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Fire safety at work is always vitally important. Every year many people suffer serious burns from flammable materials they work with. A wide variety of flammable substances exist in the work place, some more obvious than others - heating fuel, petrol paint, thinners and welding gases. Some are less obvious, like packaging material, wood dust, sugar and flour.
It is important that your employer has a fire safety policy that promotes good housekeeping and reduces the possibility of a fire. Employees should also have a clear understanding of what is expected of them if a fire breaks out.
Does this concern me?
• Do you keep or use flammable liquids including aerosols?
• Do you use or store gas cylinders (example propane)?
• Do you work with flammable dusts?
• Do you work with plastic foams or polyester wadding?
• Do you spray flammable liquids or paints?
• Do you use oxygen? (oxygen enriched air is very dangerous)
Three elements are needed to start a fire:
1) Fuel
2) Oxygen
3) Ignition
Controlling any one of the three elements can prevent a fire or explosion.
1) Minimise the potential fuel for a fire:
• Remove flammable materials and substances or reduce them to a minimum
• Replace materials and substances with less flammable materials
• Ensure flammable materials are handled, transported, stored and used properly
• Ensure adequate separation distances between flammable materials
• Store highly flammable materials in fire-resistant stores and containers
2) Reduce or eliminate sources of oxygen:
• Close doors, windows and other openings not required for ventilation, particularly out of working hours
• Close ventilation or shut down ventilating systems that are not essential to the running of the workplace
• Do not store oxidising materials near any heat source or flammable materials
3) Reduce or eliminate the sources of ignition:
• Remove unnecessary sources of heat or replace them with safer alternatives
• Replace naked flame and radiant heaters with fixed convector heaters or a central heating system
• Ensure that all electrical fuses and circuit breakers are of the correct rating and suitable for the purpose
• Ensure that sources of heat do not arise from faulty or overloaded electrical or mechanical equipment
• Keep ducts and flues clean
• Operate a safe smoking policy or prohibit smoking entirely
• Ensure that all equipment that could provide a source of ignition is left in a safe condition, even when not in use
Fire Safety Risk Assessment Steps
A thorough risk assessment of potential fire hazards should be carried out by your employer in order to devise and implement an adequate fire safety strategy.
1. Identify potential fire hazards
• Sources of fuel
• Sources of ignition
• Work methods and processes
2. Decide who could be harmed. As part of an adequate risk assessment, you need to identify who may be at risk if there is a fire, how they will be warned and how they will escape. To do this you need to identify
• where people are working
• are they at permanent workstations or occasional ones
• who else might be at risk, such as customers, visiting contractors etc, and where these people are likely to be found.
3. Evaluate the risks arising from the hazards you have found. You must then decide if the existing fire precautions are adequate. Can more be done to eliminate the hazards and control the risks?
• Control of ignition sources or sources of fuel
• Fire detection and warning
• Means of escape
• Means of fighting fire
• Maintenance and testing of fire precautions
• Fire safety training for employees
• Carry out any improvements needed
4. Record the findings of the evaluation and the details of any action to be taken. These actions should be discussed with the employees.
• Prepare emergency plan
• See that employees are Informed, instructed and trained in fire precautions
5. Keep the assessment under review and revise it when necessary if situations change.
Fire Detection, Warning and Evacuation in the event of fire
If there is a fire, the main priority is that everyone can quickly reach a place of safety. Extinguishing the fire is absolutely secondary to evacuation, because the greatest danger from fire is the spread of fire and the heat and smoke caused by it. Your workplace should have adequate means of detecting an outbreak of fire and giving warning, and a means of escape, before people can become trapped or overcome by heat and smoke.
Particular attention should be given to any areas, particularly unattended ones, where there could be a delay in detecting the outbreak of fire. Remember to consider areas where a warning may go unnoticed by people who may not be able to react quickly.
In the event of a fire
There should be enough fire fighting equipment in place, like fire extinguishers at least, for employees to use in fighting a fire at it's beginning. The correct fire extinguisher should be available for the type of fire encountered, and employees should be trained in how to use the extinguishers. It should also be made clear to all employees when it is time to evacuate the building and leave the control of a fire to emergency services.
Maintenance and Testing
It is vitally important to keep the workplace fire safety measures and equipment in effective working order, to carry out regular checks, have extinguishers serviced and to practice the evacuation procedures regularly.
Consider...
• Is there enough time to evacuate all employees to a place of safety?
• Are there enough exits and are they all in the right place?
• Are the exits suitable for everyone, including people who may use wheelchairs?
• Are all the escape routes easily identifiable, signed up, accessible and adequately lit?
• If the fire detection and warning system is electrically powered, does it need a back up power supply?
• Have all employees been trained in using the escape routes?
• Do you have an assembly point where all employees can be account for?
• Do you have regular fire drills?
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