Workplace Fire Safety Tips

4 min read

Fire hazards can be present at any time and place, including your workplace. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration found that, on average, workplace fires and explosions injure over 5,000 workers and cause around 200 fatalities yearly.

Given that these incidents can range from electrical fires to oil and gas fires to work-related processes, any line of work is at risk of workplace fires leaving behind fire damage.

To prevent fire damage in Chicago North Shore, it’s best to plan what your workplace should do in the event of a fire. Developing a process and educating your team with these tips can ensure they know what to do in the event of a workplace fire.

Here are some tips to add to your emergency plan if a workplace fire were to happen so you and your team can react as quickly as possible.

Prepare Ahead of Time

Aside from having a contingency plan and ensuring everyone in the workplace is aware of this, your office should take steps to ensure that everything is set for a smooth evacuation in case of a fire. These steps include:

• Conducting regular fire inspections and fire drills.
• Scheduling electrical maintenance and inspections to minimize the risk of electrical fires.
• Holding regular fire safety training for all employees.
• Storing flammable materials properly.
• Assigning several fire safety roles and points of contact (POCs) to facilitate evacuations.
• Having maps that indicate where the fire exits are.
• Making sure that exits are well-marked and visible.
• Clearing away any objects obstructing the path to the emergency exits.

There’s no telling when a workplace fire hazard can strike, but preparing these before an incident can reduce the risk of injuries and accidents when handling fires.

Spot the Signs of Fire

In some cases, signs of a fire can appear even before your fire alarm goes off. Some of the signs that you and your employees should be aware of the following:

• Visible uncontrolled fire in the workplace.
• Smoke fogging up the room.
• A loud explosion within the building.
• The sound of a fire alarm on another floor within the building.
• The scent of smoke in the air.

Evacuate the Office Safely

In case of a workplace fire, don’t attempt to put out the fire unless you’re properly trained. Instead, evacuate everyone from the building calmly but quickly, and contact emergency services.

Your workplace should have designated POCs to help facilitate the evacuation. For instance, you should have POCs to ensure everyone evacuates. If one of your employees requires physical assistance to evacuate, there should be a POC to help them. Ensure your employees are aware of the evacuation zone, as it can be dangerous for them to stay too close to the building.

What Do I Do After a Workplace Fire?

Once emergency services have been called, leave it to the professionals to put out the fires. Medical services should also be contacted to help if there are any employees who have been badly injured.

The faster your team can react to a workplace fire, the less likely the fire is to spread. Having business insurance that covers workplace fires can provide you with financial assistance to cover the costs of medical services, commercial fire damage, and repairing your office through fire damage restoration.

Trust Restoration 1 Experts To Repair the Fire Damage in Your San Antonio North Office

Knowing what to do in case of a workplace fire can ensure a smooth and safe process for your team. Once the fires have been put out, it still might not be safe for your employees to return because of the fire damage present in your Chicago North Shore workplace. In this case, hiring commercial fire damage restoration experts is the best step to ensure everyone’s safety.

Having an experienced company like Restoration 1 perform fire damage restoration can help you get your workplace up and running safely as soon as possible. The collateral damage of a workplace fire can be cleaned away, but issues like structural safety, smoke residue, and damaged equipment can put the operations and safety of your employees at risk.

As an all-around restoration company, we have a team of certified commercial fire damage restoration experts to handle the repairs and determine whether your workplace is safe for operation once more.

We’d love to help you salvage your workplace and get it back into safe working conditions as soon as possible. Contact Restoration 1 today and book a consultation.