Most commuters did nothing to change their routine when the London Underground caught fire in 1987. And at a soccer pitch in Bradford several years ago, fans were so intent on the game that they ignored the flames as an entire section of the stadium burnt down before a fire warden stepped in. This kind of behaviour has led to terrible tragedies, because if the fire gets out of control, people have a very short time to get out of the building.

Fire extinguishers are an absolute necessity in any workplace. We’ll see in this article exactly what fire extinguishers do and how they do it. Typically a reaction between oxygen in the atmosphere and some sort of fuel, fire is the result of a chemical combustion reaction. For the combustion reaction to take place, the fuel has to be heated to its ignition temperature. Here’s the sequence of events in a typical wood fire [...]

Tall buildings, particularly if you work on an upper floor, are natural fire hazards. They aren’t helpful if you’re trying to make a speedy departure and they can trap employees in the event of a fire. It is important to protect your workplace from fire hazards with as little as using smoke alarms, especially if you work in a building with eight or more floors [...]

Fire prevention and management deals with the avoidance, detection and extinguishing of fires, as well as less important activities such as studies on the sources of fire, education of employees about fire hazards, and the preservation and development of fire-fighting equipment as simple as the megaphone. The answer to fire safety is basically to avoid fire starting in the first place, but an understanding of what makes fire is also necessary for fire prevention.

The Fire Precautions Act 1971 and the Fire Precautions (Workplace) Regulations 1997 as amended are the two major pieces of fire safety legislation being replaced by The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order introduced in 2006. The Order builds on the 1997 regulations in that it applies not only to persons at work but to everyone who is legitimately on the premises and those not on the premises who may be affected by the fire.

The foundation of British health and safety law is the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974. The general responsibilities that companies have toward workers and members of the public are set out in the Act, as well as the obligations employees have to themselves and each other. These responsibilities are qualified in the Health and Safety at Work Act by the principle of “so far as is reasonably practicable.”

A fire risk assessment helps you identify all the fire hazards and risks in your premises. You can then make a decision on whether they are tolerable or whether you need to do something to lessen or control them. Someone who has had adequate instruction or who has good experience or knowledge of fire safety should do the risk assessment.

Certainly the idea of using safety signs to light up and mark safe escape routes from buildings is not new. However, during recent years there have been several advances in escape route markings. Electrically powered systems and now photoluminescent safety signs have become the norm. In buildings where a loss of electrical power would lead to escape routes being left in darkness then photoluminescent signage is often used.