Fall will be here sooner than we know, so we want you to be ready for this upcoming season with tips for best fire safety practices in your home and business.

Home and business fires are common during the fall and winter as we start getting closer to the holiday season (Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas etc.).

It’s our desire that you be prepared ahead of time in case a fire occurred, but we would rather you knew ways to prevent fires in the first place.

Here’s a compiled list of fire safety tips you can get started with right away for both your home and your business:

Fire Safety Prevention at Home

According to the National Fire Protection Association’s most recent report, 73% of fires that occurred in 2018 were home fires. The NFPA’s report also mentions that firefighters are responding to reports of a fire every 24 seconds.

Think about that for a minute.

If more than half of the fires that occur each year happen in homes, and there’s a fire somewhere every 24 seconds, you can probably get the gist of how often home fires occur and why you need to help prevent them.

If that doesn’t bother you, maybe this will: According to the American Red Cross, people might have at most 2 minutes to get out of their home when a fire breaks out.

We don’t want you to ever have to worry about this happening.

Please take a moment to go through your home and mark these tips off as “completed” after you have conducted a fire safety check:

• Create and practice an escape plan for you and your family. Make sure everyone knows every possible escape option in your home in case a fire occurred.
• Test, test, and test again your smoke alarms. Make sure you change the batteries often and that your smoke alarms are ALWAYS working.
• Make sure you place smoke alarms on every bedroom of your home and on every level of your home. Place one in your kitchen, but make sure it’s not too close (it’s recommended you keep a distance of 10 feet between the smoke alarm and the appliance) to kitchen cooking appliances because it can cause a false alarm.
• Encourage adults to NEVER smoke inside of the home. Smoking can be a serious fire hazard.
• Always watch any food you’re cooking as well as the appliance you’re using to cook your food. Never leave your food unattended while it’s cooking.
• Properly store cords (not under rugs, mats, or carpet etc.) and check to make sure none of your electrical cords are damaged. Check the cords of all appliances and electronics too.
• Watch those space heaters when you start to bring them out. Keep your space heater away from anything flammable and anything that poses a fire risk. Keep it on a safe surface and out of reach of pets and children.
• Make sure you and your family know what to do if a fire started in your home. You should know how to properly use a fire extinguisher and know how to “stop,” “drop,” and “roll.” You should also help your children familiarize themselves with firefighters should they ever need one, and know how to avoid opening doors with hot doorknobs etc.
• Keep flammable items out of your children’s reach (matches, lighters, and candles etc.)
• Know what fire safety devices (smoke alarms and escape accommodations etc.) are available to you and your family if you have family members who are deaf, hearing impaired, or who have various disabilities.

As you go through your home, we encourage you to also conduct a fire safety check in your workplace with your boss and team because your home isn’t the only place you need to practice fire safety.

Fire Safety Prevention in the Workplace

Just because more than half of fires occur in homes doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t be concerned about your workplace.

According to the U.S. Fire Administration’s most recent data, nonresidential fires caused $2.6 billion in loss and a 30% increase in deaths in 2018.

Here are some tasks you should do in your workplace and office to help prevent fires:

• You need to develop a fire prevention and evacuation plan if you haven’t done so already. Please click here to see OSHA’s requirements for written fire prevent plans.
• Make sure all employees and visitors do not smoke inside of the building but rather in the proper designated area (usually outdoors).
• Make it easy to find exits (should be labeled or marked)
• Keep workspace and place organized and free from clutter. A lot of paper or junk on your desk or having too much stuff all over the place is a fire hazard.
• Properly store and dispose of hazardous materials and flammable chemicals such as cleaning products.
• Have your fire safety systems and equipment checked often.
• Conduct fire drills and let your employees practice evacuating, so they know how to respond in the event of a real fire.
• Watch out for electrical cords that have broken connectors or cracked insulation. Make sure all cords have no frayed wires and aren’t improperly stored (under a rug, mat, or carpet etc.).
• Turn off all equipment, electronics, or appliances when no one is using them.
• Keep stairwells open and not blocked.
• Don’t plug more than one extension cord into an outlet.
• Keep space behind appliances to prevent overheating which can lead to a fire.
• If you see something that’s a fire hazard or threatens workplace safety, speak up!

Please be safe this fall season. We know these tips will help you prepare for fire safety this season in your home and your business.

If you have any questions or concerns regarding how fires affect your policy, please feel free to reach out to us.

Disclaimer

Allied Insurance Managers’ blog is provided for informational purposes only. It is not intended to be comprehensive, and is not a substitute for and should not be construed as legal advice. Allied Insurance Managers does not warrant any statements in this blog. Any statutes or laws cited herein should be read in their entirety. You should direct your legal questions to experienced counsel regarding your organization’s compliance, interpretation, or application of laws or regulations and any additional legal requirements that may apply to you.