Most of the time, your office space is a safe place to be. But if there was to be a fire in your office space or a nearby office – how safe would your office be then? In this blog post we look at the common fire safety hazards in the office. Some of these you may not even have considered.
When it comes to fire safety there are a lot of things, we all take for granted. Some, we don’t even take into consideration.
One example is that your office may be filled with electric equipment such as computers, servers, printers, phone chargers, fans, kettles, fridges and more. There may be no issues most of the time. However, one faulty piece of equipment could leave your office and all the other electric equipment up in flames.
PAT testing all portable appliance is a great way of ensuring that your items and safe, while highlighting the ones that need replacing or repairing.
Many offices will have the ongoing debate with air conditioning and heating. Some people will always be too hot, while others will be too cold. This can result in staff members bringing in their own portable heaters. These need to be carefully considered as they can inadvertently become a fire safety hazard in the office. This is especially the case if they’re too near to waste bins or in a confined space with no ventilation.
It’s important to think about the personal equipment that your team bring in. Phone chargers can be a very common fire safety hazard in the office. They may not be CE marked. Also, they will not have been PAT tested either. Phone chargers will very easily compromise the safety of your office for you and your team.
Poor or no planning of a fire evacuation route is a very common fire safety hazard. While you might think there doesn’t need to be a plan, there could be serious consequences if a plan isn’t in place. It’s essential that routes are planned. These routes also can’t be used for storage.
It is essential that you have clear fire exit signage and fire action notices too. The right equipment is needed for good office fire safety too. This includes good quality, working fire alarms and the right fire extinguishers for the types of fires that could take place in your office.
The top three causes of fires in offices, as reported by the London Fire Brigade are Electrical Distribution (32%), Lighting (14%) and smoking related (11%) fires.
Need help making your office fire safe? Call our team now.
