UK employers are required by law to provide a safe workplace for their employees. One of the most crucial considerations for a business owner is fire safety - fires cause countless injuries and fatalities every year, and many of these incidents occurred in offices and other workplaces.
As an employer, your fire risk assessment will supply you with a number of different safety measures that you'll need to take in order to protect your staff from the risk of fire-related death or injury. Under the fire risk assessment, you must provide easily accessible fire exits, making sure that these points are clearly labelled and kept free from obstructions; you must also ensure that your workers know what to do and where to go in the event of a fire, as well as keeping fire extinguishers in the building in case a blaze breaks out.
Of course, installing an office fire alarm is one of the most important fire safety measures of all - here's why:
Why does my office need a fire alarm system?
A high-quality office fire alarm system will:
- Warn your entire building when a fire starts
- Speed up evacuation in the event of a fire
- Alert the emergency services right away
- Allow you to carry out regular fire drills if signalling is installed (at least 1 per quarter)
- Protect your premises from fire even when nobody's around
- Carry out weekly fire alarm tests
Of course, even if the list above doesn't convince you, there's one even more compelling reason to install a fire detection system in your office: it will ensure that you meet the requirements of The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2006.
Office Fire Alarm Requirements
Section 4 of the UK government's guide fire safety in the workplace states:
"You must have a fire detection and warning system. You may need different types of detectors, depending on the type of building and the work carried out in it." (Source:
www.gov.uk)
As the excerpt suggests, every workplace must have
some kind of fire detection system in place, but the exact requirements vary depending on a range of different factors.
In order to ensure that your office fire alarm system is suitable for your business and its premises, it's a good idea to seek the help of an experienced professional. We at
IDS Security Systems, for example, offer the following service:
- We will recommend the best fire detection solution for your business
- We will supply you with state-of-the-art fire protection technology
- Our professional installers will ensure that your new system is set up properly
- Our 24-hour monitoring and engineering service will ensure that your fire alarm system is fully functional at all times
