Fire breakouts in an industrial setting can saddle you with hefty losses while leaving scores of your employees nursing injuries. Instead of taking such chances, you’re better off taking adequate safety precautions to lower the risk of fire.
“Fire is a good servant but a bad master” goes an adage that holds to date. Matter tends to get complicated when your business entails handling flammable chemicals and liquids. Recent data shows that over half a million Australians suffer injuries at their workplaces annually.
To add insult to the injury, it also revealed that more than 50 per cent of workers didn’t know what to do in the case of an emergency. If you’re keen to avoid the fallout that can result from a fire breaking out in your premises, take these proactive measures:
Train All Your Employees in Workplace Safety
While each human being is hardwired to survive any danger, their survival instincts are not well refined. At the first hint of uncertainty, the fight or flight response takes over, causing you to take to the hills. In confined spaces, this response proves to be a great source of danger.
A fire breakout will instantly cause everyone to panic and head towards the nearest exit all at once. The stampede that will result from such a scenario leads to people getting trampled while jamming the doorways. As a result, you’re likely to have a high number of injuries and causalities. On the other hand, if your workers adequately prepare for emergencies, they can evacuate quickly and efficiently in case of a fire incident without putting their lives in danger.
Insist on Workplace Safety
A fire breakout in your facility can saddle you with substantial losses that can drive you out of business. For starters, it will cripple your operations immediately as workers scamper for safety, costing you valuable production time. You’re likely to have scores of workers injured, which will cost you a fortune in legal fees and settlement for endangerment.
You’re also likely to be subjected hefty fines by the government and regulatory bodies. Also, you’ll lose valuable machinery, property, and finished products such as poly diesel tanks. In essence, nothing good can come from a workplace fire. Therefore, you need to train all your employees on workplace safety as soon as you have them come on board. You need to ensure that all safety protocols, no matter how smaller, are followed to the letter.
Have Frequent Evaluation
The costs of hiring a safety inspector to go through your facility and identify any blind spot pales in comparison to the losses that will result from a fire. You’re better off having a safety expert identifying safety violation and helping you rectify the oversight than leaving them until its too late.
Following a fire disaster, the government is likely to launch an investigation. If you’re found guilty of any violations, you’ll be saddled with additional fines, penalties, or in extreme cases, forced to close down your operations.
A fire breaking out in the workplace can leave you nursing hefty losses and a possible lawsuit from your workers. Instead of taking chances with your investment, you sould be the side of caution. Doing so lets you keep your workers and property safe from dangerous fires.
