Fire Safety for Commercial Property Managers

A commercial property is supposed to provide employers and employees with a safe and secure working environment, but the nature of these premises bring a unique set of risks for consideration when developing your fire safety strategy.  Here are just a few things Emtech would advise you to consider:-

Issue	Typical Problems	Emtech Solution
Multi occupancy of premises	Who manages the common areas overall & fire safety standards within the building? Varying safety cultures, fire safety awareness and provisions across different tenants As new tenants move into premises or existing tenants refurbish their premises, how do you ensure that they are not importing additional fire risks into your premises?	A Fire Risk Assessment for the building common parts should be completed and it should be ensured that all tenants are able to provide copies of Fire Risk Assessments for their individual areas of occupancy
Contractors / Visitors	Visitors and contractors may not be familiar to the layout of your site Are any additional fire risks imported onto the premises by contractors / visitors?	We will work with you to design fire evacuation procedures to be shared with all visitors Make sure you have proper fire exit signage and emergency lighting to direct people to the nearest exit
Building Evacuation	Evacuating a building when people are not familiar with the premises, building layout or procedures can pose severe danger and cause much confusion	Site specific fire evacuation procedures, designed with the managing agent, the employers and employees, regularly refreshed and tested with fire evacuation drills will ensure a safe and efficient evacuation from a building
Multiple Fire Alarms and Emergency Light Systems	Are there multiple alarm panels in the building? Are all the call / test points working? A faulty system, panel or call point could pose danger to the overall safe evacuation of a building	Weekly fire alarm tests and monthly emergency light tests should be carried out wherever they are installed to ensure the systems are fully functioning throughout the entire building System servicing should be carried out, throughout the entire building in accordance with the relevant British Standards
Untrained Personnel	Unfamiliarity with the premises and how to use installed / provided equipment could severely impact the ability to control small workplace fires	Ensure tenants receive Fire Extinguisher and Basic Fire Awareness Training Fire Wardens should also be appointed within the building and receive regular training on their critical role within their organisation, and the building. This training should be regularly refreshed
Vacant Premises	There may be times where properties are standing empty awaiting new tenants. In the event of a fire, there may be no-one available to call the Fire Service and the building may suffer irreparable damage if a fire were to occur. Never under estimate how fast a fire can take hold	Make sure the alarm is monitored so that you know that help from the Fire Service is already on its way in the event of a situation occurring. The alarm receiving centre can also call off duty “key holders” the moment they receive the alarm too Risk Assessments should also be completed and maintained on vacant premises
Disability	Suitable arrangements must be made to enable all persons to evacuate safely in an emergency. The exact arrangements are likely to be determined by the nature of impairment Hard of hearing – how will you alert them to a fire alarm	Evacuation procedures can be designed to reflect disabilities, and a disabled access audit will highlight any problem areas Standard procedures may also need to be arranged separately for visitors who attend infrequently Supplement fire alarm bells with vibrating paging solutions and visual flashing beacons to alert the hard of hearing of a fire or emergency situation