Welcome to October – And Fire Prevention Week
Know What to do At Home and at Work
We love the changing colors of Fall just as much as we love Summer’s sunny days, but safety doesn’t cool off with the weather. October’s safety calendar includes Fire Prevention Week that’s put on by the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), with this year’s dates falling on the 7th-13th.
The theme for 2018 is “Look. Listen. Learn. Be aware. Fire can happen anywhere,” and works to educate people about three basic – and essential – steps that can be taken to reduce the likelihood of having a fire and how to escape safely in the event of one at your home. Let’s break it down:
- LOOK – Look for places fire could start. Take a good look around your home. Identify potential fire hazards and take care of them.
- LISTEN – Listen for the sound of the smoke alarm. You could have only minutes to escape safely once the smoke alarm sounds. Go to your outside meeting place, which should be a safe distance from the home and where everyone should know to meet.
- LEARN – Learn two ways out of every room and make sure all doors and windows leading outside open easily and are free of clutter.
What’s at your Workplace?
So now you know what do do at home… do you know your company’s fire safety strategy? Do your employees? Take a moment to look at your workplace fire prevention and emergency plan and make sure you’ve got standards in place… because if not, you should.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) states that employers should train workers about fire hazards in the workplace and about what to do in a fire emergency. For example, if workers need to evacuate, they should be trained on how to escape, or if workers must know how to fight small fires, they should be given the appropriate equipment and trained to use the equipment safely. As stated by OSHA, all fire prevention plans must:
- Include housekeeping procedures for storage and cleanup of flammable materials and flammable waste.
- Address handling and packaging of flammable waste. Additionally, recycling of flammable waste, i.e. paper, is encouraged.
- Cover procedures for controlling workplace ignition sources, such as smoking, welding, and burning.
- Provide for proper cleaning and maintenance of heat producing equipment, such as burners, heat exchangers, boilers, ovens, stoves, and fryers, and require storage of flammables away from this equipment.
- Inform workers of the potential fire hazards of their jobs and plan procedures.
- Require plan review with all new employees and with all employees whenever the plan is changed.
Remember, ALWAYS call 911 immediately when you notice a fire and don’t hang up with the emergency responder until told to do so – both at home and at work.
Need Fire Prevention safety training? Give us a call today – we’ve got the resources and know-how to get you exactly what you need for your workplace.