When a fire starts in a warehouse, it’ll spread fast – and the damage can be devastating. With complex electrical systems, high loads of inventory and large equipment inside, it’s pretty easy to see why a fire would be a real disaster. The best way to handle a warehouse fire is to prevent one in the first place. Below are some top tips to help improve your warehouse’s fire safety.
Install Passive Fire Protection
We’re used to hearing about alarms and sprinkler systems when it comes to fire safety, but you shouldn’t overlook investing in passive fire protection as well. Passive devices are designed to help contain the fire and stop it from spreading.
Things like fire shutters, doors and curtains are designed to slow the spread of the fire, helping everyone to evacuate and buying more time for the emergency services. Although they can’t help put out the fire, that precious extra time can help prevent a full-on disaster.
Carry Out Risk Assessment
Prevention is always going to be the best way to manage fire safety. Yes, you need all the alarms and fire doors in place in case something bad does happen, but you want to make sure that a fire doesn’t break out in the first place. To do this, you and your team should conduct regular fire safety risk assessments.
This often involves going round and noting anything that could cause a fire, and or any hazards that could cause more problems if a fire were to start. Look at things like storage, equipment and things that could be faulty. You might come across something you can change to make your business safer – making a fire much less likely to break out and cause more damage.
Maintain Alarms & Fire Suppressors
Detecting a fire early can save lives. Install alarms and other suppression systems in your warehouse to warn people if there is a fire and allow it to be put out. In warehouses, because there is often a lot of stock sitting around, a fire can burn unnoticed for quite some time. That’s why it’s super important to have a detector to let everyone know early that there’s a fire and they can get out.
If you’ve already got alarms or detectors, then make sure that they work. Alarms, sprinkler systems and extinguishers need to be tested and/or replaced after a certain time period. You don’t want the time they don’t work to be the actual emergency you need them for, so schedule regular testing/replacing to ensure they work when you need them.
Staff Training
It’s your responsibility to ensure that everyone who works in the building receives proper training so they know what to do if a fire starts. From how to use the extinguishers, where the emergency exits are and who to report any hazard to, these are things every employee should know.
To ensure this, you should schedule regular drills so everyone knows what the fire alarm sounds like and what to do in a real emergency. If there are any issues, then these can be dealt with before a real accident could happen – potentially saving lives.
Having strong fire safety practices in place will protect more than just your warehouse. With the right safety measures in place, the risks to your business and to your staff can be dramatically reduced.
