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Winter Nights – Safety Driving

Once again our politicians at Westminster have bowed to the Scottish lobby and missed another opportunity to ditch the ludicrous time warp that is Daylight Saving Time which now plunges us all into darkness by 4pm. I dislike driving in the dark at the best of times but in deep winter with any combination of ice, snow, fog and rain the commute home is even more hazardous and stressful.

Traffic death rates are three times greater at night, yet many of us are unaware of the hazards that night driving poses or effective ways to minimise the risk. It is therefore all the more important to prepare for your journey and take sensible safety precautions to protect you and your passengers.

Start out by ensuring the vehicle is roadworthy. Check for blown bulbs, check tyre pressures and oil levels, fill the screen wash tanks and check the cabin demist is working.
When driving at night follow these tips on safer driving

• Use your lights responsibly – Turn headlights on one hour before sunset and leave on for at least half an hour after sunrise to make it easier for other drivers to see you in early twilight. Use your high beams sparingly at all times but in fog use low beam headlights in conjunction with fog lamps if you have them.

• Avoid glare – Don’t look directly at oncoming headlights and use the day night shift on the rear view mirror to prevent glare from following traffic.

• Keep all windows and headlights clean – Dirty windows diffuse light and can increase glare, making it more difficult to see, while dirty headlights can reduce efficiency by as much as 90 percent.

• Be alert – Look for flashes of light at hilltops, curves and junctions that may indicate the headlights of approaching vehicles.

• Increase your following distance – Increasing your distance by four to five seconds can make it easier to spot potential problems on the roadway and give you more time to react safely.

• Avoid fatigue - Night driving can be tiring, so on long journeys ensure good ventilation inside the cabin, and take frequent refreshment breaks to give your eyes a chance to recover. Take a short nap or a brisk walk, or have some caffeine to help you stay alert.

• Glasses- Anti-reflective (AR) coating reduces internal reflections in the lenses. AR-coated glasses also transmit more light than regular lenses which can improve vision at night.

Finally if we have anything like the winter of last year you should also consider equipping the car with a winter survival pack to get you out of trouble should you break down or become stranded.
Carry at least one reflective warning triangle in case of a vehicle breakdown, so you are as visible to other drivers as possible.  A snow shovel and small tub of icemelt is a must to escape from drifts and icy roads. To sustain body and mind having warm weather proof clothing, rugged rigger boots, a blanket, thermos and a supply of high energy food would be a potential lifesaver.

If you have more tips for our readers then let us know.

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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.

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Podcast on how to get the best fire extinguisher for your company.

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Ensuring your business and staff are protected from the risk of fire is of paramount importance. However, many people don’t realise that they are legally obliged to ensure the fire extinguishers they provide are set up correctly.

In this interview, fire safety expert David Murfitt explains what to look out for.

Can you explain how to pick the correct fire extinguisher for your business?

The most important thing is….that it’s suitable for the risk that you have in your environment. You may well be sat in a small office environment where you’ve got electrical equipment, reality is that in the event of a fire you’re quite possibly going to pick up a water fire extinguisher  because that’s actually the general sort of extinguisher to be required in a premises. A lot of people would see that’s there only requirement but if there are electrics involved you’re going to need a fire extinguisher to cover that electrical risk. Generally in an office environment it’s also useful to have a fire extinguisher which is less likely to cause a conduction of electricity in its use so a fire extinguisher with an atomized spray is better than a standard water fire extinguisher.

If you’ve got chemicals or high levels of electrics then of course the type of extinguisher changes accordingly.

Do the fire extinguishers have to be vigorously tested?

There’s a British Standard Code of Practice for the provision of fire equipment, what you put, where you put it and how you put it and based on the size of the risk, the size of the fire extinguisher or its rating will differ. Through our own experience we are going out to sites where people have purchased their equipment but they suddenly find out the need for this equipment to be commissioned i.e. put into service, but when we arrive to do that they’ve actually purchased the wrong equipment for the risk which they have within their own environment.

Fire extinguishers need to be commissioned upon receipt?

They do. If you’re not experienced in fire equipment, what it should look like, what it should sound like, the functionality of it, it can actually be difficult to realise that in fact in the event that you need it, it won’t work.

What should businesses looking to buy a fire extinguisher do?

The most important thing to do is to make sure the risk you need to cover is covered with the right type of fire extinguisher.  Once it’s on your site it’s got to be commissioned by a competent person. British Standard 5306 part 3 does state that a competent person is somebody who’s undergone industry training, has access to industry training and is able to competently put that piece of equipment into service.

People buy a piece of equipment, the intention ‘s are absolutely right but unfortunately cometh the event that you do need to use it – and we don’t buy fire equipment so we can use it, it’s purchased in case you need to use it but if anything goes wrong and you do end up with a fire – if that piece of equipment malfunctions or is the wrong piece of equipment for the type of fire you’ve got, so let’s take a really bad scenario where you’ve got a flammable liquid fire and you’ve got a water fire extinguisher you’ve got quite a serious problem because you’re going to make the actual fire worse and potentially put your people at a greater risk.

Do people need a fire extinguisher in every room or should they be employing someone’s services who know all about fire safety?

The first thing to look for is third party accreditations and that’s an ISO system which is backed by the United Kingdom Accreditation Service.  That will ensure that anyone coming out to discuss your fire protection needs with you is suitably qualified to do so.  Fire extinguishers should be placed on escape routes generally unless you have specific risks and of course the most important thing is to encourage people away from the incident and to a point where they can raise the alarm. So generally where you have a fire alarm call point, so an activation device where you press the glass to break it and sound the alarm should be very, very close at hand. Training’s a big part of providing fire safety so you raise the alarm before you even think about using a fire extinguisher. Having raised the alarm you decide that it’s safe to do so because you’ve been trained, the fire is still in its very early and small stages you can tackle the fire because the fire equipment you’ve got is the right one for that particular area. The nice thing to know is that if you don’t put the fire out there’s a big red engine with blue lights on the roof of it on its way to you and hopefully they’ll arrive to congratulate you on having put the fire out. If you haven’t put it out they can take it on from there and your risks are reduced.

Do fire extinguishers need regular maintenance?

Yes, the British Standard Code of Practice requires that fire extinguishers are inspected annually and there are tests which are carried out once every five years. For instance, with a water fire extinguisher it needs to be discharged and inspected inside. The commissioning is really, really important because it makes sure the equipment is the right thing in the right place to cover the risks associated and that it will work. It’s almost a pre-service. The annual inspection thereafter will continue to maintain standards and make sure that equipment is always available and ready for use. So maintenance is critical. There should be a really big emphasis on organisations who are looking to protect themselves from fire to make sure that whatever service they use, whoever the company may be, make sure they have third party certification, check their scope of registration covers the provision of fire fighting equipment because through doing that you have got some greater reassurances that you are being given the right cover.

Fire and Safety Centre says:

We whole heartedly endorse the advice given by David Murfitt with regard to buying the best fire extinguisher for the risk being protected.

Businesses employing over 5 people have an obligation under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety Order) 2005 to carry out a fire risk assessment. The risk assessment should be carried out by a “responsible person”.

Once it has been established what type of fire equipment including fire extinguishers are required you can order the products online from Fire and Safety Centre and to comply with the British Standard Code of practice buy the commissioning at the same time.

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Car Fire Extinguishers stand test of time

The safety benefits for having a car extinguisher were recognised 100 years ago when Pyrene introduced the first CTC (Carbon Tetrachloride) canister in 1912. The effectiveness of CTC in suppressing flammable liquid and electrical fires meant they were often fitted as standard to many vintage vehicles and are still sought after today by vintage car enthusiasts and vehicle restorers albeit now only strictly for show.

When you stop to think your car contains a host of materials, including flammable liquids like petrol and oil, solid combustibles such as hose lines, plastics and upholstery that provide a ready source of fuel for a fire. A car also has many potential sources of heat capable of igniting these materials including electrical equipment and evermore complex wiring with the potential to short circuit, hot exhaust systems, air bag detonators and batteries. Even the heat of the engine is sufficient to ignite fumes from leaking fuel lines.

Although most car fires originate in the engine compartment the passenger compartment is not immune. My daughter once had a close encounter with disaster when she left an empty coke bottle in the back seat on a clear sunny day. The bottle acted like a prism and the concentrated sunlight burnt a neat track in the roof lining of the cab. She was fortunate the concentrated rays were not directed at the newspaper and magazines adjacent the bottle.

There are many other practical safety reasons to carry a car fire extinguisher particularly if you are holidaying in a caravan, out for a picnic or camping when statistically the risks of accidental fires are at their greatest. Having a fire extinguisher to hand may prevent a minor fire from getting out of control.

The lethal gases produced as a consequence of using the Pyrene CTC extinguishers sealed their demise a long time ago and they were quickly superseded by modern versatile dry powder and foam fire extinguishers both of which are effective on flammable liquids and solid combustibles. The dry powder extinguishers have added advantages as they can be used safely on fires involving live electricity and also flammable gases like butane.

Extinguishers are available in convenient sizes to fit unobtrusively in your car. The compact 600g disposable aerosol extinguisher is small enough to fit in a glove compartment whilst the 1kg dry powder fire extinguisher with refillable canister can be mounted in a door tray, on a cabin side strut or out of sight in the car boot.

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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.