If you own or manage an office, it’s your responsibility to implement a fire-safe culture across the board.
Everyone in your office needs to be able to react quickly, decisively, and effectively should a fire occur.
And it easily could. There are 22,000 workplace fires in the UK every year—that’s around 60 fires per day.
Were a fire to occur within your building, knowing or not knowing how to respond could be the difference between:
a) A fire being put out with only slight damage, a lingering smell of smoke, and no serious injuries
Or
b) Potential risk to life, major property damage, and business disruption.
Alex MacArthur, director at North West Fire Solutions, explains how you can avoid Scenario B and how to respond if there’s a fire in your office.
In this article
Immediate priorities when a fire occurs
Key evacuation procedures to follow
Common mistakes office staff make
Who is responsible for fire safety?
How responsible persons can ensure they’re adequately prepared
How we can create a fire-safe culture in your office
What are the immediate priorities when a fire occurs in your office?
If a fire breaks out, and you’re totally unfamiliar with any kind of procedures that are in place, the most immediate priority is to raise the alarm and get out of the building.
Whether you’re hearing other people shouting, ‘Fire!’, or whether you see the fire yourself, don’t hesitate. Raise the alarm immediately. Don’t assume other people will do this, as they may not.
Alarm systems can differ from building to building. Some are built into the buildings, while some are more local. It could be that there’s no built-in alarm system, and people have to shout or ring a bell in the event of a fire.
That’s why it’s important to familiarise yourself with the necessary procedures.
A common question office staff ask is, ‘Should we stay behind and fight a fire?’. There’s no easy answer to this question. It depends on the level of training you’ve received, what you’re familiar with, and the size of the fire.
To reiterate, your ultimate priority is to evacuate the building.
If a small fire occurs in your office, i.e., a fire that’s smaller than a wastepaper basket, and you’re trained in extinguisher use, you’re well-placed to extinguish that fire and avoid complete catastrophe.
What key fire evacuation procedures should offices follow?
Your evacuation procedure must be bespoke to your business, your building, and its occupants.
Whatever type of office you’re in, you need to get out of the building via the nearest, safest exit.
If you’re in a multi-storey building, you’re probably not going to be able to use the lift, so you’ll have to use the stairs.
There are other things people can do to prevent the spread of fire and save lives, such as closing doors behind them and not wasting precious seconds grabbing coats and bags before exiting the building. The latter point may seem especially obvious, but it’s incredible how many people decide to do this during such a critical moment.
If you carry out regular fire drills and identify that people are packing up before leaving, and everyone’s coming out with coats and bags, you can record those findings and feed them back to the responsible person, if this isn’t you.
It’s important to keep communicating the message to occupants and educating them on fire safety rather than disciplining them.
You should also have an evacuation plan for your premises so that you and your building’s occupants know what’s going on and can get out of the building at the earliest opportunity.
What mistakes do office staff make when a fire occurs?
When the alarm goes off, there’s an initial pause and people are asking, ‘Is this real? Is it a test? What’s going on here?’
Hesitating for a minute, not thinking the alarm is real, and just ignoring it is a major mistake, and one that we see regularly.
Going back to the point above around gathering personal items—this can delay things much more than people may realise. If multiple people do this, it leads to walkways and escape routes being clogged up, which, again, could be disastrous. It makes it difficult for everyone to get out at the same time.
Re-entering the building is another big mistake office staff make during a fire. People remember they’ve left a particular item in the office and decide to go back in to retrieve it, which is an absolute no-no.
You shouldn’t, under any circumstances, go back into the building once you’re out. This not only compromises your safety but also the safety of others who may attempt to come to your aid.
These are the main mistakes people tend to make during evacuations.
Who is responsible for fire safety in an office?
As well as having an evacuation plan in place and ensuring people are familiar with how to get out of the building, you should also have designated leaders who can step up in an evacuation.
These leaders typically take the form of fire marshals or fire wardens, and they should receive specific training on how to get people out of the building.
They can carry out vital actions such as:
- Assisting people in getting out of the building.
- Ensuring people are getting out quickly.
- Stopping people from picking up their belongings.
- Checking that everyone is accounted for.
- Checking that all areas within the building are clear.
These leaders could potentially benefit from receiving fire extinguisher training as well. This training will equip them with the knowledge and foresight to prevent fire from spreading further.
If you’re not in a leadership role when it comes to fire safety, you need to know who is and follow their lead, as they’ve been trained to tell you what to do.
The importance of workplace fire extinguisher training
Given how commonplace fire extinguishers are within buildings, people assume they’re easy to use.
They think they just need to pick up the extinguisher, squeeze the handle, and away they go—but there’s more to it than that.
There are different types of extinguishers, and there are different types of fires that you should use specific extinguishers for.
Ideally, your office’s occupants should be trained in how to use fire extinguishers so that they’re prepared for the worst-case scenario.
How can responsible persons ensure they’re adequately prepared for fire?
The responsible person needs to ensure they’ve got adequate policies and procedures in place.
They should be thinking about more than just evacuation. They should also be thinking about:
- Who’s going to call the fire service.
- Who’s going to manage the assembly point.
- Who’s going to be in charge of the evacuation.
- Who’s part of that responsible team, such as fire marshals.
Once you’ve documented this information, you have to communicate it to all of the relevant persons in the premises. In the case of an office-based business, this would be all members of staff.
And rather than simply sending out an email saying, ‘Please read this,’ you should spend time practising the steps. Not through a drill as such, but by doing exercises in small groups.
These exercises would focus on what to do if a fire breaks out in a specific area of the building—for example, where the most immediate exit routes and fire extinguishers are in that area. You’d also explain where to go if an exit route were blocked off.
Doing this soft training is very important so that everyone is on the same page and knows what they need to do in the event of a fire.
This next point should go without saying, but when you do carry out fire drills, take them seriously.
I used to conduct fire and bomb drills for government buildings in a previous role for a facilities management company. I remember some of the building’s bomb marshals saying that if there was a bomb, they wouldn’t be anywhere to be seen. They’d be well out of the way.
This begs the question—why be a warden or fire marshal in the first place? If you’re going to carry this level of responsibility, you need to take these drills seriously and lead by example.
How we can create a fire-safe culture in your office
If you’ve not thought about your fire safety obligations in relation to your office, you need to speak to us.
We are accredited fire safety consultants that specialise in providing fire safety management solutions, and we have been established since 2010. Our team has a combined industry experience of approximately 250 years at the time of writing.
When you contact us, we’ll start by carrying out a fire risk assessment for your office. This will identify any deficiencies, such as failings for maintenance and servicing, training, or policies and procedures.
We will then help guide you in the right direction and ensure your office is as fire-safe as possible.
Reach out to us at 0151 665 0124 or email info@nwfiresolutions.co.uk.
If you’re interested, you can also enrol in one of our fire safety courses. These cover different aspects of fire safety and will give you and your team the practical, job-ready knowledge you need to succeed.