The LWF Blog

Facilities Management & Fire Safety – Fire Safety Management – Part 5

May 10, 2018 9:55 am

In LWF’s blog series for those who work in Facilities Management or who have an interest in or responsibility for fire safety, we have been looking at fire safety management and the extensive list of duties and areas of attention it affects. Fire safety management is an essential and ongoing assessment to recognise and mitigate potential fire risks. In part 4, we began looking at the areas of responsibility which must be addressed and in part 5, that continues.

 

It is important that a record of all relevant tests is kept. This should include any inspections, tests and maintenance of fire protection equipment (such as fire alarms, sprinklers, extinguishers etc.) as well as detailing staff fire training and fire drills. Such records are important for the organisation, in that it is possible to refer to completed tasks in order to plan future ones and also to provide proof if necessary of adherence to fire safety policies.

 

A policy regarding smoking on the premises (including outdoors) must be laid out and included in both induction and fire safety training. The necessity of not smoking in prohibited areas should be made clear and reasons given, to avoid any smokers using inappropriate shelters containing potentially flammable materials or setting off the fire alarm accidentally.  It may be prudent to offer a sheltered designated smoking area away from sources of ignition and fire exits.

 

Good standards of fire prevention must be achieved and maintained and this should include consideration of security against the threat of arson. The security of the building during working hours and outside of them should be organised in a way which protects the building occupants and contents both from a security and fire safety point of view.

 

Any substances held on the premises which could be considered dangerous from the point of view of fire safety should be recognised and listed, along with how they are to be controlled. Areas containing flammable materials or liquids should be considered high risk and as such may be subject to specially designed fire prevention measures such as suppression systems or enhanced fire compartmentation.

 

Contingency plans should be drawn up in case of a fire or other emergency.

The monitoring of fire loss experience should be undertaken to include small fires.

 

Good standards of housekeeping must be maintained.

In part 6 of this series, LWF will look at housekeeping in some detail. In the meantime, if you have any queries about your own facilities or wish to discuss this blog series, please contact Peter Gyere in the first instance on 0208 668 8663.

 

Lawrence Webster Forrest is a fire engineering consultancy based in Surrey with over 25 years’ experience, which provides a wide range of consultancy services to professionals involved in the design, development and construction and operation of buildings. 

 

While care has been taken to ensure that information contained in LWF’s publications is true and correct at the time of publication, changes in circumstances after the time of publication may impact on the accuracy of this information.