No-one enjoys thinking about the worst-case scenario. But when you run a business and are responsible for employees, customers and critical infrastructure, emergency planning is vital.
Essentially, emergency planning is about protecting lives and allowing your organisation to return to normal operations as soon as possible. Fire safety training should be at the core of your plan.
Fires can devastate businesses and some never get back up and running again. More than 70% of fires in UK businesses are accidental, with electrical faults being the most common cause.
How does fire safety training fit into emergency planning?
Emergency planning is the process of identifying the risks to your business and mitigating the potential damage. Fire safety training will teach you to act appropriately when an incident happens, following agreed procedures in the interests of your business and everyone present at the time. It will also allow you to review what worked and where things could be improved in the future.
Importantly, fire safety training should happen regularly to allow you to update your emergency planning documents. If there are any changes in your business, your working environment, staffing or operations, these should be all included in your plan and refresher training should be carried out for staff.
Fire evacuation drills
At the heart of emergency planning and fire safety training is the health and safety of your staff and customers. Staff need to be trained to know what to do when an emergency happens.
Your employees must be familiar with your company’s fire evacuation procedure and it must be easy for visitors to follow.
If you are a UK employer, you are required to carry out at least one fire evacuation drill every year. This drill should be as realistic as possible and include all staff.
You team also needs to be aware how to assist customers so that they can be evacuated safely. This might involve additional training involving fire evacuation chairs to assist people with mobility issues.
Legal compliance
Having a comprehensive emergency plan backed up by training will ensure your business meets the requirements of the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 for fire safety in businesses.
You will also reduce the threat of prosecution should an emergency happen.
Talk to experts in emergency planning
Is your workplace and staff equipped to help prevent fire, deal with a fire and get back up and running?
Benfield Fire Safety are fire emergency planning experts offering consultancy and fire safety training to support the development of your business’s emergency plans.
We can offer fire safety assessments, policy creation and fire safety training using state-of-the-art equipment to help make the fire emergency as realistic as possible.
Take a look at some case studies about the businesses and charities we have supported.
To find out more about our fire emergency planning and fire safety services for businesses please get in touch with Benfield Fire Safety by calling 0300 303 3277 or emailing customerservice@benfieldfs.co.uk
