The Role of Fire Safety Equipment in a Business
If you own or manage a business, it’s essential that you have the appropriate fire safety equipment in place.
Not only will such equipment provide your premises with fire protection, but it’ll also ensure you’re complying with all of the necessary fire legislation that is your responsibility as an employer.
To be specific, the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 states that ‘appropriate fire fighting equipment’ must be installed and it is the responsibility of business owners to ensure that it is well maintained and will work as intended in an emergency.
In this article, the team here at Millennium Fire Protection will go through all of the business fire safety equipment you need to have in place, explaining the role of each product and how it can keep you safe.
Fire alarms
A fire breaking out on your premises is one of the worst nightmares for most business owners.
However, the first step in minimising the damage, and risk to life, is early detection.
You can’t extinguish a blaze if you don’t know of its presence, and fire alarm systems will alert you to the presence of a fire as soon as one has begun. Once the alarm has been triggered, you and your employees will be able to begin your evacuation procedure, alert the fire brigade and extinguish the blaze if safe to do so.
There are a variety of fire alarms available, including wireless systems and smoke detectors.
Fire doors
Even if you need to wait for the fire service to extinguish the blaze, it doesn’t mean that the entirety of your premises needs to suffer its destructive nature.
Stopping the spread of a fire is the best way to minimise property damage and give you and your employees as much time as possible to evacuate safely. Fire doors are the best way to compartmentalise a fire, keeping it at bay while you wait for the fire brigade to arrive.
We stock a wide range of robust, durable fire doors that can keep a fire in one place fora minimum of 30 minutes with some products offering much longer protection.
Emergency lighting
Sometimes, a fire can cause a power outage resulting in a loss of light in your premises. If this happens, it could cause people to panic and result in an unsafe evacuation.
Emergency lighting can prevent this. Automatically triggered if a power failure occurs that impacts your primary lights, it will help people locate fire exits and evacuation routes, keeping you and your employees safe.
Fire extinguishers
Another main type of fire safety equipment for a business is the fire extinguisher. If a fire occurs, it will emit an extinguishing substance that can quickly and efficiently put out the blaze.
There are a number of different fire extinguishers, and it’s important to use the appropriate type depending on the type of fire you’re dealing with.
This includes:
- Water extinguishers
- Foam extinguishers
- CO2 extinguishers
- Powder extinguishers
- Wet chemical extinguishers
If you’re unsure what fire extinguisher is right for you, our team can help provide you with the most suitable options.
Fire risk assessment
Far better than having to handle a fire is to put mitigating measures in place that reduce the chances of one happening in the first place.
A fire risk assessment will help you achieve this.
Risk assessments identify potential fire hazards, people at risk, evacuation routes and much more. Millennium Fire Protection can create tailored fire risk assessments on your behalf, helping keep you and your business safe.
If you’re on the lookout for fire safety equipment in the UK, we’re here to help. At Millennium Fire Protection, we provide leading products and services to customers in Harrow, Ealing, Watford and the surrounding areas, helping keep you, your employees and your property safe while also making sure you’re complying with your legal obligations. To find out more about what we do or to place an order, get in touch with our team today.