No matter how safe you feel in your home or office, there is always a slight risk of Fire hazard, especially, when you ignore the basic safety precautions. Fire hazard is one of the most common accidents at homes as well as at offices that can end up in tremendous damages, including, life loss. However, it is still the highly ignored risk, in Australia, and mostly occur from preventable reasons.
According to the Metropolitan Fire and Emergency Service Board, in 2015 there were 1,565 preventable house fires in Melbourne resulting in the loss of five lives and causing almost $30 million property damage. This clearly indicates that with proper precautions such accidents can be prevented, and the damages and loss can be minimized.
There are a few simple acts that can help you protect yourself and people around you from huge accidents.
Fire Safety Tips for Home
The Fire & Rescue NSW reported that a total 4,545 house fires were attended to by the rescue teams in 2008/2009 alone. Out of these 1,054 were caused by unattended heat sources in the kitchen and 651 by electric short circuits.
Home fires pose serious dangers and it might give you just two minutes to escape. So, it’s better to protect your house from such incidents and prevent the fire risks by taking a few basic safety precautions.
Fire Safety in the Kitchen
According to the stats, kitchen is the most important place that requires your attention for safety. Here are few tips to prevent fire hazards in the kitchen:
- Never use water to put out the fire caused by fat or oil, it will only help the fire to spread
- Always turn off the kitchen appliance after the use, from the main power switch
- Never leave your stove or hot plates unattended while cooking. In case, you have to leave, turn off the stove, and resume cooking only when you are back in the kitchen
- Make sure the electric appliances in the kitchen are not damaged or faulty. Regularly clean all these appliances
- Always keep the fire extinguisher and fire blanket in the kitchen, but at least 1 meter away from the stove
- Keep the flammable material, like, oven mitts, tea or paper towels etc., away from the stove or any heat source
- Never leave kids unattended in the kitchen
- If the oil in a pan catches fire, while cooking, turn off the stove immediately. Or put the lid over the pan, and if it still doesn’t work, use fire blanket
- If the fire starts from the oven or microwave, turn it off right away and unplug the power cable from the main switch. And, do not open the microwave’s door, until the fire inside, suffocates and goes completely out
Fire Safety in the other Parts of Home
The percentage of fire hazards takes place in the lounge, bedrooms, and other parts of the house, is very low than those that happen the kitchen. However, that does not bring down the importance of taking the right precautions for your and your loved ones’ safety. Here are a few quick tips to ensure that the risk of fire accidents at your home is minimized:
- Check all the fire detectors around your home for their proper functioning
- Create a fire escape plan for your house, and have everybody remember it
- Ensure that all the fire extinguishers at your home are working properly
- Train all the family members to use the fire extinguishers, and practice the fire escape drill at least twice a year
- Store all the household chemicals out of the reach of children or heat source. And, remember not to mix the cleaning chemicals, ever
- Never overload power boards or extension cords, as that has high probability of leading to short circuits
- Always put a screen in front of the fireplace while that is in use
- Do not smoke in bed or near any place that has flammable materials around
Fire Safety Tips for Offices
Well, now you are a lot more aware of protecting your home from, at least, the preventable hazards. Let’s move on to talk about the safety of your office from the fire hazards. It is found that people with small businesses don’t take fire hazards as an important factor to put much attention on. However, one should never forget that no matter how small or large your organization is, the human lives and all the data/work in your office, are more important than anything else you put most attention on.
Further, it is not the responsibility of the manager or the owner of the organization only, to take the due measures against fire hazards, but of each person who works there.
Here are a few tips for you and your colleagues/employees to protect the office from potential fire hazards:
Safety Tips
- Never allow smoking inside the offices
- Always turn off all the electric devices in the office before you leave for the day
- Do not overload any power circuit in the office
- Keep the heat sources or any equipment that gets heated, away from electric wires or any flammable material
- Regularly check on the electric cords of all electronic equipment/devices in the office. Replace the damaged or faulty cables
- Maintain all the machinery in the office, from time to time, to prevent overheating and friction sparks
- Train everyone in the office on how to use of fire extinguisher, and place the extinguishers within everybody’s quick reach
- Put a fire escape plan on the wall where it is visible to everyone, or can be reached by everyone
- Make your office clutter-free and encourage all the employees for the same. Clutter of waste papers and other flammable material acts as a fuel to the fire, and helps it to spread quickly
- If your office/workplace stores any chemical or flammable material, keep them in their designated areas. Have a prototype for employees working in those specific areas and/or with these inflammable materials
We hope that you are, now, more aware of the measures that need to be taken to minimize the chances of fire accidents. So, go and make your homes and offices FIRE SAFE!
Also, make sure that you have the best quality fire safety equipment at your house, offices, and workplace.
This post first appeared on Project Link – Australian Directory For Building, Road, Landscaping & Mining Products & Services, please read the originial post: here
