Yes, it is November and October is typically fire safety month (to correspond with the Great Chicago Fire of 1871) but it’s never too late to review fire safety.  Here are a few tips:

#1:  Do the Opposite – Teach your employees how to shut off the fire suppression system.   Seems odd, but if a shower head gets knocked by the mast of a fork truck, it’s a good thing to know to minimize damage.  Label the shut offs and shoot a short video with iMovie.  It’s a great idea to show this process to new hire employees, and to review it annually with everyone.

#2:  Train Annually – Did you know employers providing portable fire extinguishers for employee’s use in the workplace need to provide initial training and annually thereafter?  Ask the company that maintains your fire extinguishers to put aside some the extinguishers that have just fallen below the recharge line so that your employees can practice discharging them.

#3:  Give a tour of your facility to your fire department – A tour for the fire department gives first responders a lay of the land so that they aren’t entering your facility as a complete unknown if there is ever an emergency.  And, it can create relationships you can leverage to help with your internal safety training.

OSHA Fact Sheet on Fire Prevention

https://www.osha.gov/OshDoc/data_General_Facts/FireSafetyN.pdf

OSHA’s Training Requirement of Portable Fire Extinguishers

https://www.osha.gov/pls/oshaweb/owadisp.show_document%3Fp_id%3D9811%26p_table%3DSTANDARDS