Recent Fires in London Public Places Have Highlighted the Importance of Inspecting Electrical Appliances

Fire Safety Training for Staff plays an important part in ensuring that Fire Doors are inspected and maintained to meet performance levels. It is fundamental that Staff understand the ‘role’ of the Fire Door and the part it plays in keeping a Fire contained for a specific time.

Knowledgeable Staff can help with day to day Fire Door inspections by Identifying common defects - here are just a few to look out for:

• Wedged Fire Doors – this will hinder and could damage their function
• Gaps between a Fire Door and Frame – Fire Doors need to fit correctly against the frame to prevent smoke and fire getting through
• Removing Self Closers to make them easier to open – self closers have an important role to play, they close automatically to keep the Fire contained.
• Missing or painted intumescent strips and cold smoke seals – these must be intact and clear of paint to help keep both the Fire and Smoke from entering into another compartment
• Untested ironmongery – you must always replace ironmongery with the products that meet the British Standard required.

It is, however, the identified ‘Responsible Person/s’ responsibility to ensure there is a programme in place to inspected, tested and maintained Fire Doors in-line with regulations and any deficiencies must be identified, recorded and actioned upon.

In the past the Clerk of Works would check that Fire Doors had been installed correctly, sadly they are no longer in the Construction industry and perhaps that is why there is now questions over compartmentation in major refurbishments and new builds.

It is also the ‘Responsible Persons’ responsibility to keep Staff Fire Safety Training up to date.

So, time to check your Fire Safety Risk Assessment for your London premise to see:

1. If the Fire Risk Assessment is current
2. If the existing Fire Safety Actions have been completed
3. If Fire Doors have been identified with deficiencies have they been rectified
4. And is the Fire Safety Training for all Staff up to date and logged

If you don’t have a current Fire Risk Assessment and you are the ‘Responsible Person’ for the above mentioned premises then you need to act NOW! You are responsible for the most vulnerable people and you have a huge responsibility to ensure they are as safe from Fire as possible.

It is imperative that you appoint a qualified Fire Risk Assessor someone who has proved competency in Fire Safety and who is fully insured. The Institution of Fire Engineers has a register of Approved Fire Risk Assessors, it is simple to use, all you do is enter you postcode and a list of Fire Risk Assessors will come up in your area.

London Fire Risk Assessments is an independent Fire Risk Assessment Company that has been supplying ‘suitable and sufficient’ Fire Risk Assessments since the introduction of the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005. All their Fire Risk Assessors have qualified with the IFE and are all retired London Fire Brigade Fire Safety Officers so they have been on both sides – putting Fires out AND preventing them.

If you would like to book a Fire Safety Inspection or Fire Marshal Training then contact them now on 0781 8888626 they have a helpful support team waiting for your call, alternatively click here.