Flames spreading in your business can quickly destroy valuable equipment and put your employees’ health and safety in jeopardy. Even a little fire can destroy essentials such as computer information and records, resulting in a significant financial loss. Learn the best ways to protect your business from fire and help keep your employees and your property safe from harm.
Make Sure Fire Control and Suppression Systems Are Installed
When a fire breaks out, the sooner you can react, the greater your chances of minimizing the damage. You’ll need to work with your local fire department to professionally install safety and suppression systems such as sprinklers and foam throughout your building. These systems should activate automatically, and you need to examine, service, and repair them regularly.
Have Properly Working Fire Alarms
People’s safety should be your number one priority, and everyone needs to be aware when a fire starts so they can evacuate the premises. You need a properly installed and functioning fire alarm system to inform your staff and emergency services immediately. Hold regular training sessions, so employees know exactly what to do in case of fire and their routes to leave the building.
Perform Regular Building Maintenance
One of the best ways to protect your business from a fire is to perform regular maintenance around your building, so it’s always up to code. Make sure fire exits are visible and there are no obstructions in their path. Use lit exit signs with battery backups that function even if your power goes out.
Keep Away Debris
As the old saying goes, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Make sure you clear your workspace of any flammable materials such as newspapers, dirty rags, and other combustible substances that could easily ignite. During the winter, always turn space heaters off at night and keep them away from papers and other potential fuel sources.
Save Your Valuable Data
You should always have offsite backups of your data uploaded to cloud storage if a fire damages your physical copies. Try to use fire- and smoke-resistant plenum cabling whenever possible around your building and connect to computers to stop the spread of flames. Your data is an invaluable resource that can be nearly impossible to recover when it’s damaged.
The more work you put into stopping fire in its track and protecting your employees, the quicker and easier you’ll be able to recover when disaster strikes. Keep yourself and your staff members educated and up to date on the dangers and prevention measures of fire as well.