Fire safety is a key concern for any commercial business, but an existential risk for warehouses and distribution organisations. Where stock and logistical equipment can constitute increased fire risk, more informed approaches to ensuring the safety of staff and location alike are required. But what should you do to ensure warehouse fire safety?
Risk Assessment
Every effective health and safety policy is buoyed by a rigorous approach to assessment. Risk assessments are essential to observing the fire risks specific to your warehouse – and the efficacy of existing systems to mitigate this risk. The outcomes from your risk assessment might involve procedure change regarding stock storage, or a renewed approach to PAT-testing powered equipment. With specific regard to fire safety, though, there are some key approaches to consider.
Passive Fire Protection
When it comes to making fire protection interventions in your warehouse space, there are two principal kinds of fire protection to consider: passive, and active. Passive fire protection concerns the various changes you might make to your premises to reduce the spread of potential fires and to improve the safety of personnel in the event of an outbreak.
These passive protections are typically instituted as part of the warehouse construction process, with internal building layout designs incorporating fire-safe ‘compartmentation’ principles. But there are aftermarket routes to fire safety, that see the use of fire-resistant materials to increase the safety of internal and external spaces.
Internally, there are numerous materials that can be used to improve the fire resistance of rooms and compartment walls. Masonry in the form of brickwork or breezeblocks is an evergreen option, but non-load-bearing walls can also be rendered fire-resistant with the use of fire-resistant plasterboard. This would usually be done during construction, but plasterboard adhesive can be used to affix fire-resistant plasterboard to existing walls without the need for studs or battens.
Externally, fire protection can be provided in the form of cladding. Fire-resistant cladding has been well-publicised in recent years, following inquests into the Grenfell Tower disaster of 2017. Fire regulations have shifted to preclude the use of non-protective cladding on newer builds, making it easier for warehouse managers to make sensible cladding decisions.
Active Fire Protection
But fire safety is about more than the building’s passive protection capabilities. Personnel safety is secured through active fire protection provisions too, for which there are legal frameworks as well as suitable additional measures.
Health and safety law around fire extinguishers is firm and well-understood, but a targeted re-inspection of your warehouse’s fire extinguisher stations could reveal opportunities for more additions, or more suitable extinguishing measures.
Detection is key in the swift evacuation of personnel, and fire detection systems have become increasingly effective with new technological leaps. Robust fire alarm systems, coupled with strong and well-rehearsed evacuation procedures, will minimise risk to staff.
Lastly, sprinkler systems are particularly important for warehouses, where certain items of stock or packaging may accelerate a fire outbreak. The efficacy of sprinkler systems is once again well-advertised and could be the major distinguishing factor between a minor incident and major infrastructural damage.
Comments are closed.