Jane Embury looks at fire safety training at Christmas
There were approximately 32.4 million people employed in the United Kingdom in the three months to August 2021.
The number of job vacancies in the United Kingdom reached a record high of 1.17 million in the three months to October 2021. Over half a million more vacancies that the same period in 2020.
In a Daily Express article, budget supermarket Aldi says that it embarked on a drive to snap up 1,500 extra staff. Tesco has hired 10,000, while 7,000 vacancies were made available at John Lewis and Waitrose.
That’s not to mention the thousands of vacancies from the likes of Amazon, right down to the smallest high street shops.
It’s those smaller retailers that we are concerned about, because smaller businesses traditionally pay less heed to fire safety.
Fire regulations
As a leading company in fire safety, or message is simple: make sure that every member of staff – including seasonal workers – knows and understanda fire regulations.
Most seasonal workers will already have started their jobs, and fire safety training may not be uppermost in retailers’ minds.
But it is a regulatory requirement, and also a good opportunity to remind all staff of those safety rules.
Everyone in the retail sector has a legal responsibility under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005.
This requires managers designated as responsible persons to carry out regular fire safety reviews, including regular training and fire drills.
Reviews are particularly important during the Christmas period, with temporary staff fulling seasonal shortages. They may not know how to respond in an emergency.
Those safety reviews mean looking at every aspect of a business and making reasonable assessments of risk.
After all, retailers have a legal responsibility to protect colleagues, volunteers, contractors and members of the public from harm when visiting their premises.
This means eliminating or controlling risks, such as testing fire alarms and making sure fire extinguishers are in place.
Simple
The message is to keep it SIMPLE:
Store stock safely: keep corridors, stairs and exits clear.
Identify alarm points so you can warn others
Make sure doors are closed to stop fires from spreading
Place things that catch fire away from things that cause fire
Let someone know if you spot fire safety problems
Ensure everyone knows what to do if a fire alarm sounds.
Our business at Wrightstyle is all about fire safety, and how fire can spread quickly.
We also know how fire can be contained. Our internal and external glazing systems provide safety for up to 120 hours.
That’s more than enough time for people to evacuate and for firefighters to extinguish the fire.
Almost as important by containing the fire in the place it started, it gives a business the chance to keep operation,
We shouldn’t forget that most business that suffer a large fire go out of business.
Many companies will have already taken on temporary staff, but it’s not too late to have another look at fire safety.
It’s a safety first approach that will better ensure a fire safe Christmas.
Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash
