10 Simple Fire Prevention Strategies

We’ve boiled basic workplace fire prevention down to 10 essential elements. They are:

1. Inspect all areas of your workplace for fire hazards on a regular basis. Pay particular attention to areas where fires are most likely to occur. More than half of industrial fires occur in everyday work areas. Another large percentage occurs in storage areas.
 
2. Educate employees about fire hazards. Use bulletin boards, memos, and safety meetings to distribute fire prevention information. Update your training whenever new equipment or processes introduce new hazards.

3. Make sure you have the right fire extinguishers for the fire hazards in your workplace. Have maintenance check extinguishers all over your facility regularly to make sure they are properly charged. And remember, OSHA says that if you expect employees to use extinguishers in the event of a fire, you have to train them to handle an extinguisher effectively.

4. Store materials safely. Keep storage areas well ventilated and free of ignition sources. Be particularly careful with flammables.

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Whatever safety meeting you need, chances are you’ll find it prewritten and ready to use in BLR’s Safety Meetings Library on CD. Try it at no cost or risk. Here’s how.

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5. Dispose of wastes promptly and correctly. Don’t allow combustible waste materials to build up. Consider the ease of ignition when disposing of other materials as well. For example, oily rags should be disposed of in closed metal containers.

6. Emphasize good housekeeping. All work areas should be clean and free of fire hazards.

7. Make sure ventilation systems operate effectively to remove flammable vapors, gases, and combustible dust from the air.

8. Service machines regularly. Set up an adequate maintenance schedule, and make sure employees follow it.

9. Pay careful attention to electrical safety. Check electrical circuits, outlets, wires, and plugs regularly so that an electrical problem does not start a fire. If you allow employees to use coffeemakers, fans, and other appliances, make sure they are used safely and turned off at the end of the shift.

10. Enforce fire safety rules. Make sure employees obey your no smoking policy and other fire safety rules. Be prepared to discipline rule breakers.

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We challenge you to NOT find a safety meeting you need, already prewritten, in BLR’s Safety Meetings Library. Take up our challenge at no cost or risk. Get the details.

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Cost-Effective Training at Your Fingertips

BLR’s Safety Meetings Library provides the perfect materials for conducting frequent and engaging training on fire prevention and all the other essential OSHA-required training topics. This cost-effective resource provides no fewer than seven separate safety meetings on the topic, as well as supporting handouts, quizzes, posters, and safety slogans.

All told, the CD provides you with more than 400 ready-to-train meetings on more than 100 key safety topics—a shrewd investment in this time of tight safety budgets. In addition to the meetings’ supplemental quizzes and handouts, you also get relevant regulations (OSHA’s CFR 29), a listing of the most common safety violations cited by OSHA, and case studies of actual OSHA cases and their outcomes.

Safety Meetings Library lets you choose from a variety of training approaches, including:

• Mandatory—Sessions that are OSHA-required
• Comprehensive—Sessions with the broadest coverage of a topic
• 7-Minute—Short, simple, targeted sessions to fit tight schedules
• Initial—A session used as introductory training on a topic
• Refresher—Sessions that follow up on or reinforce previous training
• Tool Box Talk—More informal reinforcement of a topic
• PowerPoint®—Graphic presentations for comprehensive initial or refresher training
• Hands-on—Sessions with training activities
• Spanish—Including Spanish language handouts and quizzes coordinated with English sessions

You can get a preview of the program by using the links below. But for the best look, we suggest a no-cost, no-obligation trial. Just let us know and we’ll arrange it for you.

 

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