3 Tips To Protect Your Business Against Fire
Have you considered the risk that fire poses to your business?
More than 100,000 fires in commercial or office buildings occur each year in the United States, costing business owners over 2.4 billion dollars. For many entrepreneurs, this is one of the worst scenarios imaginable.
A fire can not only destroy your premises and cause serious harm, or death, to your employees, but it will also completely disrupt your operation and impact your bottom line. You may lose clients as a result, and your business will struggle to recover.
But although freak accidents do happen, many of these commercial fires are avoidable. In fact, 52% of the larger fires occurred in buildings that did not have functioning smoke detectors. There are so many preventative measures you can take to reduce the risk of fire, that it is inconceivable that many business owners neglect to do so.
If you want to safeguard your organization and its employees, here are a few things you can do right now to protect your business against fire.
Know the risks
The best method of protection is education. It’s important that any business owner is aware of all the risk factors when it comes to fire, or indeed any form of disaster including water damage, storms, or burglary. Every business has a different level of risk that depends on the nature of your organization and the layout of your premises. For example, a restaurant or manufacturing facility will be more at risk than a commercial office or retail store.
It’s a good idea to conduct a fire risk assessment that identifies any potential dangers and outlines steps to mitigate the risk or remove the hazard.
Install fire detection and prevention measures
Depending on the region in which you live, your business will be subject to certain fire safety laws. At a minimum, it’s likely you will be required to have working smoke detectors and fire extinguishers on site. But why settle for the bare minimum when people’s lives and the future of your business could be at stake?
Sprinklers, hoses, and other suppression systems can actually put the fire out or prevent it from spreading before it does too much damage. Hopefully, you will never need to use them but having them in place will give you peace of mind, as well as potentially lowering your insurance premiums.
Train your staff
It’s one thing to have a fire extinguisher in the office, but do your staff actually know how to use it? It’s a good idea to ensure that all your employees undergo fire safety training so they know how to respond in such an incident. An occasional fire drill can help to refresh their memory, while making people aware of the risks when dealing with electrical equipment or using the kitchen can help prevent a breakout in the first place.
By following these tips, you can reduce the risk of fire affecting your business. In the unlikely scenario that a fire does break out, a disaster restoration company can help you to minimize disruption and get back on track as quickly as possible.