Commercial Fire Prevention Tips for Your Indianapolis Workplace Part 2

4/28/2019 (Permalink)

Commercial Fire Prevention Tips for Your Indianapolis Workplace Part 2

In the previous blog, we covered 6 tips that you could follow to prevent a fire from occurring at your Indianapolis business. In this blog, we will continue with more tips that you can follow that may help to prevent a fire or reduce the fire damage that could occur at your business. Below we will continue with further tips you can follow to help reduce the risk of a fire occurring in your business.

#1 Safely Store Flammable Chemicals

If you are working with flammable liquids and chemicals, it’s important to always read the Material Safety Data Sheet to understand flammability and fire hazards of the liquid. When storing flammable liquids, you need to be sure that the area and/or room where they are stored has adequate ventilation. In many situations, the vapors of the chemicals can be more dangerous and flammable than the actual liquid. You may also want to look into flammable chemical storage cabinets to keep them away from any fire that may occur. It’s also important to provide proper handling equipment for your staff who will be using the flammable liquids.

#2 Properly Outfit Smoking Areas

If your company allows smoking on the grounds, it’s important to provide proper smoking receptacles for discarded cigarettes. Discarded cigarette butts are one of the leading causes of fires outside a business. Not only should proper receptacle be used but they should be emptied on a regular basis. You also want to instruct your employees on ensuring that they fully extinguish their cigarette butts before disposing to reduce any fires in the receptacle.

#3 Practice Evacuation Drills

When was the last time your company practiced a fire drill? Or has your business ever practiced a fire drill? It’s recommended for businesses to have at least two fire drills a year. While most adults know what to do if a fire occurs, it’s still important to practice and teach your staff so they what to do, how to exit, and where to go during a fire. Part of practicing fire and emergency evacuation drills is also knowing what numbers to call and when the fire alarm pull stations need to be pulled.

#4 Keep Your Fire Extinguishers Maintained

If the fire is small, it may be able to be extinguished with a fire extinguisher. To combat these small fires, you obviously need fire extinguishers that are easy to get to and are ready to be used. It’s also a good idea to train your employees on the locations of the fire extinguishers, how to use them, and when they should use them and when they shouldn’t. It’s also important and the law to have the extinguishers regularly checked and maintained.

#5 Comply With All Fire Codes

Your local fire marshal should be able to help you understand the local fire codes. They’ll also be able to tell you what you need to do to stay compliant. Following the fire codes are probably the best tip you can follow to prevent fires from occurring in your business. Fire codes ensure that your office building has the right fire protection equipment in place to keep your business and your employees safe. Fiire codes can also change over the years which is why it’s important to stay on top of them through your fire marshal.

#6 Educate Your Employees

Following all these tips won’t help prevent fires at your company if your employees don’t follow them. It’s important to take the time to educate and teach your employees about how they can do their part to reduce fire risks and improve the safety of the workplace. They need to know what to do, what not to do, what increases the risk of fire, and ultimately what to do if a fire occurs. By properly educating yourself and your staff on these fire prevention tips, you can greatly reduce the risk of fire and/or the damage a fire can cause.

If You Should Suffer a Fire, Contact the Professionals

You can’t completely eliminate the risk of a fire occurring in your office but you can take steps to greatly reduce the risk. If you should, unfortunately, experience a fire at your business, there is one last tip that you can follow to help clean up and restore all the damage the fire occurred. That tip is to call the fire damage restoration experts at SERVPRO of Indianapolis West. They have the expertise and know-how to handle fire, water, mold, and storm damage to businesses of all sizes. Whether you need help during the day or during the night, on a weekday or a weekend, they are ready to help with the cleanup and restoration.