Don’t Let Your Workplace Go Up in Smoke

Fire prevention is a combination of common sense, attention to detail, and follow-up. Emergency response is all about preparation.

As you sit in your office reading this, are you confident that every corner of your workplace is fire safe? Are you equally confident that your workplace is prepared to deal with a fire to minimize damage and prevent injuries?

For example, can you confidently answer "yes" to all of the following questions?

Exit Routes

• Are all fire doors (such as at the top and bottom of stairwells) kept closed at all times?
• Are all fire exits clearly marked by illuminated signs.
• Are emergency exits unobstructed and tested to make sure they are working properly?
• Have you posted evacuation route maps in a conspicuous location in every work area?

Alarms and Extinguishing Devices

• Are all of your fire alarms working?
• Are emergency communications systems in place and ready to roll out?
• Is your sprinkler system operating properly and are sprinkler heads unobstructed throughout the workplace?
• Have all fire extinguishers been visually inspected this month?
• Are fire extinguishers fully charged and in their proper place?

Housekeeping, Maintenance, and Storage

• Are work areas routinely inspected for fire hazards?
• Are ignition sources identified and controlled?
• Is combustible trash and scrap disposed of frequently and properly?
• Are flammable and reactive materials correctly stored to prevent ignition?
• Is electrical equipment inspected and serviced regularly?

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Employee Training

• Do employees know about your Fire Prevention Plan and Emergency Action Plan?
• Have they had a chance to practice any emergency duties they will need to perform in the event of a fire?
• Are all new employees introduced to your Fire Prevention and Emergency Action plans during orientation, and do they receive fire prevention and emergency response training within their first few weeks on the job?
• Do all employees receive fire prevention and emergency response refresher training periodically?
• Does every one of your employees know at least two evacuation routes from his or her work area (and by "know" we mean have they actually walked these routes, not just seen them drawn on a map on the bulletin board or in a training session)?
• Do all employees participate in fire drills?
• Have you encouraged employees to report fire hazards?
• Do employees understand smoking rules and know the location of designated smoking areas?

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Keep Up with Changing Conditions

"Yes" answers to all these questions is certainly a good start. But of course, you can never let down your guard. Conditions in most workplaces are constantly changing. That fire hazard you thought was eliminated could be back. What seems safe today could be in flames tomorrow.

To help you keep on top of fire prevention, BLR’s Safety Audit Checklists provides one complete section on fire safety, another on portable fire extinguishers, and yet another on fire detection and employee alarm systems.

In these comprehensive fire prevention sections, you get three extensive compliance checklists highlighting key provisions of OSHA’s fire prevention standards as well as several additional checklist with important fire safety information that can be circulated to supervisors and posted for employees.

All told, this best-selling program provides you with more than 300 separate safety checklists keyed to three main criteria:

• OSHA compliance checklists, built right from the government standards in such key areas as HazCom, lockout/tagout, electrical safety, and many more.
• "Plaintiff attorney" checklists, built around those non-OSHA issues that often attract lawsuits.
• Safety management checklists that monitor the administrative procedures you need to have for topics such as OSHA 300 Log maintenance, training program scheduling and recording, and OSHA-required employee notifications. 

Make as many copies as you need for all your supervisors and managers, and distribute. What’s more, the entire program is updated annually. And the cost averages only about $1 per checklist.

If this method of ensuring a safer, more OSHA-compliant workplace interests you, we’ll be happy to make Safety Audit Checklists available for a no-cost, no-obligation, 30-day evaluation in your office. Just let us know, and we’ll be pleased to arrange it.

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