Eliminating fire hazards is a central part of any workplace safety program. Among the most basic tasks are to ensure that: exits are free and unobstructed; there are appropriate fire extinguishers on hand; and workers are trained how to use the fire extinguishers in case of fire. These seem like simple and straightforward requirements. But in operation, they often prove to be anything but. Alarming numbers of citations get issued because employers fail to carry out these tasks; sadly, such breakdowns also lead to fatalities.

Like most employers, you might form your workers into fire safety teams and have them conduct regular inspections. That's a good start. But you also need to ensure that those teams know what they're doing. A good way to optimize the effectiveness of fire safety teams is to create a questionnaire that describes exactly what to check during each inspection. We've created a Model Questionnaire in the Tools section of SafetyXChange that you can use at your own facilities.

What the Law Requires

OSHA has several standards that address fire safety in the workplace. For example:

The Means of Egress Standard requires employers to ensure that exits are available to escape from fires and other emergencies. Among other things, each exit must be clearly visible and continuously maintained so that it's free of obstructions or impediments.

The Portable Fire Extinguishers Standard sets requirements governing the placement, use, maintenance and testing of portable fire extinguishers to be used by workers. Among other things, portable fire extinguishers must be mounted, located and identified so that they're readily accessible. They must also be fully operable at all times and visually inspected at least once a month. Workers expected to use fire extinguishers must also be trained how to do so.

Benefits of Questionnaire

Forming fire inspection teams is a good way to ensure compliance with these requirements. And providing those teams a questionnaire is a good way to ensure that those teams do their inspections effectively. The Model Questionnaire in Tools helps:

Standardize inspections: Distributing the Questionnaire will ensure that each team is checking for the same things and asking the same questions - the ones you mandate. This results in standardization of inspection results, which facilitates analysis of the data. For example, it enables you to compare different departments within a single facility or to monitor the same department on an ongoing basis.

Keep inspections short and focused: Fire inspection duties, although vitally important, also diminish "productive time." That puts pressure on the safety director to keep fire safety inspections short, sweet and to the point. A well-organized Questionnaire enables team members to do an appropriate inspection and then get back to their regular jobs as quickly as possible.

Identify and correct problems early: A Questionnaire can be tailored to the unique problems of your facility or operations. For example, if your fire exit is near loading docks, you can design the Questionnaire to ensure that team members go out of their way to verify that any loaded materials aren't being kept nearby.

Build fire safety awareness: One of the benefits of having fire safety teams conduct inspections is that it builds awareness not just among team members but other workers in areas undergoing inspection. A well-designed Questionnaire can maximize the awareness-building function of inspections by ensuring that inspectors cover the right ground.

Conclusion

Next week, in Part 2, I'll explain how to create and use a questionnaire. And we'll provide the Model version in Tools.

SEASONAL SAFETY TIP

Testing, 1, 2, 3...

By Catherine Jones

Traditionally, the clock change dates each spring and fall are when many of us test our home smoke alarms. Here are a few other safety inspections you might want to perform twice a year:

• Test your carbon monoxide detector according to the manufacturer's instructions.
• See if your fire extinguishers are fully charged and ready for service.
• If you have a security system, make sure it is working the way it was designed to work.
• This is also a good time to review your family's fire drill plans. Make sure everyone knows at least two ways to get out of each bedroom and each area of the house and know where to meet outside.

Do you have a safety tip to share? Send them to catherinej@bongarde.com and let us know if we can use your name/company name with your tip.

MEMBER REPLY

Re Home Renovation Safety

Good article, good advice. But I think one important item was left off. Once the renovations are complete make sure your contact your insurance company to get the upgrades covered. We just had a situation where a home burnt to the ground. The home owner lost everything. They had not insured their new additions, so were "underinsured".

Dan Cox,
US Army,
Fort Richardson, Alaska
59th Signal Battalion

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