Fire Warden Training is essential to every workplace, health and safety laws apply to all businesses, no matter how small. As an employer, or a self-employed person, you are responsible for health and safety in your business and you need to take the right precautions to reduce the risks of workplace dangers and provide a safe working environment.
Fire Awareness at Work
Fires need three things to start – a source of ignition (heat), a source of fuel (something that burns) and oxygen:
- sources of ignition include heaters, lighting, naked flames, electrical equipment, smokers’ materials (cigarettes, matches etc), and anything else that can get very hot or cause sparks
- sources of fuel include wood, paper, plastic, rubber or foam, loose packaging materials, waste rubbish and furniture
- sources of oxygen include the air around us
What do I have to do?
Employers (and/or building owners or occupiers) must carry out a fire safety risk assessment and keep it up to date. This shares the same approach as health and safety risk assessments and can be carried out either as part of an overall risk assessment or as a separate exercise.
Based on the findings of the assessment, employers need to ensure that adequate and appropriate fire safety measures are in place to minimise the risk of injury or loss of life in the event of a fire.
To help prevent fire in the workplace, your risk assessment should identify what could cause a fire to start, ie sources of ignition (heat or sparks) and substances that burn, and the people who may be at risk.
Once you have identified the risks, you can take appropriate action to control them. Consider whether you can avoid them altogether or, if this is not possible, how you can reduce the risks and manage them. Also consider how you will protect people if there is a fire.
- Carry out a fire safety risk assessment
- Keep sources of ignition and flammable substances apart
- Avoid accidental fires, eg make sure heaters cannot be knocked over
- Ensure good housekeeping at all times, eg avoid build-up of rubbish that could burn
- Consider how to detect fires and how to warn people quickly if they start, eg installing smoke alarms and fire alarms or bells
- Have the correct fire-fighting equipment for putting a fire out quickly
- Keep fire exits and escape routes clearly marked and unobstructed at all times
- Ensure your workers receive appropriate training on procedures they need to follow, including fire drills
- Review and update your risk assessment regularly
Fire Extinguishers
All fire safety legislation in England and Wales for non-domestic premises are covered by the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 (RRO), which states that appropriate fire-fighting equipment, including portable fire extinguishers, must be provided where there is any risk of fire. The RRO states that employers are designated Responsible Persons (RP) and therefore responsible for carrying out a fire safety risk assessment and implementing and maintaining a fire management plan.
RPs need to ensure staff are trained in extinguisher location and correct use, and hold fire drills and evacuation procedures. Failure to protect staff by providing appropriate equipment could lead to prosecution and refusal of insurance pay-outs, apart from injury and loss of life.
Fire and extinguisher categories
Fire Warden Training
Our fire safety training course is Accredited with NPORS N703 Fire Warden covering all elements of Fire Safety Awareness, selection of Fire Extinguisher and Hose Reels, preparing them for use. As well as Smoke detectors and Fire drills, even covering the procedures of Stand down following an incident including completion of record of fire evacuation and test.
Courses are half day duration and for up to 8 candidates. These can be all from your organisation and we can run two half day sessions if required. Either at your premises or you can come to us at our Training Centre in Middlewich. Alternatively, we run open courses throughout the year for individuals to attend and join with others completing the half day training at our centre.
Our staff are waiting to help, we can talk you through all the elements of Fire warden training and how these can be tailored to your workplace, give is a call on 01606 832 556 or ‘Get in Touch‘ via our webpage. We look forward to helping with your training requirements.
Our other Fire Warden blogs are:
N703 Official NPORS Fire Warden Training
Fire Warden – our A 2 Z of Safety Training
N703 Fire Warden Course Details and Syllabus
Explore our Half Day Training Course Options
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