It is essential to maintain fire safety in your commercial building to ensure the safety of your customers and employees. Conducting a passive fire survey in London or Kent will check for any issues or fire risks in your building.
Proper fire safety also contributes to offering a level of protection for your merchandise, tools, equipment, raw materials, records, and the building itself.
Table of Content
Commercial Building Fire Safety Systems
In the following section, we will focus on discussing the major elements for commercial building fire safety systems. Let’s get started with our discussion:
Fire Alarms
Fire alarms are known to be the most crucial element of a commercial building fire safety system. These are your first line of defense against any potential fire risks. By making a sound, a fire alarm lets everyone know about the potential threat.
- Also, the building occupants get to know that immediate evacuation is needed. Sometimes, it can even turn out to be a false alarm.
- However, this lets customers and employees know that the particular system works to provide them with the needed protection.
- It is essential to inspect and maintain fire alarms at least once every year to operate correctly.
- You should also conduct regular tests of the fire alarm system and fire drills. It makes sure that your employees understand and can effectively run fire safety and evacuation processes.
- Another important thing is to go for a passive fire survey in Kent. It will help to ascertain definite ways in which you would minimize the threat from the fire.
Fire Extinguishers
Fire extinguishers are another essential component in a commercial setting. It aids in effectively stopping the spread of a small or large fire.
Generally, it would be best to mount fire extinguishers on walls at distances of less than 75 ft. It suggests that nobody has to travel more than 75 ft. to get a fire extinguisher. There should be the presence of extinguishers mounted near exits to ensure easy access. So, anyone can easily find it whenever needed.
Another important thing is to make sure that your employees are well aware of operating a fire extinguisher. They should also know about the importance of inspecting and maintaining it regularly.
Fire Sprinkler or Standpipe Systems
You can make use of a sprinkler system in commercial settings. These systems are reactive to heat. All that you need is to turn on a water sprinkler for extinguishing or suppressing larger fires. Opting for the services of licensed inspectors will make sure that the sprinkler and standpipe systems are well maintained and in good working order.
Inspections and tests should generally include:
- A monthly check to make sure that all of the control valves are in the correct position.
- A quarterly test of the main drain of the particular system.
- A yearly inspection that a professional sprinkler system contractor carries out.
- A five-year internal review of the sprinkler pipes and reconstruction of the backflow device.
Emergency Lights Along With Exit Signs
Whenever a fire outbreak occurs, the overall conditions can turn out to be chaotic. It causes a loss of electrical power to the building. Due to the presence of smoke, you would not be able to see well.
Even an extremely familiar building seems to be much more challenging to navigate. So, in this regard, emergency lights and exit signs come as real saviors. Anyone can find it easy to get out of the building and shift to a safe area by using these.
Emergency lights are designed to work whenever the building loses its primary power connection. Likewise, lighted exit signs switch to emergency power whenever they no longer receive electricity from the chief source. This equipment helps to light up emergency evacuation routes effectively.
These signs and lights play a very significant role in fire protection. So, you should regularly test these safety signs and lights to ensure proper operation. Often, simply pressing the test button will make sure that they suitably switch to the standby power.
The best option is a yearly 90 minutes function test and a monthly 30 minutes minimum function test. In this regard, you can seek help from a professional passive fire protection London or Kent service provider.
Advice for an Effective Fire Safety Survey
One thing that you make sure of is that whoever undertakes the survey obtains all their info by physically going to the premises. It will aid proper inspection. Also, they should focus on acquiring knowledge from any relevant employees.
The survey should necessarily have time devoted to it. Again, it should be performed systematically. In this case, the larger premises are being broken up into more areas that are manageable. So, these are some of the main pieces of advice to give your service provider specifically for a helpful fire safety survey.
Final Verdict
So, all of the above-discussed ones are some of the most critical elements of fire safety that should be essentially present in commercial buildings. Just having this equipment is not enough; you should focus on regularly maintaining them.
It is possible when you choose expert passive fire protection Kent or London services. They will carry out the maintenance work that is needed.
