If you operate a business within the UK, you are required by law to have fire safety training in place for all your employees. This ensures that everyone knows what to do in the event of a fire it too could help reduce the damage caused and ultimately will save lives.
Fire safety training should be put in place by the ‘responsible person’. This is the owner of the business, the employer or the landlord. You will also be deemed to be responsible if you’re the occupier of a business.
All staff must have fire training when they first start work for a company, face an increased or new risk, have to use new tools, systems or equipment or a working process is changed.
The training needs to highlight how staff can get themselves and others to a place of safety and how protection measures, such as fire curtains, are used to prevent the spread of the fire. It has to be carried out during normal office hours to enable everyone to attend.
A fire risk assessment will help you to see the areas that the training should cover. The assessment must be recorded if you have five or more employees and all the necessary safety aspects, such as the installation of fire curtains, should be implemented and maintained. When you have developed an emergency plan, all your employees must be made aware of it, as well as how to evacuate.
The fire safety training should inform staff of what they need to do if they discover a fire, including how to sound the alarm and what the next stages are. It will also highlight how to alert visitors and contractors and how to show them where the nearest fire exits are.
The training will cover calling the emergency services, the evacuation process, escape routes and emergency exits, where the fire fighting equipment is stored and, if necessary, how to use it safely. It will provide safety advice on the benefits of closing fire doors, the reasons why lifts shouldn’t be used and how power supplies and machinery should be switched off.
Implementing fire safety training isn’t a one-off measure. It’s vital that all employees, both old and new, are kept up to date with any developments and that they take refresher courses to ensure they understand exactly what to do.
