What Could Cause Fires in Your Business

7/2/2020 (Permalink)

Business owners have many responsibilities, one of them being the safety factors to take into consideration regarding risks to your business, staff and visitors. One of those risks that needs extra consideration is planning for and working to prevent fires.

Leading Causes of Commercial Structure Fires

According to a report published by the National Fire Protection Association, the leading causes of structure fires in office properties were:

1. Cooking equipment: 29% of fires
2. Electrical distribution and lighting equipment: 12% of fires
3. Heating equipment: 11% of fires
4. Intentional: 10% of fires
5. Smoking materials: 9% of fires

Protect Your Business

By focusing on staff education, risk assessment, and prevention, you can take steps to protect your business from a fire risk and help reduce the chance of a fire breaking out.

Initially, you must assess the fire hazard risk. Fire marshals, can offer advice, help identify your business’ risks, and help provide guidance on your fire prevention plan.

You’ll want to make sure you have chosen the right fire protection equipment. This should include an automatic sprinkler system, smoke detectors, and fire extinguishers on each floor.

Lastly, consider your employees and visitors. By creating a fire prevention and evacuation plan and reviewing it with your staff, you’ll be making sure everyone knows what to do in the case of a fire. Conduct regular fire drills to keep the fire safety protocol fresh and take time to review evacuation plans.

If your business experiences a fire loss, call us at 732-248-9555 and we’ll respond immediately to help get you back to business and make the loss "Like it never even happened."