The Importance of Fire Extinguishers
Fires are extremely dangerous and happen quite a bit. According to the National Fire Protection Association a structure fire occurred every 63 seconds and a home fire occurred every 88 seconds in 2017. This places a tremendous burden on our firefighters.
A study performed by the European Committee of the Manufacturers of Fire Protection Equipment and Fire Fighting Vehicles found that in over 80% of all fires a portable fire extinguisher extinguished the flames. Plain and simple, Fire Extinguishers save lives!
Choosing the correct type of fire extinguisher is also important. Using your safety data sheets, you should be able to determine the type of fire extinguishers needed. A lot of companies assume that the higher the rating the better. This isn’t always the case, pay close attention to what you need the fire extinguisher for and select accordingly.
Furthermore, ensuring that your employees know where the fire extinguishers are located, which fire extinguishers are need in each area, and that they are inspected annually are all keys to effective performance.
What do you need to do to stay compliant?
- Ensure all employees are trained on the location, classes of fires, types of extinguishers, health and safety hazards, sounding alarms, ppe, and when and how to use the extinguisher.
- Ensure all employees practice how to use and extinguish a fire.
- All extinguishers must have an attached durable tag, be well supported and easily accessible.
- Fire extinguishers must be inspected annually.
Fire extinguisher training is one of the most entertaining safety courses available. Typically, the training will last less than an hour with time at the end to practice extinguishing fires.
Has anyone ever been involved in a workplace fire? If so, how did it happen? Was anyone injured? What was the outcome?
Download our free safety meeting on The Importance of Fire Extinguishers by clicking here.
