To help reduce the likelihood of fire in your retail store, Brazas Fire, offers retail safety advice and fire prevention measures that can be implemented. As a result, we’ve compiled a list of fire safety recommendations for New Mexico’s retail establishments.
Put in place at stores for customers’ protection:
- Make daily use of a fire safety checklist. A retail establishment can utilize this helpful guidance from fire protection specialists to design a fire safety checklist to ensure ongoing compliance with fire regulations.
- Be familiar with fire extinguisher inspection and placement.
- Make training and updating your team a top priority.
- Inspect and maintain your sprinkler system regularly to keep it in good working order.
- Incorporate round-the-clock monitoring of fire detectors.
Preventing Fires at Retail Establishments and What Employees Should Do
Remember that fire danger is possible in any retail setting, regardless of the type of store or the products sold there. To keep your customers safe, it’s important that you not only know how to prevent fires but also recognize the risks that could occur. Having the necessary fire protection systems in place is important, but it is just as crucial to train staff on effective fire prevention procedures and fire protection equipment use.
What are the most typical causes of fires in shops?
- Plugs and sockets for electricity
- Lighting
- Those who work on the gas lines
- Controls and motors for heating, ventilation, and air conditioning
- Hardware for the kitchen or break room
- Objects that could catch fire easily, such as certain chemicals, textiles, and papers
- Vandals
- Lightening
- The fire safety strategy at your workplace should account for all of these.
What Should Be Included in a Fire Safety Plan
The question then becomes how to implement fire protection tactics that will increase the likelihood of keeping your business, customers, and employees safe. Follow the steps below to draught a fire protection plan that complies with AHJ and NFPA rules and local safety guidelines for retail businesses.
Retail Fire Safety Checklist: Fire Prevention
Making fire prevention a standard component of shop operations is the greatest way to ensure everyone’s safety in the case of a fire. Put in place a safety checklist for retail establishments that must be initiated by workers responsible for cleaning at the end of the day and making sure all electrical devices are turned off and unplugged.
A thorough checklist is essential to any business’s fire safety and prevention strategy. If you run a retail business, it’s a good idea to always have both a basic retail checklist and a retail store inspection checklist ready.
Include These Items on Your Organization’s Daily Fire Safety Checklist:
If you want to prevent fires and ensure your fire prevention systems operate properly when you need them, you should make regular inspections, repairs, and maintenance a part of your routine. A retail establishment’s fire safety strategy should incorporate all these measures.
Paper, clothing, and chemicals should never meet live currents, open flames, or static electricity. Ensure the kitchen or break room stove, toaster, and other cooking surfaces are clean and free of grease and debris. Keep in mind that cooking equipment is the leading cause of fires in commercial buildings (more than 30,000 incidents annually).
Keeps combustibles away from ignition sources, including furnaces, air conditioners, stoves, fireplaces, open flames, and even smoldering cigarette butts, allowing for easier access to exits in the event of an emergency. Fire hazards are reduced when workplaces are kept clean and free of clutter. Refrain from letting garbage pile up by the door; instead, take it directly to the dumpster.
Learn the location of fire extinguishers and inspect them monthly.
Properly using portable fire extinguishers and regular maintenance of these devices is critical for ensuring the safety of customers and employees in commercial buildings. It might quickly burn to the ground if you need one but can’t track it down, or it doesn’t function as intended.
Basic guidelines and suggestions for using fire extinguishers are outlined below:
- There is no fire extinguisher more than 75 feet away in any direction.
- Have the appropriate fire extinguisher on hand. ABC fire extinguishers are designed to blast flames involving flammable liquids, electrical equipment, and burning paper or plastic. K-class is designed for use in kitchens and within 30 feet of stoves, ovens, and other cooking appliances.
- Everyone should know the fire extinguishers and how to use them in an emergency.
- Once a month, you should check the pressure gauge, hose, and pin to make sure everything is in working order as per OSHA and NFPA regulations. Employees who have received official training can inspect the tag monthly and initial and date the back. Qualified professionals must conduct annual inspections and report their findings to the relevant authorities.
- An acronym like PAST (Pull the pin, Aim at the base, Sweep and Spray from Ten feet away) can help you remember how to use an extinguisher while under pressure.
- Keep retail stores safe from fires by maintaining and servicing fire apparatus regularly.
Staff Fire Safety Education in Retail Establishments
Give your employees fire safety training to ensure they can readily implement the measures outlined in your company’s fire safety checklist. The safest stores can only be provided if employees are properly trained, and NFPA and OSHA regulations are followed. The best way to ensure the safety of your clients and employees is to provide them with consistent, high-quality training.
Immediately begin training all staff members on proper fire safety protocol, evacuation protocols, and the proper use of all fire safety equipment. Please ensure they are familiar with the location of the building’s fire exits, fire extinguishers, and how to evacuate customers and coworkers peacefully. Ensure that all employees attend an obligatory fire safety refresher course annually.
It is also a good idea to have designated staff per shift who is responsible for turning off utilities in the event of an emergency. In a fire alarm or other emergency, designate certain individuals as “evacuation managers” who will contact emergency services and ensure everyone leaves the building safely.
Fire Sprinkler System Upkeep and Repairs
No matter the size of your store or the value of its goods, having code-compliant, operational fire sprinklers and fire suppression systems is your best defense against fire damage and loss of life.
Certain stores aren’t obliged to have fire sprinklers or suppression systems; even if they have, those systems may not help anyone if they aren’t regularly inspected and maintained. Regular inspections and servicing of fire sprinklers can lessen the impact of fires and keep your buildings secure.
Regarding fire protection and life safety, AIE is your one-stop shop for inspections, maintenance, and repairs across the country. Quarterly and annual inspections, performed by a state-licensed technician, are required by the NFPA code, depending on your system type and danger classification. If you want your repairs or maintenance done right, hire a professional who stands behind their work 100%.
Did you know that a backflow inspector is not allowed by code to inspect your sprinkler system, but a licensed sprinkler inspector is? Hiring a professional fire sprinkler inspector will save you time and money.
Plan for Fire Protection Should Include Fire Alarm Monitoring
There is no way to ensure the safety of a retail establishment against fire without a properly monitored fire alarm system. In the event of a fire in a store, it can speed up rescue efforts. Suppose a fire alarm goes off in your store. In that case, a monitoring system can determine whether or not it is a false alarm (preventing unnecessary panic and disruption) and immediately notify emergency personnel of a genuine fire emergency. When someone is stuck in a burning building, the fire department may arrive before the victim can dial 911 or escape.
In the event of a fire while the store is closed and no one is there, monitoring the alarm system will be a lifesaver. In reality, this is much more prevalent than you might think. Arsonists caused 12.8k fires in non-residential properties in 2019, an increase of 15% compared to the previous decade. Monitoring fire alarms reduces the time it takes to alert firefighters, which speeds up their response time and saves more valuables and lives.
Retail Fire Safety Preventative Maintenance and Servicing of Fire Equipment
Improve Store Fire Protection and Reduce Potential Hazards
Many store owners and managers underestimate the potential for fire in their establishments. Your company’s security depends on your implementing our fire prevention tactics into a daily safety plan and checklist. AIE believes that by providing these five fire safety suggestions, you will understand how simple and inexpensive yet vital fire prevention and safety methods are to reducing fire risk, protecting your customers and employees, and extending the life of your organization.
There are several typical fire dangers in the workplace, so you should be ready for them. Create a fire safety checklist for your store immediately.
Support from Retail Fire Safety Experts
In search of expert retail fire protection? We are aware of the risks that exist while shopping. Call the Brazas Fire experts at (505) 889-8999 immediately if you have any questions about developing a fire prevention and protection strategy or if you’d want to collaborate with a single national fire safety source that focuses on medium- to large-sized retail establishments.
We’ve helped retailers of all sizes create fire safety checklists for the workplace and ensure they comply with all applicable safety standards for retail establishments.