10 Work Place Safety Essentials When Starting a Business.

You may think that business start-up’s in the current economic climate would be a rare occurrence yet government statistics still report “Business Births” as they term it at approaching 200,000 a year. Starting a business is stressful enough with so much red tape and regulations to plough through. Work place safety including fire safety is just one aspect but at least we can help with a rundown of 10 essential provisions to put budding entrepreneurs on the right side of the law.

• Display a Health and Safety Law poster prominently in the premises either on reception or in a communal staff area.
• Display Fire Signs detailing what to do in the event of fire, the designated escape routes and fire assembly points.
• Display a No Smoking Sign at each public entrance to the premises
• Conduct a fire risk assessment and utilise the outcome to determine any extra fire safety provisions such as Fire Extinguishers. If you need help purchase one of our self help manuals or step by step fire risk assessment tools. It’s far less expensive that employing a consultant.
• Purchase a Fire Log Book to record fire safety training, fire equipment maintenance records, fire drills and fire action plans. This is mandatory if you employ 5 or more people.
• Accidents can happen in any business so a First Aid Kit is a good safeguard.
• If the business extends over several rooms install a Rotary Hand Bell in a usually occupied room that can be heard throughout the building.
• In unoccupied rooms such as storage, server or computer rooms that present a fire risk install Smoke Detectors. For large premises extending to many rooms or more than one floor interlinked wired smoke detectors and alarms are preferred.
• If in the course of your business activity you store and use quantities of hazardous substances, described generally as toxic, corrosive or flammable you should store these in a suitable Flammable Storage Cabinet compliant with the COSHH or DSEAR regulations.
• Having done all this you should then bring in your insurers and ensure you have third party liability insurance appropriate to your business. Having a clear fire and safety policy in place should help with the premiums.

You can find more information in our Advice section on Fire Safety Management and if you have any further tips to help start up businesses let us know.

Farm fire safety regulations

The Regulatory Reform (Fire safety) Order (RRO) has a long reach and virtually all types of business premises are required to comply. Some may be surprised to learn that this fire safety legislation also applies, with few exceptions, to all farm buildings where people work even if the “work” involved is occasional or limited to seasonal activity.  Packing sheds, barns, milking parlours, enclosed livestock sheds and chicken houses all fall into the RRO net. Barns converted for holiday lets and farm houses used for providing bed and breakfast are more obvious candidates.

If your farm employs five or more people, you are also required by law to carry out a fire risk assessment of your farm buildings and record the findings or risk a hefty fine or even a jail term, either of which could bring your business to its knees. We offer an extensive range of fire safety training and fire risk assessment guides on CD and DVD together with basic fire training via e-learning to ensure RRO compliance.

Here are 10 essential tips to maximize farm fire safety

• To prevent arson hay and straw should be removed from fields as soon as possible after harvesting. Store well away from other buildings and any livestock housing in manageable and stable stacks spaced at least 10 metres apart.
• Only bale and stack hay when it’s dry to prevent spontaneous combustion.
• Clearly label all fuels and chemicals and store them securely. Petrol, diesel and other fuels should be stored in secure designated areas and entirely separate to fertilisers and pesticides which should be segregated in a locked COSHH cabinet or store and clearly labelled as to the contents.
• Clean and service all tractors and farm machinery regularly and don’t house in barns holding hay, straw or other highly combustible materials where the risk if ignition from the engine and heated exhausts is high.
• Check all firefighting equipment regularly to ensure it will work in an emergency.  It is advisable to service fire extinguishers annually to comply with your responsibilities under the RRO.
• If you have Holiday Lets provide a safe designated area for the lighting of open fires and barbecues well away from buildings and potential fire risks and clearly signpost restricted areas for holiday tenants or visitors.
• Display no smoking signs on access doors and gates to all fire risk areas and ensure cigarettes and matches are extinguished carefully.
• Only allow camping and picnicking in monitored areas.
• Ensure any open water supplies suitable for firefighting are regularly checked and maintained.
• Finally to minimize the opportunities for arsonists conduct a simple survey to identify areas where an arsonist may strike. You can ask the local crime prevention officer or your insurance adviser for their assistance.

Hotel Fire started by Party Coach Revellers

When I think of a coach party I recall the 50′s and 60′s with some nostalgia, the time before the package holiday ushered in a new era for holiday makers when the annual Coach Party trip was the highlight of the year. Mums weighed down with everything imaginable, dads replete in suits and ties and gabbling awestruck kids all set off for the joys of coast or countryside in lumbering retro Coaches replete with faux leather seats and ash trays that you could actually use.

Today in a telling switch the Coach Party has been rebranded the Party Coach which one operator describes as “a disco on wheels” with “everything you need for a fun packed journey.” Everything you need but fire extinguishers apparently, if the experience of the owners of the historic St Magnus Bay Hotel in Hillswick, Shetland is anything to go by.

When a Party Coach of reveller’s descended on the hotel a carelessly discarded cigarette in the entrance, having smouldered undetected for some time eventually developed into a fire, by which time the culprit had long departed on his or her Party Bus.

To add insult to injury two fire extinguishers that would have been more than useful in stemming the flames had been stolen from the hotel. What exactly the revellers intended to do with the fire extinguishers is unclear. The black market in stolen fire extinguishers is hardly the focus of organized crime.

The internal smoke alarms did not operate as the entrance was partly open to the elements.  The owners might like to look at our Cigarette Smoke detector for exposed areas that barks out a warning message if it detects smoke.  When you think about it the hotel entrance is a high risk area as unlike the old days the only opportunity a smoker has to satisfy their addiction is between leaving the coach and entering the hotel or vice versa.

Co owner of the hotel Ms Manson said: “For every 150 lovely people there is one spoilsport.”  In my judgment she has overestimated the ratio by at least a factor of 10. The copious amounts of Alcohol that go hand in hand with the Party Coach ethos will make idiots of them all eventually.

Anagrams to make Fire Rife

Take a break from updating your fire risk assessment to exercise your mental agility and solve the following anagrams. The answers are all fire and safety related products and I have added a cryptic suffix to point you in the right direction.

“Heel Sores” sprayed with these?
“Fertile Bank” is maybe covered with this?
“A Scalded Peer” may need one of these to leave The Lords.
“Rip off foes ear” and put in here to stop it burning.
“Thin Sexier Figure” but an annual service is mandatory.

If you are stumped follow the links for the answers. If you can come up with any more Anagrams on the same theme to test our readers let us know.

Fire safety legislation for Landlords

As a homeowner I have more than a passing interest in the dire state of the housing market. A recent analysis by Morgan Stanley the investment bank predicts a further fall in prices over the next year taking the market back to 2004 price levels. I am more optimistic, and the Banks have got it seriously wrong in the past to put it mildly, but if it happens it will plunge millions of mortgage borrowers into negative equity. On the other side of the coin the squeeze in mortgage lending has resulted in the Buy to Let market surging ahead and again if the analysts are right up to one in six of us may be renting by 2020.

This was the subject of a conversation with a neighbour who having failed to sell his property after nearly 3 years on the market was now looking at renting it out so he could downsize and get an income boost from the rental. Debating the pros and cons it was quickly apparent that the guy had not a clue about what becoming a landlord entailed.

Landlords are obliged to comply with a raft of legally binding safety legislation covering everything from gas appliances to the kitchen sink. The Furniture and Furnishings (fire safety) Act, that old chestnut the RRO, and the 1991 Smoke Detectors Act are examples. It is not widely known that all new homes built since 1992 must have at least one smoke detector installed on each floor. Although the regulations do not apply to other properties under the landlords “duty of care” installing them is strongly advised. The tenancy agreement should also make clear who is responsible for testing and maintenance of Smoke Detectors including battery replacement.

Blocks of flats and houses with several tenants attract further safety responsibilities and are subject to regular safety inspections based on RRO type risk assessments. As a consequence a landlord’s duty of care may include providing additional safety equipment including fire extinguishers, fire blankets and in larger complexes appropriate fire safety signs. Fire and Safety Centre do supply special Fire Safety Packages designed specifically for landlords.

In addition any furnishings – even some patio furniture that is not to the current fire resistance regulations will have to be replaced or removed. Gas appliance’s will also have to maintained using a registered Gas Safe Engineer (the old CORGI scheme is no more) and electrical installations brought up to current standards with annual PAT tests. This is just the tip of the compliance iceberg to which you can add a whole load of contractual and tax issues which goes some way to explain why many would be landlords end up putting the whole thing in the hands of a specialist Management Agent. It is certainly the best option for my neighbour I think.