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30 Autumn/Winter 2021 A s the weather gets colder and the nights start to draw in, many of our thoughts are turning to heat. It’s worth thinking about where your business or premises’ highest risk areas are, and putting into place a process for dealing with those thoughts. FIRST AND FOREMOST THERE MUST BE A FIRE RISK ASSESSMENT Recent years have shown, with many unfortunate events in the world of industry, warehousing and construction, that fire is a very real risk for all buildings and all businesses. Fire can kill and destroy buildings in their entirety. Fire safety is a complex matter and should be dealt with by competent and qualified persons. The following handy list to help you consider what you need to do. Step One – Have a suitable and sufficient Fire Risk Assessment carried out Step Two – Complete actions listed within Step Three – Regularly review ACTIONS TO BE TAKEN The vast majority of the actions we find are needed when visiting premises are among the following. They are simple enough to resolve and easy to complete. PAT Testing – from just 75p per item (plus initial site attendance fee) this is an easy way of identifying where an appliance might be faulty and thus have the potential to cause an electrical fire. Fire Extinguishers – which should be inspected on a regular basis to ensure they are situated where they should be, and haven’t been tampered with. This is easy enough to do in house, but it’s important that they are serviced by a competent engineer on an annual basis who will advise when replacement extinguishers are due. Everything has a shelf life. Fire Alarm Systems and Emergency Lighting – again, it’s easy enough to implement regular testing in house and it’s important to ensure this is being completed. Set up a log book, set up a regular time for it to be carried out. But also ensure you’ve got a competent engineer coming out to complete an annual discharge test of your emergency lights, and servicing your fire alarm system. Fire Door Audit – how can you be sure that all of your fire doors are going to protect you and your premises in the event of a fire? Where intumescent strips are damaged, glass is cracked, or safety devices aren’t functioning, the risk only gets higher. An inspection carried out by a competent person will identify where any remedial works might be required. Fire Warden Training – this is compulsory for all organisations, and detailed in the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005). It’s an open course our Training department delivers as an open course or at your premises, and aims to provide your employees with a basic awareness of good fire prevention management, the different types of fire extinguisher, and most importantly, gives them the confidence to take the lead in an emergency to facilitate building evacuations. That’s the overview for pretty much every organisation out there, but what if you’ve got gas fired heaters, ductwork throughout your premises, sprinkler systems, chemical fire suppression, or not sure if you’ve got the right kind of fire alarm system for the type of work being carried out? FIRE SAFETY MATTERS For more advice speak to your Health & Safety Advisor or contact HAE EHA’s BusinessGuard by emailing businessguard@hae.org.uk or call 44 (0)121 380 4612 . Fire is a very real risk for all buildings and all businesses.