Anything can happen at work. As much as you try to prepare to avoid various situations, sometimes, you simply can’t control what happens inside the office. Busy companies are prone to a lot of things, but starting a fire is definitely one of the most dangerous. Whether it’s a candle that was forgotten to be blown out or an electronic that short-circuited, a fire can easily get started in any working are. This is more so if there are a lot of people and objects inside it. Despite taking all the preventive measures, there’s never really 100% assurance that your businesses won’t experience a fire.
Fortunately, there are ways in which to escape such fires. You can always organize your office to provide multiple avenues of escape if and when such a tragedy strikes. They’re simple, easy, and can ensure everyone’s safety at the end of the day. To help you out, there are ways to organize your office to be fire-escape ready!
Free Up the Hallways
Practically the most important of all organizational tips is to free up the hallways. More often than not, narrow hallways are a company’s best bets for fire-escapes. They can lead to the outside, far away from the burning spaces people just escaped from. But if you have boxes, old desks, broken equipment, and many more lying down on such halls, this will only make it more difficult for you to escape and survive. While it may seem a good idea to store these unimportant items on the hallways, think about the emergencies that lie ahead, particularly when there’s a fire involved.
Leave Space In Between Desks
Similarly to your hallways, your working spaces must have some distances between them as well. It’ll be extremely difficult to run about if there are multiple blockages surrounding your work area. How will you quickly run to the nearest fire exits if there’s little to no space between your desk and your co-worker’s? Additionally, leaving these bits of spaces in between is also a good fire preventive measure. The less various items are stored in one place, the fewer chances there are that a fire might break out. This proves mostly true when it comes to electronics.
Keep a Smooth Floor
No matter how comfortable a carpeted or a rubber-matted floor will feel, a smooth-surface floor is the best way to go. Keeping it clear with give you the best friction to run to the nearest fire escapes when a fire breaks out in the office. In contrast, textured floors make for sticky surfaces and more friction when walking and running. This, in turn, will make it more difficult for anybody to run as fast as they can to the nearest exits. These textiles might also help spread the fire more, so it’s always best not to opt for them.
Mount Your Appliances
Some of the most annoying blockages for any path in the office are huge electronic appliances. TV sets and projectors can get in your way, even when you’re simply walking around the office. What more when there’s a fire involved? Fortunately, these same appliances can be mounted on the wall or hung from the ceiling for more space in your work area. This way, you and your co-workers will have more than enough space to go as fast as you can out of the building when it’s burning. Furthermore, sometimes, it’s these same appliances, when set together, that spark the fire in the first place. So keeping some distance between them by mounting them will be a wise move.
Unlock All Doors
Offices are working spaces where you do your job and talk to your co-employees. There’s no reason to lock doors unless there’s an important private meeting going on. But in the cases of fires, it’s best to keep all the doors unlocked, especially the fire exits. Whichever room you’re in, if the place starts to burn, you’ll have more time to escape if all the doors weren’t sealed. In fact, it may even be smarter if all the doors within the office stayed open. Despite special and private situations, there isn’t any good reason as to why the doors should remain closed in the first place.
File All the Paperwork
Papers help the fire spread. Don’t be fooled by ones using newspapers to take out small fired. It’s actually their patting the flame down that takes it out, not the newspaper itself. In situations in which strong fired might burn the entire place down, cluttered pieces of paper might accelerate the speed of the spread and put many lives in danger. To avoid this, it’s best to always store unnecessary paperwork neatly and out of the way. That’s what cabinets are for. With each and every paper file not needed anymore, they should be put away neatly inside a filing cabinet. This will help with maintaining a clean and organized office as well.
Store All Matches
How does one spark a fire? Lighting a match. And in every office, there are sure to be boxes of them in various places. Similarly to paper, these matches will also spread the flames faster and stronger, so it’s best to store them all in one space. This way, the flames will only be strong in that area, and you and your co-workers will have more than enough time to escape the spreading fire.
Install Multiple Water Stations
Water stations are usually for when you and your officemates become thirsty in the middle of the day. They’ve even become small areas for socializing within an office. but in times of a fire, they can help in putting out the flames, no matter how strong they are. Such water stations might not be able to eradicate the fire altogether, but splashing some water in various areas make for open avenues for escape. So beyond just quenching your thirst, install a few water stations here and there to prepare for a fire.
Install Sprinklers
Beyond your water stations, sprinklers are installed in every building for the very purpose of putting out big and small fires. Just a whiff of smoke can send these features off and splash away any chance of the fire spreading to the entire space or building. So even before you start working, make sure that the company has installed some sprinklers in the office so you’re ensured to be safe whatever fire that may start.
Keep Fire Extinguishers Ready
If there’s one item that can still be helpful lying around in the office while there’s a fire, it’s a fire extinguisher. Have some ready at hand in case of such emergencies. Instead of just leaving them encased in a glass box in the corner of the room, position some in between desks or right beside the door. This prepares you for any spark, and whatever flame that might come out, whether big or small, you can kill in an instant. And when the fire gets too big, you can use the extinguisher to pave your path in escaping from the building burning.
There are many ways of organizing your office to be fire-escape ready. You just have to be aware of them and apply them to your own working areas. Thanks to these tips, you’ll easily escape any fire that may come to your company’s way.