7 Fire Safety Tips for Commercial Buildings

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Once the fire starts spreading, it will become difficult for you to control if you did not take the right fire safety precautions earlier. Today, modern fire fighting methods have helped to curb the consequences of a raging fire. But that should not make you complacent.

You should do your part in making your commercial building as risk free as possible. In today’s post, we are going to share some of the most important fire safety tips that you can implement right away. So, without any further ado, let’s figure out how you can ensure fire safety for your commercial building.

What Causes Fire In a Commercial Building?

There are many reasons why fire can break inside a commercial building. Let’s talk about some of the most common causes of fire.

1. Heating Equipment

Commercial buildings have furnaces, radiators and boilers that can often lead to situations where the building becomes overheated. This can cause fire, mostly in industrial properties.

2. Smoking

We have seen many cases where the fire was the result of careless smoking or not disposing of the smoking materials properly. We will talk about this more later.

3. Cooking

If your commercial building has a pantry or a kitchen, there can be chances where flammable materials like oil and grease can catch fire.

4. Arson

Arson is a fire that has been intentionally started by a person, often, but not always, using highly flammable substances. These deliberate fires can cause harm to the people inside the building or to the building itself. A good security system is the best safeguard against arsonists.

5. Electrical Equipment

If you have installed low-quality electrical equipment that has become overloaded, you definitely stand a high chance of fire breaking out in your building.

7 Fire Safety Tips for Commercial Buildings

1. Create Awareness About Fire Safety

We all know the saying – an ounce of prevention is better than a pound cure. Well, it suits the best in this case where fire can actually make a devastating impact on your commercial building and the people inside. Therefore, you should definitely take some time apart from your busy schedule and educate yourself and your employees regarding fire safety. To make sure that you have the right information, you can contact your local fire department service and arrange a quick fire safety session. Every commercial building has an escape route it should be accessible to every employee and also made sure that no place in the route is blocked. The most dangerous aspect of any fire that takes place in a commercial building is the smoke the file generates. Every employee in the building should be aware of the outlets to let out the smoke.

2. Fire Detection System

Another great tip that we have for you in this post is regarding the up-gradation of the fire detection system in your commercial building. As the fire detection technologies keep on evolving, it is important that you install the latest fire detection systems so that there is no loss of life or property in case there is a fire in the building. Most of these fire detection systems have become so sensitive to smoke that they go off even when there is a tad bit of it in the air.

If your building has such a high-quality detection system, you can be certain that inhabitants will go through the fire drill and escape any damage. The smoke sensitive sensors are often connected to the local fire department which gets notified as soon as the fire safety alarms at your building go off. However, you must check the sensors periodically to replace any faulty equipment in your fire detection system.

3. Create an Emergency Escape

If you are in a commercial building, you must not make the mistake of skipping the construction of an emergency escape. This is mainly because, in case of a fire outbreak, the elevators will definitely stop working because of a possible power breakdown. Once that happens, the employees in the building will have no other way to exit the building. Developing an emergency escape and maintaining it will provide the people inside the commercial building a functional fire exit. Train your employees to use the emergency escape as soon as they see a tiny fire in the building.

4. Fire-Extinguishing System

Many times you will see a small fire in the building that can be easily put out. Well, while we don’t recommend you to take matters into your own hand, you can always train people to use fire extinguishers to manage small fires. Modern-day commercial buildings have fire extinguishing systems in the form of sprinklers that sprinkle water in case the fire detection system detects smoke. We highly recommend you rely on fire sprinklers instead of fire extinguishers because the latter has to be operated manually and you might miss the target due to lack of training. The former however can be placed strategically in the building to ensure every fire outbreak can be professionally managed.

5. Dedicated Smoking Zones

You must ensure a smoke-free environment for your employees. This can be done by creating smoking zones inside the commercial building. The smoking zones are essentially dedicated areas where people can smoke. Smoking outside the smoking zones should be strictly prohibited because there is a risk of a fire outbreak in case the cigarettes are not disposed of properly. This doesn’t mean that the smoking zone shouldn’t be monitored. Smoking zones can also start a fire if they are not monitored carefully. You can even have a no-smoke policy for everyone inside a commercial building. In case you create a smoking zone in the building, you must make sure your employees understand the importance of disposing of the smoking material properly.

6. Electrical Wiring in Circuits

The most common reason why fire starts in any commercial building is due to faulty wiring. You should definitely make sure that your office’s electrical wiring and circuit are installed properly. When it comes to electrical wiring we highly recommend you deploy a well-planned wiring system that takes fire hazards into account. But, installing proper electrical wiring is not it. You must periodically check all the electrical sockets, cords, and wires to ensure the electrical equipment you are using is performing at its best.

7. Appoint a Competent Fire Warden

We highly recommend you to dedicate a resource to take responsibility for fire safety. That’s right. You can appoint a fire warden that will make sure that all fire safety guidelines are followed in the commercial building. Fire wardens are highly trained professionals that know what to do when there is a fire in a building. They periodically carry out fire risk assessments to ensure that all fire safety equipment and systems are in their prime.

Wrapping Up

There you have it. We have some of the most important tips that you should follow to make your commercial building a safe place. Have questions? Call us at 847-943-9501 or contact us via our website. We would love to hear from you and tell you more about how you can safeguard your commercial property.