Your fire protection equipment is essential to the safety of your employees. You know it is important to have items like fire extinguishers around, but many companies fail to stay on top of training and maintenance once the items are installed. Here are some tips to help you ensure your fire protection equipment is just as reliable today as the day it was installed.
1. Check your extinguishers regularly. Your fire extinguishers should be checked monthly by someone designated on your staff to do so. This monthly check is simple. It is simply a matter of checking the pressure gauge to verify that the extinguisher is maintaining proper pressure. In addition, fire extinguishers should be inspected yearly by the company that installed these to verify current operational ability.
2. Train your employees regularly. Fire extinguishers are useless if no one knows how to use these. Hold an annual fire safety training that includes operation of a fire extinguisher for all employees. Your fire protection equipment company will be happy to come in and conduct this training. When conducting this training, be sure to use the opportunity to remind employees of your fire and emergency activation plan.
3. Make sure your fire alarm works. If you’ve been lucky enough to avoid any sort of fire emergency in the last few years, you may not even know whether or not your fire alarm works. Test fire alarms annually. If you have smoke detectors, replace the batteries twice a year. Many people recommend timing the replacement of your smoke alarm batteries with changing your clocks to and from daylight saving time each year. Test the smoke alarms monthly when you check the pressure gauge on your fire extinguishers.
4. Choose the right partner. You’re not in the fire protection business, so you should choose a partner that will take the hassle out of protecting your business from fire. The right partner will ensure you have an adequate system in place, that the equipment is regularly inspected and help you ensure that you are offering training on a regular basis.
These four tips can help you maintain a safe workplace and be prepared in the event of a fire. When an emergency occurs, being ready and having functional equipment can be the difference between life and death for you or for your employees. Checking your fire extinguishers in Illinois is just one important part of this plan.
