Fire safety and facility management
When we say facility management (or FM for short), it is all too easy to talk about efficiency, productivity, cost-effectiveness – perhaps even environmental impact – fire safety is certainly way down the list. This should definitely not be the case, for reasons that should be obvious. Employee safety is paramount to any company – if there is no work force, there is probably no business – and fire safety is one of the more rudimentary strains of FM that often gets overlooked.
Perhaps the reason that fire safety is overlooked when we talk about it is due to the fact that a good deal of it is common sense on the part of the employee. Another reason could be that the equipment used for fighting the flames has not changed a great deal in the past few decades; most companies will already have the items installed, and there will be little need to mention them again if everyone is lucky. A safety training course is usually mandatory for new employees, however, and rightly so.
But what is the fire safety equipment that should already be installed? Everything plays a part, but arguably the most important of all is the smoke detector; the very same that you should have in your home as well. It is absolutely vital that when there is a fire, the people in the building are given proper warning so they can quite simply exit the building. The common worker in an office block is not a trained fire fighter, and there is no reason for he or she to risk his or her life in an attempt to save replaceable office equipment. Every company should have a designated meeting point where employees gather in case of an accident, and this should be clearly displayed on posters around the building; as long as people can see them.
Another essential piece of equipment is the extinguisher. As mentioned before, if you are not a fire fighter you should not be tackling the blaze yourself; you should be leaving as quickly as possible. Sometimes, however, an extinguisher is necessary to unblock the way out, and as a consequence, it is important that there are extinguishers in the facility. Many buildings have sprinkler systems, particularly when the building itself is of great value; a skyscraper for example.
From a facility management perspective it is vital that regular fire risk assessments be carried out to ensure that the employees are in no danger from potential blazes. FM does not only demand attention to the building itself, but also the employees, and the security and wellbeing of staff is the most important thing for any business.
It is vital that property management companies ensure that a building is easily accessible, with proper placement of fire extinguishers in order to assist escape in case of emergency. Fire safety is a vital part of facility management.
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