the building. These need to be the safest and most efficient routes to ensure that people can escape quickly. There also needs to be enough exits to accommodate for the quantity of people in the building, allowing for efficient escape routes without any bottleneck effect.
Emergency exits and ample signage: Your escape route should be in accordance with the emergency exits in the building. These exits should be clearly signed and easy to open, with methods such as push bars. Fire door installation should be done by a trusted company.
If you hire a highly reputable fire protection company like JMPFP, for example, you can be sure that your fire prevention methods are being installed by trustworthy experts who have years of experience under their belt.
Necessary equipment to fight/prevent the spread of fires: It is really important to have a range of equipment to fight fires. You should have access to mobile/portable fire fighting equipment such as extinguishers and fire blankets, as well as fixed systems like sprinklers.
Other highly effective fire prevention techniques include fire compartment systems. JMPFP offer installation of highly trustworthy compartment systems which work by providing compartmentalised space between rooms, delaying the spread of fire between one space and another.
You should also heavily consider the role that Fire Compartmentation Surveys will do for your building. Getting surveyed is integral to ensuring all aspects of a building remain safe and align with legal requirements. If you are searching for a surveyor across the UK, JMPFP offer the crucial service at a high standard, providing peace of mind when it comes to the safety and security of any building.
Point of assembly: You must decide on an assigned assembly point so that all occupants know where to gather. The point of assembly needs to be an area far enough away from the building that the fire is no longer a risk to safety. At this point, doing the necessary roll call will make sure everyone who was present in the building has been safely evacuated.
Training of employees: Developing a fire safety plan is pointless if no one knows what it is. Make sure you have trained your employees on the procedure so they know exactly what they need to do and when they need to do it. This should make the process as efficient and safe as possible.
It is so important to have a fire safety plan in place for your business. Not only is it a legal requirement, it is also absolutely necessary in terms of ensuring the safety of your employees. Make sure to use the tips listed out here in order to save lives and protect your place of work.
Interesting Related Article: “What is the Difference Between Active and Passive Fire Protection?“