Fire Safety Training; A Business, Legal And Moral Obligation

The world of business today is abounding with health and safety regulations and procedures. As such it is now the case that business owners and managers have a responsibility to ensure their staff members have had suitable fire safety training to recognise the chances of fire as well as how to react to the outbreak of a blaze. This is important for a number of reasons; not least the legal implications of not highlighting fire safety issues to staff members. The following article hopes to highlight the importance of safety training in the world of work and business.

It is a very sad and real fact that workers still die in fires all over the country each year. In some cases these deaths are a result of inefficient or nonexistent training. As a manager or business owner, an inherent responsibility to ensure the safety of workers is evident; this responsibility is legally defined but in many cases it is a surety that the death of a staff member would heavily impact a manager's life and conscience. The human loss from fire however is not the only reason to follow a training procedure; with fires costing the economy billions of pounds annually it also makes good financial sense to train staff. A recent estimate placed the figure of business who fail to recover from fire at around eighty percent, this occurs through loss of stock, premises and trade; understandably the costs of training are preferable to losing the entire business.

Fire occurs at the confluence of three major factors, these are ignition, fuel and oxygen. In most cases the third element is practically impossible to control, although the use of fire doors can help to restrict spreading. More important is to understand how the instances of ignition can be reduced; this can be done through better procedures and management of dangerous items. Finally fuel should be controlled if fires are not to be a problem, in this sense fuel is anything that can feed a blaze, it can be controlled by having procedures ensuring particularly flammable materials are controlled and stored safely. All of this is attainable with effective training.

Training not only gives staff members the knowledge of how a blaze can occur, it can also provide vital information on how to cope with the effects of an inferno. In most cases it will help managers and staff to put together a plan of action that ensures that everyone is evacuated safely while the blaze is controlled to limit its spread. It is also essential to utilise refresher courses so that workers are constantly aware of the risks and do not forget the importance of safety procedures.

Naturally fighting fires should preferably be left to the professionals. Extinguisher training courses however can give workers the knowledge of how tot tackle a blaze before it gets out of hand. This could be a bin fire or a minor blaze in the kitchen. With this kind of knowledge a potential inferno can be nipped in the bud so to speak, meaning that the business is saved thousands on repair costs and loss of stock.

It is hoped that this information has given business owners and managers an idea of the importance of fire safety training. It does not just make legal and financial sense to instruct staff members effectively, there is also a strong moral obligation to ensure the safety of colleagues. One consideration is vital, is it really worth the loss of a life and a business for the sake of the cost of a training course?

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