Managing fire risks when taking on seasonal workers
Even though it’s only September, many organisations are already busy putting plans in place to recruit seasonal workers ready for Christmas. These types of staff are essential during peak activity periods, particularly in sectors like retail and hospitality. However, their temporary nature can present some challenges when it comes to fire safety. If you’re taking on seasonal workers, what do you need to do to make sure you’re reducing the risks?
Make fire safety training a priority
It’s essential that everyone working at your premises understands their fire safety obligations – including seasonal workers. They’re unlikely to be familiar with the layout of your workplace or your associated fire safety procedures. So as soon as they join you, make sure they undergo at least basic fire safety training. It should cover the essentials such as general fire prevention, evacuation procedures and whereabouts fire alarms are located if they need to activate them. Temporary staff also need to be made aware of issues like good housekeeping and ensuring exits are never blocked. It could be appropriate to provide fire extinguisher training, so they know the location of extinguishers and how to use them safely.
You might need to carry out more role-specific training too. For example, if you’ve recruited someone to work in a kitchen, make sure they’re aware of the particular fire hazards in the environment they’ll be working in, what’s expected of them to minimise those risks and what to do if a fire breaks out.
Conduct a fire drill
If you’re taking on a number of seasonal workers at the same time, it’s worth doing a fire drill soon after they’ve started so they’re clear on what to do in a fire emergency. Ensure your fire wardens are aware of the new temporary staff too. Fire wardens are responsible for ensuring safe evacuation if a fire breaks out, assisting others and checking that all areas are clear. So they need to know about additional workers and whether there are any specific issues related to any individuals that could affect their ability to evacuate the area quickly.
Is your fire signage clear?
Effective fire safety depends on clear communications. So as seasonal workers will be less familiar with your business, the role of signage becomes particularly significant. It’s worth doing an audit of your current signs. Review where they’re located – are fire exits and fire alarm points clearly identified? Is the fact that fire doors need to be kept closed clear to everyone? Are fire extinguisher locations obvious? Are all signs easy to understand? It might be that some of your seasonal workers don’t have English as their first language so make sure language barriers aren’t creating any fire safety issues.
Check your fire safety equipment maintenance
The heightened fire risk presented by taking on new temporary workers makes it a good time to check you’re up to date with the testing and servicing of fire prevention systems and equipment. It’s also worth checking that electrical equipment has been inspected recently. Faulty wiring, overheating sockets and overloading extension leads can all cause workplace fires.
Depending on their role, a simple checklist reminding seasonal workers to do a brief regular visual check of equipment they’re using can be an effective measure. Make sure they know they must report any damaged equipment or exposed wiring immediately. Check that your reporting process is simple to use and that all seasonal workers know who to raise any fire safety-related concerns with.
It’s vital that all staff, including seasonal workers, take fire hazards seriously
Providing training and encouraging a proactive approach from the start can considerably reduce the risk of fire incidents. And when their time with you is about to end, don’t forget to ask them for feedback either. It might be that they highlight issues you haven’t thought of that can be built into future fire safety planning.
Would you like more information about how we can help you?
As fire safety experts we can support you with reducing risk – please do get in touch with us if you’d like to know more about our services.
The post Managing fire risks when taking on seasonal workers appeared first on Jackson Fire & Security Solutions.