In this week’s Sun Shopper, the National Fire Authority (NFA) will focus on the importance of fire safety in businesses and organizations.

In all business and organizations, employees deal with fire ignition sources everyday such as dealing with electrical equipment, electrical installation and other business process and therefore it is very important that extra care is taken all the time to ensure fire safety and to prevent a fire incident from happening in the workplace and in business.

Outlined below are some fire safety tips in the business and workplaces that would prevent a fire from occurring.

Here are some fire safety tips:

• Ensure that all electrical appliances like office computers, photocopy machine, kettle, microwave and etc are switched off properly after use and more importantly before you leave the office.
• Employees, OHS representatives or appointed Fire Wardens must conduct daily fire safety inspection of their workplaces before they leave the workplaces for the day to ensure they identify and control any possible fire hazard.
• Practice good housing keeping in the workplace with the proper storage of goods like offices supplies, documents, files and other combustible materials.
• Check and ensure that the exit doors are not blocked and can be used during an emergency.
• Ensure that staircase are kept clean and not obstructed and can be used during a fire emergency.
• Ensure that stairwells and evacuation routes are free and clear of obstructions.
• Ensure that fire escape stairs are in good condition.
• Ensure that emergency lighting units are operational.
• Ensure that portable fire extinguishers are in their proper location and fully charged serviced and tagged.
• Ensure that fire hose cabinets are in good order and easily visible and accessible.
• Ensure that relevant fire safety training is conducted regularly and documented.
• Ensure that detectors are tested regularly.
• Ensure that the alarm systems is functioning and is tested regularly.