There are many potential causes for workplace fires– and all of them can be mitigated through the use of fire safety best practices, allowing you to protect both your staff and your premises. In this blog, we will outline some of the most common workplace fire starters, and how they can be avoided.
Faulty Electrical Equipment
Electrical equipment can spark, and when these sparks land on material that can easily ignite, a fire can break out incredibly quickly. To avoid this, electrical equipment should be PAT tested regularly. If any device is growing old or beginning to malfunction, replacing it promptly makes a fire-starting malfunction far less likely. You should also be careful not to overload plugs and sockets, as this can also lead to sparking.
Human Error and Negligence
The main difference between human error fires and negligence fires is that human error is an unintentional action that causes a fire to break out, whilst negligence (albeit short of arson) requires a choice to be made that circumvents best practices to save time or money. For example, if an unattended meal on the staff room hob catches fire, this is considered a human error, but if equipment is used improperly to shorten the job and then a fire is caused, this is negligence. Proper training, safeguarding, and the supply of the correct fire extinguishers can help to prevent a catastrophe.
Clutter and Combustible Materials
Many of the materials commonly found in the workplace are ideal fuel for a fire, like stacks of paper files or wooden furniture. Allowing clutter to build up can create a fire hazard, as this not only allows a fire to start, but to spread between cluttered areas more easily and quickly. To avoid this, workplaces should be cleaned and maintained regularly, and clutter should be disposed of (or stored safely as appropriate).
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