According to National Fire Prevention Association, prevention is the best way to avoid fires.

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Protect Your Assets: Fire Prevention for Business Owners

It’s easy to fall into the daily grind and forget about fire safety!  Follow these tips to keep fire safety top of mind for you and your employees!

When it comes to protecting your assets, you’re all business, and so are we! At Preferred Mutual, we know all too well how a fire can disrupt your daily operations, and result in property and equipment loss; and worse, how dangerous a fire is to your people.

According to National Fire Prevention Association, prevention is the best way to avoid fires. This means that in addition to reducing your office’s risk, your priority needs to be educating your employees on identifying risks!

1. Identify office issues before they lead to a fire is the best, most proactive approach.Train employees to be able to identify potential fire hazards. Employees need to know that it is everyone’s responsibility to keep the office environment as safe as possible. They should be able to notice something that could be dangerous such as overloaded electrical sockets. Not only is identification important, but they must also know how to report these potential hazards quickly and effectively so that the problem can be solved before it leads to a dangerous situation.
2. Educate employees about how to respond in the event of an emergency.All emergency exits and routes should be clearly posted in every room of your office. Also, make sure employees know where the closest exit is. Practice fire drills yearly to ensure that all individuals know how to exit and remain calm in case of a real fire.Fire extinguishers are one of the most reliable ways to put out fires in the workplace.  All workplaces should have equipment for putting out fires.  You may want to train workers in general fire extinguisher use to comply with OSHA standards.   OSHA states that if employers expect workers to use the fire extinguishers themselves, hands-on training must be provided.
3. Check the fire alarms and smoke detectors regularly. Often smoke detectors will run out of batteries. If the detector does not have enough power to signal an alarm, fires could go unnoticed until it is too late.
4. If an employee identifies an issue, fix it! Never assume the issue has been corrected right away. Check to make sure the job was done right.
5. Make sure fire exits are never blocked in an office.That extra door that no one ever uses may seem like a great place for extra storage, however this is a huge risk! While most times you will never need this door, the one time you do need access will be in an emergency, and if the door is blocked off and people cannot access it, their lives are potentially at risk. Keep all doors clear so that they can easily be opened as needed.

You can never be too cautious when it comes to preventing fires in your office or workplace!  After all, doing so helps to protect your employees, and protects what you’ve worked so hard to build.  Talk to your independent agent today to ensure you have the best coverage so you can get back to business quickly!

This information is intended for educational purposes only and is not legal advice and/or an authoritative guide.