Fire Safety In The Workplace – Fire can strike anywhere at any time. We often lose sight of this fact because most fire safety campaigns are centered on the home–how to extinguish cooking fires, teaching your kids to crawl under smoke, and testing smoke detectors twice a year. The reality is that fires in the workplace are just as serious a hazard as those in the home.
Several factors can actually make the workplace a more dangerous place during a fire. First, workplaces often contain hazards that are not present at home, such as hazardous chemicals, power tools, and large stockpiles of flammable materials. Second, when a fire breaks out at work, we may find ourselves away from our usual work station and unsure of which exit is closest. Click here for the Best-Selling Fire Safety Products.
There are also more people at work, making egress slower and complicating the process of accounting for everyone outside. Finally, most of us work in a building that is much larger than our homes and has more open spaces where smoke can spread rapidly.
Despite these very different conditions for workplace fires, the same basic rules of fire safety apply as those you use at home, with a couple of extra considerations. These points will guide you in protecting yourself in case of a fire at work.
React to Alarms, But Don’t Wait for Them
Most smoke detectors and other fire alarm systems are sensitive enough to activate fairly quickly when a fire breaks out. However, it is never instantaneous.
Having a modern system of alarms and sprinklers in a workplace is no reason to become complacent and wait for them to tell you there is a fire. Continue to use your own six senses and your common sense to get alerted to fires before the smoke and heat have time to reach sensors.
Watch for smoke and for things like flickering lights. Listen for popping and cracking sounds or for unusual sounds from equipment. Use your sense of touch to detect when a wall or appliance feels hot, and let your nose alert you to the odor of hot or burning items.
Know Your Escape Route
As we noted earlier, you may not always be in the same location all day at work. You could find yourself far from your usual space when a fire breaks out. Always keep exits in mind, especially when you’re on the move.
When you are in a given area, make sure not only to note where the exits are but whether there are any obstructions. Notify a supervisor (or if you are one, take action) when obstacles are present. Have a second and even a third route in mind in case the first choice is overcrowded or is slowed by large numbers of escaping workers.
Crawl Under the Smoke
If things go as planned, you will be able to walk out of your workplace if a fire breaks out. In some situations, though, you will need to make your way out of the building after there is already smoke along your route.
Remember that smoke and all the other toxic byproducts of combustion are going to rise toward the ceiling. This will leave all the clean air at the bottom, permitting you to breathe and see freely.
This is the safest strategy even if the smoke appears to be light. Remember that it’s not just the visibility you’re concerned about, it’s also the dangerous gases in the smoke. Carbon monoxide is present during any fire, and it will be at its highest concentration in the smoke. If you crawl below that level, you’ll be in cleaner air and have less of a chance at becoming incapacitated. Remember that smoke is far more likely to kill you than the fire itself.
Navigate Safely
In addition to knowing at least two good escape paths from your workplace, you also need to know how to move through those paths.
Never use elevators, even if there is no visible fire in the area. Remember that the elevator’s power source could be far away from the elevator itself, creating a risk that it loses electricity while you’re inside. Elevators may also open on a smoke-filled level, contaminating the air inside.
Check all doors for heat before opening them. Touch the knob or handle with the back of your hand, and look for any smoke coming from around the door. If these conditions exist, try another route. If you are trapped inside a room, close the door and seal the gaps around it with tape, rugs, or anything else you can find inside the room. Call 911 immediately and tell them your exact location.
Fight Back
Sometimes you will encounter a fire before it has become too large to handle. In this case, it is safe to call the fire department and then attempt to put the fire out. If you have any doubts about your ability to extinguish the fire, leave the area and let the fire department take care of it.
If you do feel comfortable using a fire extinguisher, be sure to follow the instructions. Remember the PASS technique: Pull, aim, squeeze, and sweep.
Pull the pin out of the extinguisher to release the handle. Aim the nozzle at the base of the fire. Squeeze the handle to discharge the fire extinguisher, and then sweep the nozzle back and forth as needed until the fire goes out. If you are unable to extinguish the fire, leave the area immediately and be sure to update the fire department on the situation as soon as you safely can.
Every workplace should be in compliance with a number of fire safety codes regulating the number and size of exits, the availability of fire extinguishers, and the presence and upkeep of detectors and alarm systems. Those tools are there to protect you, but you are still responsible for knowing how to use them.
Be aware of fire safety at all times so that you will be prepared to protect yourself and your co-workers when fire breaks out.