As the saying goes, a business owner has to wear many hats. After you've owned a business for a while, you really come to understand how true this is. Even if you have employees who do a lot of your day-to-day marketing, ordering, and accounting, the responsibility for these tasks is ultimately your own.
If you are starting to feel overwhelmed with the many hats you're required to wear, you have stumbled upon a good resource. We created this website to share knowledge about all of those hats — all of those roles you have to play as a business person. Start reading, and you'll not only gain helpful advice, but also realize that you're not alone.
Six Things Staff Members Need To Know About Fire Extinguishers At Your Facility
Simply having fire extinguishers in place around your commercial facility is not enough to mitigate the risk of fire damage. You also need to make sure that your staff members are adequately informed when it comes to your fire extinguishers.
The following are six things that your staff members need to know about fire extinguishers at your facility.
The location
Staff members need to know the location of all fire extinguishers at your facility. This way, they know where to access fire extinguishers in the event of a fire emergency.
A staff member could find himself or herself in an unfamiliar, different part of your facility when a fire occurs. For this reason, you should inform staff members of the location of all fire extinguishers. This should even include fire extinguishers that are not located near a particular staff member's main work site.
The usage instructions
Fire extinguishers are useless to staff members who don't know how to use them. That's why it's important to train staff members on how fire extinguishers work. Additionally, instructions on fire extinguisher use should be placed on the fire extinguisher or fire extinguisher cabinet itself to provide emergency instructions.
The safety precautions
Staff members need to know what the potential safety precautions of fire extinguisher use are. These include aiming low when spraying out the contents of the fire extinguisher and ensuring that no one is in the path of the fire extinguisher spray.
The facility's fire response plan
You need to go beyond merely having fire extinguishers in place and training employees on how to use them. You also need to have a detailed fire response plan for your facility.
Your fire response plan should detail who does what in the event of a fire. Certain staff members can be designated for the tasks of contacting the fire department and using fire extinguishers. Getting staff and customers evacuated from the building should be another key detail in your fire response plan.
The fire extinguisher requirements for your facility
Depending on the size of your facility and the activities that take place inside of it, you may be required under your area's fire code to keep fire extinguishers in certain places.
It's a good idea to inform staff members of these requirements so that your staff can help you to stay on top of and meet fire code requirements.
The maintenance schedule
Fire extinguishers need to be periodically maintained and inspected to ensure that they are still functioning properly.
You need to create a maintenance schedule for all of the fire extinguishers at your facility. Then, managers at your facility can help make sure that your facility is keeping up with fire extinguisher maintenance.
For more information on handling fire extinguishers, contact a supplier, like County Fire Inc.