Fire safety procedures are a big concern for any business, While any business will have the concern of ensuring that no one is harmed during the course of a fire - retail has a harder time doing this since the customers will vary from time to time.
In a retail environment, the customers won’t always know what to do if a fire starts and the risk that comes with some of these customers panicking can only make the situation potentially even worse.
There are several potential sources within retail premises at which a fire can occur. As a retail business owner, under the building fire safety regulation, they have an obligation to their employees and to their customers to minimize the risk of fire hazards and to carry out definite fire safety procedures should a fire break out.
Fire safety procedures
The first step in creating fire safety procedures is to conduct a Fire Risk Assessment
Fire safety procedures are a written set of plans describing the steps to be taken in the event of a fire emergency, and assigning responsibility for each action.
The first step in creating fire safety procedures is to conduct a Fire Risk Assessment. It is impossible to make an effective and comprehensive plan without the necessary information; a fire risk assessment will provide the details that are needed.
Fire risk assessment
As the owner, they have to carry out fire risk assessments to make certain any fire hazards are identified and reduced as risks. Nominate a responsible person to tackle this particular task, assuming they have excellent knowledge of what conditions could lead to a fire, what materials pose a fire risk, and the consequences should a fire break out.
This will help to have a prepared response to deal with the fire, in case it ever breaks out, and also evacuation plans must be in place, in order to ensure that everyone on the premises can escape safely.
A fire risk assessment must be carried out in order to:
- Identify fire hazards
- Identify any people that could be at risk
- Reduce any identified risks to an acceptable standard
- Identify what action should be taken in the event of a fire to keep people safe
- Identify sources of ignition
- Means of escape from the building
- Identify fire warning systems
- Identify fire-fighting facilities
- Review of the fire safety procedures in place and recommendations for improvements where necessary
Creating the fire safety procedures
These procedures should take into consideration the building’s structural features
Right after obtaining information through a Fire Risk Assessment, building owners can utilize that knowledge to describe the best ways for employees to respond to a fire alarm or fire emergency.
These procedures should take into consideration the building’s structural features, the retail store layout, and the existing fire emergency systems.
Fire safety procedures should:
- Explain what to do when a fire is discovered.
- Establish procedures and routes being implemented for evacuations.
- Establish areas of refuge and specific plans for evacuating those areas of refuge.
- Provide procedures for evacuating disabled employees or customers.
- Establish a method to account for those evacuated individuals.
- Establish processes and conditions under which employees need to fight a fire.
- Require proper firefighting training for all employees.
- Require the placement and installation of any required firefighting equipment following fire extinguisher location regulations.
- Establish methods and procedures for the shutdown of electrical equipment.
Effective fire safety procedures
Having effective fire safety procedures and proper employee training will lessen the injuries and damage brought on by the fire. In case there are no fire safety procedures, or if the procedures currently employed are poorly prepared, the probable result will be a disorganized evacuation or emergency response, resulting in confusion, injury, and increased property damage.
As a retail store owner, it is vital to know that it’s important to ensure that the retail space is safe for both customers and employees. For those who need help with their fire safety procedures and fire compliance requirements, FCF is there to assist them.
