Fire protection is an important aspect of running most kinds of businesses. Fires can have catastrophic consequences, both in terms of endangering lives and destroying assets and property. While fire has been a risk for businesses since the start of time, nowadays we thankfully have a wide range of ways to mitigate that risk. Let’s explore fire protection in a little more detail.
Save lives
Any business owner has both a legal and moral duty to protect their customers and employees. An out-of-control fire can kill people in minutes, making fire prevention something that should be a top priority for any business owner.
With a well-thought-out fire safety plan, based on risk assessments and using protection systems such as fire shutters from LBS group, you can keep the risk of fire outbreaks at an absolute minimum.
Protecting material assets
While some businesses operate purely in the digital realm, all businesses require at least some hardware to function. This will often include material assets such as inventory and other specialised equipment, in addition to buildings such as offices and warehouses.
A fire can destroy these assets incredibly quickly, making fire safety absolutely paramount to protecting your business. Sprinkler systems and internal shutters can be used to slow the spread of fire in a business, providing fire services with more time to get it fully under control.
Regulatory compliance
Fire safety is something that’s required by UK regulations, most recently by the Fire Safety Act 2021 created in response to the Grenfell Tower tragedy which led to the loss of 72 lives. Putting fire protection measures in place is necessary in order to comply with these regulations – failure to comply can result in severe legal consequences, even if it does not result in an actual accident.
Brand protection
A fire can do more than damage just the brick-and-mortar element of your business. Even if you manage to buy a new building and avoid legal repercussions, incidents such as fires can have an adverse effect on how the public and employees perceive your brand. It will decrease overall trust in your business, creating damage that can be almost impossible to repair.
Insurance
Most conscientious business owners will have some form of business insurance, so that if something like a fire were to occur, not everything will be lost. It’s important to remember that many insurance policies won’t pay out if the investigators find out that reasonable measures haven’t been taken with regard to fire protection.
As a result, even if the measures you’ve taken aren’t able to prevent a fire from occurring, they will at least ensure that you get the insurance money needed to get your business up and running again.
This should have driven home just how important fire protection is when it comes to running a business. From protecting lives to complying with the necessary regulations, fire protection is an unavoidable necessity for all business owners. It’s important to constantly update your approach to fire safety, looking into all new technologies as they emerge.
Check out my other business posts for more inspiration.
