Do you have fire extinguishers placed in strategic locations throughout your office building? You’re one step closer to ensuring improved fire safety (and meeting OH&S Laws), but don’t forget: a fire extinguisher is only as useful as the person operating it. If your employees don’t know how to operate a fire extinguisher, we recommend you schedule training as soon as possible with us.
IMPORTANCE OF FIRE EXTINGUISHER TRAINING
Why should you make it a priority to schedule fire extinguisher training for your employees from Emergency Planning Australia? While you can’t predict when a fire might break out, you can make sure your employees are ready to combat it—and hopefully minimize injury, risk, or loss if the fire were to grow uncontained.
Consider the benefits of fire extinguisher training:
Your employees feel more confident in an emergency situation. Their fast response could be enough to diffuse a fire at the source and stop it from spreading.
The fire extinguisher is more effective when the person using it knows how to hold and aim it properly.
The person operating a fire extinguisher is less likely to hurt themselves attempting to put out the fire when they receive proper training first.
Using the wrong type of extinguisher could make the flames worse. Training ensures your employees know what symbol on the front of the fire extinguisher corresponds with which type of fire.
Taking the time to train your employees could potentially save lives, reduce property loss and minimize recovery time.
Fire extinguisher training could allow for possible deductions on your building’s insurance premiums.
ASPECTS OF FIRE EXTINGUISHER TRAINING
Since you never know which employee could be called upon to operate a fire extinguisher, make sure every employee receives training. When you hire a new team member, be sure to offer fire extinguisher training at the first available opportunity, or on a regular basis so that all employees feel comfortable and confident.
In order for training to have a lasting effect on your employees, you should do more than simply gather in the conference room and play a DVD about using fire extinguishers. Your employees may become bored and inattentive. Plus, without hands-on training, they may still feel uncomfortable using a fire extinguisher in real life.
What you need is for a professional fire extinguisher instructor from Emergency Planning Australia to visit your business location (Vic only) and offer a hands-on opportunity to put out a real fire. That’s the sort of fire extinguisher training Emergency Planning Australia offers businesses throughout the year.
State-of-the-art reality fire training equipment puts a real smart fire extinguisher in your employees’ hands, without the mess using real fire extinguishers. They learn PASS (Pull the pin, Aim the nozzle at the base of the fire, Squeeze the trigger fully and Sweep side to side) to extinguish a real fire from a system used and endorsed by our brigade. Each employee can practice multiple times and ask questions from our professional fire extinguisher instructor until they feel like they could handle putting out a real fire.
OTHER FIRE SAFETY TIPS FOR OFFICES
In some instances, evacuating the building is safer than trying to suppress a fire with an extinguisher. If the fire is too large or growing quickly despite efforts to put it out, it’s best for your employees to escape the building before it’s too late. Emergency Planning Australia can help tailor a building specific emergency response plan and training for you and your staff.
Your workplace should have a fire safety plan, including evacuation diagrams posted on the walls. You should also establish a specific outdoor meeting place so everyone can be accounted for in an emergency.
For professional fire extinguisher training at your business of building, please contact Emergency Planning Australia today! We offer training for businesses throughout the Victoria Metro, Regional and Rural.
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