As part of your fire safety measures, you have to have fire extinguishers and early fire detection devices not only inside your house but in other detached structures within your property especially your guest house. In short, the fire precautionary and protective measures you have should encompass your whole property. You need to be aware if a fire starts anywhere in your home as well as outside the main house but within your estate so you can make the necessary actions to reduce the damage that fire can wreak on lives and property.

One of the fire safety rules that you should have is that all members of your household are aware of what needs to be done when the fire alarms goes off. In the event that you have guests staying with you, they should also be aware of the safety measures you have in place so that they are not caught unawares as well. It is also best that they are informed of your fire escape plan by directing them to the different fire exits available so that they can safely evacuate the premises when a fire occurs.

Your guests should also be aware of where the fire extinguisher is located in the guest house and you need to ensure that they know how to use it when the need arises. Since they are staying in a place separated from the main house, it is also important to show them the smoke fire alarms to give them some peace of mind that they would be given due warning if a fire starts within their area especially when they are sleeping. It is also important that the fire alarm you have installed can be heard from all areas of your property so that everybody is warned about the fire.

If a fire starts, you need to ensure that your guests have been warned and that they are all able to get out of the premises. As much as your guests may want to help put out the fire, it is always best that you keep them away and safe with your family at the designated area you have planned as part of your fire safety rules. To ensure that they are all there, you need to do a head count so that the appropriate action can be done if someone is missing. It is best that you do not go searching for them if the fire has escalated. Inform the fire crew about the situation as well as information on where the person has last been seen to give the fire crew a starting point.

Fire wreaks havoc on life and property and when you have guests staying with you, you need to ensure that they are also safe and protected. Employing fire safety measures will provide your guests the needed assurance that their welfare is important to you. They would then have a great time staying in your guest house knowing that you have provided them not only a comfortable place to stay in but a safe one as well.

Once a fire starts it can be very difficult to stop. By the time the fire brigade have come to the scene, it may be too late. All that will be left is a charred building. Fire results in the loss of property and the loss of life but it can be prevented by following some simple fire safety procedures. This article will discuss how to prevent fires from starting, what to do if you discover one and how to react to a continuous fire alarm.

Preventing blazes from starting is not that difficult if you adhere to the basic rules of fire safety. You should keep all areas as tidy as possible with no excess rubbish lying around the place. The more fuel a fire has to use, the quicker it will spread. At work, if your profession involves dealing with flammable materials/chemicals, then ensure that they are in proper containers with the lids on. These supplies should then be safely stored in a metal storage cabinet. Never smoke in ‘non-smoking’ areas and always correctly put out your cigarettes, putting them in metal bins. A key aspect of fire safety is to always have exits free. Do not put furniture or anything of that nature in hallways or by doors. If you see damage to extinguishers, fire doors or alarms fix immediately or report them to your landlord/employer.

Sometimes even the best fire safety preventative measures are not enough to start a blaze from starting. If you do spot smoke and discover a fire, then under no circumstances should you fight the fire unless you are specifically trained to do so or else the fire is extremely small and can be tackled quickly. Hit the nearest fire alarm and phone the fire brigade and any security officers that may be on duty. Leave the building via the nearest fire exit and walk calmly towards the fire assembly point. Do not enter the building until it has been deemed safe to do so.

If you are in a building and hear a fire alarm it is important not to panic. Locate the nearest fire exit on foot, don’t attempt to use a lift. If you can help a fellow employee do so, but make your way as far away from the flames as possible as smoke can play havoc with your senses. Every workplace should conduct regular drills and educate their employees on the importance of fire safety. If you discover any problems or potential fire safety issues when undertaking the fire drill tell your supervisor immediately.

Everyone should do their part to spot fire safety danger signs such as too much garbage and flammable material lying around. By allowing these to remain, you will be increasing the chances of a fire starting whilst equipping it with the fuel it needs to continue burning. If a fire does happen then you need to alert the authorities by setting off the building’s alarm. As long as employees are trained correctly in fire safety procedures, they will remain calm and act the right way in an emergency situation.

New fire safety and risk assessment rules affecting all non-domestic premises in England and Wales came into force on October 1, 2006. If you need additional information on how you can ensure you are meeting your obligations under the new fire safety/risk assessment rules, feel free to browse this site, or alternatively, you can call your local fire brigade.

Under the new rules, you must make sure you carry out a fire-risk assessment, although you can pass this task to some other competent person. As far as is reasonably practical, the responsible person, either on his or her own or with any other responsible person, must make sure that everyone on the premises, or nearby, can escape safely if there is a fire.

Risk assessment is perhaps the most essential component of health and safety since it allows you to learn what can cause harm to people in your office or place of work. Hazards are those things in and around the workplace that can cause harm to staff, volunteers, visitors and other members of the public. Look around the building to find those things you consider a significant hazard.

Keep in mind that sometimes it is easy to ignore some hazards because they are familiar. It is also useful to ask people who use the premises if they know of anything they consider to be a fire hazard. Consider the people that use the building and how the hazard might affect them. Even if they use your premises every day, customers and service personnel must be thought of as members of the public. It is also important to consider how the hazard might cause an injury.

Risk is the chance that someone could be harmed. As a guide, “low” risks do not need significant attention. “Medium” risks need some attention to bring them to a “low” level. Of course, “high” risks should be dealt with immediately. Risks assessments must be done in writing if you have five or more employees, and this includes volunteers. Assessments should be reviewed periodically to ensure that they remain valid.

The assessment might also need to be reviewed if there are major changes, and this should be seen as part of the planning process of any new project or change. The guidelines above can help you with the fire risk assessment but you may need added information, particularly if you have large or intricate premises.

With some level of proper training or experience, a responsible person should be able to do a fire risk assessment. More complex premises will probably need to be assessed by a person who has comprehensive training or experience in fire risk assessment.

The risk assessment will help you make a decision on the nature and the extent of the fire precautions you need to provide. There are six other legal duties you need to know:

• You must designate people to take on any special roles required under your emergency plan where it is necessary to preserve the safety of your employees.
• You must seek advice from your employees about the appointment of people to fulfil particular roles relating to fire safety and about suggestions for improving fire precautions.
• You must notify other employers who have workplaces in the building of any significant risks you found which might affect the safety of their employees – and co-operate with them about the measures proposed to reduce/control those risks.
• If you are not an employer but have any control of premises that contain more than one workplace, you are also responsible for ensuring that the requirements of the fire regulations are complied with in those parts you have control over.
• You must establish an appropriate means of calling emergency services, and make sure they can be contacted easily.
• The law requires your employees to cooperate with you to ensure the workplace is safe from fire and its effects, and not to do anything that will place themselves and other people at risk.

Any responsible person, even with limited formal instruction or experience, can do a simple fire risk assessment. More complex buildings will need to be assessed by a person with full training and experience in fire risk assessment. Mainly companies and building owners will be affected by the new legislation but it could be anyone who has some control over premises. Fire certificates will no longer be valid.

Under the new regulations it is the responsibility of employers to do a risk assessment of their places of work, which must contain provisions concerning fire safety measures in the workplace.

The responsible person must go over the risk assessment frequently to keep it current, particularly if:

• There is reason to believe that it is no longer valid; or
• There has been a major change in the matters to which it relates, or there have been expansions or substantial changes in the organisation of work

The risk assessment should be done to make sure that appropriate fire precautions, maintenance and management measures are in place to guarantee the safety of anyone who might use your premises. The Fire and Rescue Authority will now examine premises and undertake audits of fire risk assessments to put into effect the requirements of the Regulatory Reform Order.

The Five Steps To Fire Risk Assessment:

Step 1: Identify fire hazards. Is there a system for controlling the amounts of combustible materials and flammable liquids and gases, including cleaning fluids, stationery and waste, kept in the workplace? Is the system working correctly? Are all combustible materials and flammable liquids and gases stored safely? Are all items of portable electrical equipment checked frequently and fitted with the correct rated fuses?

Step 2: Identify the persons at significant risk in case of fire. Think about who might be in or near your premises that would need to know about your fire protection systems – including employees, people in adjoining buildings, visitors or contractors. Is there an adequate number of proper exits of suitable width for the persons present? Do the exits lead to a place of safety? Are passageways and escape routes free from obstacles and tripping hazards? Are steps and stairs in a good state of repair? Are final exits always unlocked when the premises are in use?

Step 3: Evaluate the risks. Control sources of ignition and the use and storage of flammable materials. Do procedures and practices avoid the use of combustible materials or processes that use heat? Has thought been given to all cost-effective measures that can be taken to prevent the incidence of arson? Have employees been taught how to call the fire brigade, the use of the fire extinguishers and basic fire prevention?

Step 4: Record your findings and action taken. This depends on the size of your workplace and the likelihood of fire. If you employ five or more people have you recorded the findings of the fire risk assessment? Have you told your employees or their representatives about your findings? If you have prepared a final report has it been shown to your employees? If you share the workplace with others do they know about the risks you have identified?

Step 5: Keep assessment under review. Has a procedure been set up to go over the fire risk assessment at regular intervals?

The task of complying with the Fire Safety Order rests with the “responsible person.” Under Article 9 of the Order the responsible person must ensure that a fire risk assessment is carried out to identify the general precautions required. Detailed advice on carrying out a fire risk assessment is contained in the Home Office/Scottish Executive/Northern Ireland DoE/HSE publication, Fire Safety: An Employer’s Guide.

New pieces of fire prevention equipment and methods for fire prevention seem to become available every day. Basic approaches to safety design recognize that fire prevention is a significant aspect of general safety. Every employer now has to do a fire risk assessment, which should include a complete evaluation of the causes of, impact from, and consequences of fire in a particular location.

Fire prevention and management deals with the avoidance, detection and putting out of fires, in addition to such secondary activities as studies on the causes of fire, instruction of employees about fire hazards, and the maintenance and improvement of fire-fighting equipment. Little official attention was given to fire prevention prior to World War II.
The solution to fire safety is essentially to prevent fire from starting in the first place, but an understanding of what causes fire is necessary to recognize how to avoid it.

The basic things required for fire include: some type of fuel, oxygen and heat. The seat of a fire can easily reach hundreds, if not thousands of degrees Celsius. However, the chief hazard with fire is not the high temperature or the flames, but the smoke. A potential fire source is anything that gets hot, gives off sparks or has naked flames, whether in the usual working situation or if a defect should develop. There is a greater risk of fire when these things are placed close to flammable materials than if they were separated.

The key to preventing fires in the workplace comes down to preparation and practice. Here’s where to start:

• Make a plan – get together with your staff and talk about how you might get out if the fire is in different places.
• Psychological preparation – you have to live and envisage the fire from every area of your workplace.
• Practice often – in a real fire, deadly smoke will obscure your path to safety, so you must know your way out by heart.

Fire Safety in the Workplace

The first “rule” of fire prevention – avoiding placing things that could catch fire close to the things that could ignite the fire or removing the ignition source completely – is at times difficult or impossible to put into practice, in which case we need to use a second method: fire proofing.

Preventing fire from starting mainly calls for you to be mindful of the things that could catch fire and those things that could start a fire and then taking action to reduce the possibilities as low as possible. Immediately follow these procedures if you notice a fire or see/smell smoke:

1. Notify the local fire brigade.
2. Trigger the building alarm.
3. If you can leave the building safely, do so, but first isolate the area by closing windows and doors.
4. If possible, shut down equipment in the immediate area.
5. Use a portable fire extinguisher if possible and if you have received the proper training, to:
(i) Assist yourself to evacuate
(ii) Assist others to evacuate
(iii) Control a small fire
6. Leave the area of the fire immediately and walk, do not run to the exit and designated gathering spot; do not collect personal or official items.
7. You should give the fire/police crews details of the problem upon their arrival.

Put your policies in writing and include the fire prevention and safety practices into your staff manual and training schedules. One way to recruit staff in the process of overseeing risk, to allocate tasks for fire prevention and safety, and at the same time to satisfy the requirements of the fire safety order is to set up a safety committee. Keep in mind, however, that these procedures will work best when they are practised and reviewed regularly with the staff.