Facilitating your next move
Crate expectations – how to enjoy that moving experience
Let's talk rubbish!
Hey big spender! Spend a little time on your skills!
Pick a colour, any colour…!
Managing an upwards career move
Are you playing with fire?
Putting all the pieces together
Exciting New Training Desk!
Highlight your favourites
Need a meeting room?
Day in the Life
October will be the month for…
We've all seen the news footage of an office or factory in flames, with fire crews working round the clock to bring it under control. It's a devastating sight – but just imagine if that were your premises, and you and your colleagues were the ones escaping the inferno.
In 2003, there were almost 3,500 fires in industrial premises resulting in 3 deaths and 153 other casualties. Fortunately, the numbers of workers killed and injured in the UK in fires are relatively low, but even one is too many. And trauma caused by having to evacuate a burning building should not be under-estimated.
Besides loss of life, fire costs UK business millions of pounds, from damage to property, loss of business, fines, compensation claims and insurance premiums. It can be the end for small firms. On average, each fire in industrial premises costs approximately £60,100.
The shocking thing is, that many fires can be avoided by taking precautions. And if a fire does break out, the effects can be minimised by having effective controls and procedures in place. Business Link together with the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, have produced valuable guidance on fire prevention in workplaces, some of which we are reproducing here.
Assessing the risk
To make the right decisions about protecting your colleagues and premises from fire, you need to undertake a thorough fire risk assessment. Here's how…
A fire risk assessment will help you determine the chances of a fire occurring and the dangers from fire that your workplace poses for the people who use it. The assessment method suggested shares the same approach as that used in general health and safety legislation and can be carried out either as part of a more general risk assessment or as a separate exercise.
A risk assessment is not a theoretical exercise. However, much work can be done on paper from the knowledge bosses and employees have of the workplace. A tour of the workplace will be needed to confirm, amend or add detail to your initial views.
For fire risk assessments there are five steps that you need to take:
Step 1
Identify potential fire hazards in the workplace. For a fire to start, three things are needed: a source of ignition; fuel; and oxygen. If any one of these is missing, a fire cannot start. Taking steps to avoid the three coming together will therefore reduce the chances of a fire occurring.
Step 2
Decide who (eg, employees, visitors) might be in danger, in the event of a fire, in the workplace or while trying to escape from it, and note their location. 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 you have people working, whether at permanent workstations or occasional ones, and to consider who else might be at risk, such as customers, visiting contractors etc, and where these people are likely to be found.
Step 3
Evaluate the risks arising from the hazards and decide whether your existing fire precautions are adequate or whether more should be done to get rid of the hazard or to control the risks (eg by improving the fire precautions). You now need to evaluate the risk and decide whether you have done enough to reduce this or need to do more by considering:
- the chance of a fire occurring and whether you can reduce the sources of ignition/minimise the potential fuel for a fire;
- the fire precautions you have in place and whether they are sufficient for the remaining risks and will ensure everyone is warned in case of a fire;
- and the means people can use to make their escape safely (or put the fire out if it is safe for them to do so).
Step 4
Record your findings and details of the action you took as a result. Tell your employees about your findings. You will probably find it useful (unless your assessment is very simple) to keep a written record of your fire risk assessment as you go round. This will help you plan the actions you need to take in the light of the findings of your risk assessment. This record might take the form of a simple list, or you could use a plan of the layout of the workplace, or a combination of both of these.
Step 5
Keep the assessment under review and revise it when necessary. Sooner or later you may introduce changes in your workplace which have an effect on your fire risks and precautions, eg changes to the work processes, furniture, plant, machinery, substances, buildings, or the number of people likely to be present in the workplace. Any of these could lead to new hazards or increased risk. So if there is any significant change, you will need to review your assessment in the light of the new hazard or risk.
If a fire or 'near miss' occurs, then your existing assessment may be out of date or inadequate and you should reassess. It is a good idea to identify the cause of any incident and then review your fire risk assessment in the light of this.
Use your common sense
Remember that risk assessment is essentially a matter of applying informed common sense. You need to identify what could reasonably be expected to cause danger. Ignore the trivial and concentrate on significant hazards.
It is important that you carry out your fire risk assessment in a practical and systematic way. It must take the whole of the workplace into account, including outdoor locations and any rooms and areas which are rarely used. If your workplace is small you may be able to assess the workplace as a whole. In larger buildings, you will often find it helpful to divide the workplace into rooms or a series of assessment areas using natural boundaries, eg process areas, offices, stores, workshops as well as corridors, stairways and external routes.
If your workplace is in a building shared with other employers, you and all the other occupiers and any other person who has control of any other part of the workplace will need to discuss your risk assessments. This will help to ensure that any areas of higher risk, and the need for any extra precautions, are identified.
