3 Ways To Prevent Fires in Food Manufacturing Plants
Food manufacturing sites carry many specific health and safety obligations, including stringent rules about preventing and managing fires, making maintaining fire safety standards a journey, not a destination!
Taking a business-critical stance is vital. Although your first priority is employee safety, you must be constantly aware of the potential disruptions that even a small fire could cause in a food manufacturing plant.
This makes the three fire safety steps (below) very crucial.
1. Perform an In-depth Fire Risk Assessment
Your fire prevention policies and practices will integrate into your business operations, from handling inflammable materials appropriately to keeping fire exits clear of obstacles.
However, this is one topic that allows no room for complacency or oversight. It is vital to schedule regular and in-depth fire risk assessments. Especially as food manufacturers rarely ‘standstill’ in their production systems.
One of the most important things to assess (and, if necessary, update) is the fire rating of your doors and windows. Your production processes and layout may have been amended since your last risk assessment. You must be confident that these vital fire ratings are met to protect your people and assets by containing flames and smoke for sufficient time periods.
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2. Rigorous Processes for Systems and Equipment Checks
This links with the above point.
Modern fire safety equipment manufacturers offer many products that detect, dampen, and contain flames, smoke, excessive heat, and gases. Many rely on frequent maintenance checks to ensure their value is optimised, whether that’s fire extinguishers, alarms, sprinklers, or machine temperature sensors.
Your fire safety planning must assign roles and responsibilities for regular checks and dealing with critical issues when they arise.
3. Continuous and Thorough Fire Safety Training
Your safety officer and management team can invest substantial resources into the best fire prevention policies, practices and equipment and still face risks. As well as failed inspections.
That’s because the linchpin of fire prevention in any workplace is properly trained employees. This includes regular ‘refresher’ courses and fire safety training during onboarding.
As our online fire safety training courses are comprehensive and easy to access, employee learning can easily slot into any food manufacturer’s working day. Training includes upskilling fire marshals and delivering accredited fire safety training courses for all staff.
If you have a question or enquiry about health and safety, please call the team on 01452 502113 or complete our enquiry form.