If you are the owner or manager of a business or a commercial building, you have a few responsibilities under Australian law. The most important of these is to ensure the safety of your employees, customers and any others in and around your building. Fires present a significant risk to workplace safety, which means that you should always take appropriate precautions – such as installing fire extinguishers – to reduce the risk of fire damage.
However, fire protection equipment comes in a lot of different forms, not just as fire extinguishers. Depending on the type of business you have, you should consider installing things like fire alarm systems, hydrants, fire blankets and fire hoses. Some of the reasons why you should always have fire protection gear on your premises include:
- Fires Can Be Dangerous, And Potentially Fatal
Fires have the potential to be deadly, especially when they aren’t managed properly. A fire in a workshop or office setting is always unexpected, and it is important to be able to react quickly and cooly to make sure that preventable damage or injury doesn’t occur.
A fast response to a fire can be aided by making sure that your building contains the most up to date fire protection equipment, and that your staff and team members are trained to use it fast and efficiently. If someone is injured because of lax preparation, you, the business owner or manager, will be held responsible.
- Fires Can Damage Your Property, Causing Financial Loss
Major fires can cause significant property damage, and can even result in buildings being burnt to the ground. It is therefore extremely important to get them under control as soon as possible after they break out. If you have the right fire protection equipment on site – such as sprinklers, fire extinguishers and smoke detectors – you will be able to extinguish most fires before they become too big, eliminating the damage to your property and the resulting financial loss.
- Fires Can Stop Business For An Extended Period Of Time
If a major fire does happen to damage your building or infrastructure significantly, you will find that your business will suffer as a result. You will probably have to close your doors for at least a couple of days while you wait for repairs, and this can result in lost clients and an absence of income for those days. Install the right fire protection equipment, and you will be significantly reducing the risk of this happening!
Sure, fire protection gear can be expensive. However, it could also save your life. It will make it easier to extinguish a small fire before it gets out of hand, and will make sure that you are fulfilling your workplace safety responsibilities as a business owner.
