Warehouses exist for, you guessed it, housing wares. They are big boxes full of bulk items, goods or equipment that probably isn’t cheap.
If you are a warehouse owner, facilities manager, safety engineer, or a business who brings your goods to a warehouse only to have them sold later on, it is important to keep your warehouse safe from the dangers of fire.
When it comes to fire safety in particular you aren’t just safeguarding the building and the employees who are working in the warehouse, but also the stock that is being stored there. That’s why warehouse fire safety is such an essential part of running your operation. Here’s a look at some steps to consider to help prevent warehouse fires.
Fire Safety in Your Warehouse
Anyone who owns, managers, or works in a warehouse does not want to deal with having a fire in a warehouse. The National Fire Protection Agency (NFPA) states there are approximately 1,450 warehouse fires per year in the U.S.
These fires possess millions of dollars in damages and more importantly, injuries and even death annually. Fire safety measures in the warehouse can mean a reduction in property damage; it can also mean the difference between life and death. Knowing how to prevent warehouse fires, paying attention to fire safety laws and applying warehouse fire safety tips can save you trouble and make the working environment a safer place for you and the goods.
Understanding Warehouse Fire Risks
Warehouse fires are either harmful or costly — but, for the most part, they are avoidable. Knowing the dangers is the start of all warehouse fire protection.
Factory fire code regulations are required by both local fire codes and ordinances, and Federal OSHA rules for fire safety. This is a national level led by the fire safety law, through the Fire Prevention and Control Act of 1974, regulations, rules and standards, including:
- Putting in and checking fire alarm system to make sure it is working properly
- Mandating that fire extinguishers are strategically located throughout the facility
- Requiring all warehouse employees to be trained annually on the proper way to use a fire extinguisher
- Ensuring warehouses are well-ventilated
- Creating and rehearsing fire safety plans.
- Fire safety rules and regulations known and obeyed
- An inspection by the fire department for safety once in a while and fixing any violations
Warehouse Fire Safety Tips
Prevention is the first line of defense in preventing warehouse fires. Knowing not just that fire prevention tactics are important but how to best implement them goes a long way in protecting both your warehouse and its contents as well as your workers themselves.
A Fire Safety Checklist
Creating and updating a fire safety list for your warehouse Increase the fire safety of your warehouse by maintaining an updated warehouse fire safety list, and here is why, it can adapt to the conditions present at the warehouse daily.
Workers in and out, inventory up and down, deadliness in flux. Amid these changing circumstances, it is critical to move beyond the mandatory rules, regulations, and norms. A fire safety checklist helps to keep fire prevention all the way in the forefront, along with any other safety measures needed to keep an operation steady.
Reported reasons for warehouse fires by the NFPA include trash or rubbish fires; ignition by electrical distribution or lighting equipment; and improperly arranged or stored combustible materials. Thinking of that, these are some key areas to zero in on when making avoidable strides.
Tips for Your Fire Safety Checklist
Optimize Warehouse Layout
Designate specific zones for differing types of materials and goods. Ensure these other places are not near electrical items of other possibility ignition sources or sparks. This is particularly significant for highly flammable materials.
Ensure that the aisles, exits and evacuation routes are distinctively marked where to store it, where to stage it, and where to clean face. These designations (however you choose to define and categorize them) should be taught to your employees, including the reasoning behind why they are designed that way. And make exit sign and emergency light testing routine here, as well, to confirm they function as they are designed. Because, last thing you want is for them to not work when you need them most?
Establish Effective Storage Guidelines
The rules around how and what and the maximum that you can safely stack and store will prevent disaster. Be sure you stack stored items carefully. The aim is to prevent the potential for tipping or collapse that can lead to fire hazards. Make sure also that stacked storage does not block safety systems. Set up checks to verify that all fire alarms are functional and not draped or covered by material or equipment. You can’t set off the fire alarm that is beyond your reach.
Keep It Clean
The fact that trash and rubbish are some of the leading causes of warehouse fires, for instance, only serves to reinforce how important it is to keep your warehouse clean.
Rubbish buildup can result in more than, well, a mess. Trash, debris, and waste packaging need to be correctly placed, and disposal bins require emptying at regular intervals. Set guidelines and protocols for maintaining an orderly warehouse and educate your team on this key warehouse fire safety rule.
Know What You Store
Understand what is standard in your warehouse. Know what is flammable and train your employees what can bring danger. Flammable liquids or gases, and dangerous goods in large quantity can be a disaster in the making unless they are stored and handled safely. The reaction to fire from product to product can be divided into class I (not contributing) to class IV (severely contributing). All employees should be able to see and access guidelines to each class and how they are to be handled.
Establish in house processes and training around how to handle the turnover of products in a storage facility is hugely important as well. The only way to find out what’s in store is when you actually play it.
Establish Effective Training Procedures
You employees can of course be an ally to your warehouse fire safety but not if they haven’t been correctly trained. Host Fire Safety Training A wise employee is a safe employee. By discussing it and training your workers, you establish that warehouse fire safety is a priority and everyone is to take it seriously.
Life Saving Practices
Safety Warehouse fire safety matters because it keeps your staff safe. Life safety measures include:
- Installation and regular testing of fire alarm and sprinkler systems
- Clear exit access (Maintenance)
- Enforcing that exits are of regulation width
- Installation and maintenance of fire-rated doors and smoke management systems
- Constructing fire rated stairwells, egress lighting and emergency power
Warehousing And Fire Retardant Products To Save It What Is A Warehouse?
A number of the fire protection and fire safety protocols that keep your warehouse safe and operational is done at the time of construction – this entails:
- Placing in sprinklers and smoke alarms
- Fire doors and emergency power systems in place;
- Designing exits, stairways, lightings, and storage spaces with consideration for fire safety
At this stage, you should also look into the fire protection products you can seek out, to increase your warehouse fire safety.
However, the spread of fire, if it were to occur, can be slowed down by the use of fire-resistant products, like intumescent paints and flame retardant coatings or sprays. These products can buy valuable time to extinguish a fire and evacuate those in harm’s way, which saves both property and lives.
How to Keep Your Warehouse Safe from Fire
The profitability of a warehousing business, as well as other businesses that rely on warehousing operations, is dependent on the ability to maintain safe work and storage facilities for goods, products, materials, and equipment.
Planning your warehouse fire safety measures from when it’s built right through regular day-to-day operation can stop fires from igniting and spreading in your warehouse, keeping you and your staff safe.