London Fire Brigade warn night club owners of fire safety responsibilities

London Fire Brigade chiefs have warned the owners of clubs, pubs and restaurants in the London not to be complacent about fire safety, following the fire that killed 230 people in a Brazil nightclub.

The Fire Safety Order 2005,places responsibility for fire safety with business owners / responsible persons who are required to have up-to-date fire safety emergency plans, including a fire risk assessment, which take into account how people would evacuate from a premises in the event of a fire. London Fire Brigade inspects and carries out FRA audits in  thousands of commercial buildings each year, including nightclubs, and if business owners are complying with the FSO they can be fined or even sent to prison. A few years ago, one company was fined £542,000 including costs!

Following the tragic fire in Santa Maria, Brazil, London’s fire chiefs are asking business owners to check that their fire safety plans are up-to-date and that they have completed a suitable and sufficient fire risk assessment of their business premises. Issues that need to be considered include:

• Staircases and corridors should be kept clear

• Fire exit doors must not be blocked or locked from the outside

• Exit routes should be well marked • Fire extinguishers – roughly one for every 200 sq metres of floor space

• Staff should be trained in what to do in the event of a fire including fire marshal training London and disabled fire evacuation training

London Fire Brigade are also asking the public  to report to their local fire station any potential breaches of fire safety laws or obvious fire risks, for example blocked fire escapes or overflowing rubbish.

Steve Turek, the London Fire Brigade’s Assistant Commissioner for Fire Safety Regulation, said: “The events in Brazil this weekend are a tragedy but they should act as a stark reminder to all business owners, and especially nightclub owners, that there is no room for complacency when it comes to fire safety. Businesses must be able to show that they have thought about how they will keep people safe if the worst should happen and they do have a fire.

“The London Fire Brigade regularly inspects the fire safety of nightclubs and thousands of other businesses. If people are breaking fire safety laws, we will have no hesitation in prosecuting them, which could result in a fine totalling tens of thousands of pounds or in the worst cases a prison sentence. Similarly, if people see things they think is a fire risk, tell the business’ owner and if they don’t do anything, tell the local fire station.”

For details of fire marshal courses london or fire extinguisher courses London click these links now.

London Fire Brigade may accept emergency calls via Twitter

London Fire Brigade are considering accepting calls via social media forums such as Twitter a BBC report says. With the increase in ownership of smart phones, the LFB are looking at the possibility of mobilising fire engines and crews to calls made by persons using Twitter.

Although the LFB does not maintain its Twitter page over a 24 hour period there is a possibility that this may happen. It is not expected that many calls would come via this method as most phones have an immediate emergency call function.

City Fire Training Ltd siad “We checked to see whether it was April the 1st! After pushing the Xmas cards to one side I could see the it was a week before Xmas, so it is not an april fool story”. “More people should come on our fire marshal courses London. We will show them the correct way to call the fire brigade!”

Fire Training London article!

 

London Fire Brigade announces big drop in fire calls

The London Fire Brigade have revealed that the number of fire calls it attended last year was the lowest since records began in 1966. It also reported that fires calls have halved in the last ten years.

For more details of this story  go to Fire Training London website.

Also in the same story – details of the latest fire marshal course London available from these trainers.

Our favourite fire safety news feeds

Here is  a little list of our favourite news feed:

London Fire Brigade – latest news and campaigns

Fire Training London blog (updated daily)

Info4fire news page

In additon there are some great social network sites including LFBs Twitter feed and facebook. Also check out Fire Training London facebook page (just started) and City Fire Training facebook page.

For fire marshal courses London and fire extinguisher courses London visit the FTL or CFT websites now!

We like these fire sites

Yes – we run a fire safety site and blog but we do find websites that we really like that are full of information that is useful for managers. If you want information about how to carry out a fire risk assessment, what is included in a fire emergency plan or info on the latest fires and prosecutions that try these sites:

London Fire Brigade, Essex County Fire and Rescue Service and Info4fire

The need to identify types of fire training in the fire emergency plan

One of our sessions on our City Fire Training  fire marshal training London describes the content of a fire emergency plan as required by London Fire Brigade. One part asks for details of fire training required. Here is what we think you should include in your fire emergency plan:

• Fire extinguisher training
• Fire marshal training
• Training for those who act as buddies or assist with evacuation procedures for disabled persons
• Those who call the fire service
• The contents of the fire emergency plan and significant findings
• Training for temporary workers – What will the content before someone who works for the organisation for 1 or 2 days and what will someone who works for a few months receive
• Fire drills – Frequency
• Those with responsibilities in the fire evacuation plan such as those who liaise with the fire service, incident controllers, caretakers, first aiders etc

It may be beneficial for the responsible person to receive some sort of training on how a fire risk assessment is carried out. This will allow them to understand the process and carry out their own fire safety audits against the FRA at regular intervals. For FRA mentoring contact London Fire Risk Assessment Consultants for fire risk assessments London.

We pick our favourite fire information sites!

So where do we go if we want the latest news in the fire industry? Here are a few of our favourite websites and blogs:

London Fire Brigade

Info4fire

Essex County Fire and Rescue Service

City Fire Training

These websites will provide you with the very latest fire safety news including latest incidents in London and essex, fire safety prosecutions, fire risk assessments London news and fire safety training courses such as fire marshal courses london.

Keep a look out on this blog for more great sites and blogs.

 

Fire training – Who needs it?

City Fire Training answer the question on many managers lips. Who exactly does need fire training in their premises. We provide a quick overview:

• All staff must know the contents of the fire emergency plan. This will include details such as action on discovery of a fire, what to do if they hear the alarm, fire fighting equipment in the building, accounting method, fire procedures including those who are particular risk such as disabled persons, contractors, visitors, those working on their own and young people. Why not try City Fire Training General staff fire training course or fire extinguisher courses London.
• The frequency of staff fire training may increase if there is a high turnover of staff or fluctuates due to seasonal increases in business (ie extra shop staff at Xmas)
• Fire marshals and fire wardens need additional fire training. There is no set frequency required by law, but the workplace fire risk assessments London should determine the frequency of attendance on fire marshal courses London or other fire marshal training London.
• Persons with special responsibilities in the fire procedure must also receive regular fire training. Persons such as those nominated to call the fire service, buddies who assist disabled persons and those liaising with the London Fire Brigade must all know what to do.
• Persons on temporary contracts or those bought in from a Temps agency should not be forgotten
• Building contractors or other contractors need to be told what to do. In fact many organisations have strict hot work permit procedures for building contractors and remember if they are on site for more than 31 days or there are more than 5 builders on site you must both comply with the Construction Design Management Regulations.

Check out the City Fire Training website for fire marshal course london, fire warden courses London, fire extinguisher training London, fire risk assessments London training and much more.

Advice to occupants of High Rise Flats and Apartments

Your building has been specially designed to resist fire, stop the spread of smoke and provide a safe means of escape. But should there be a fire in your block you need to ensure you protect yourself and your family.

There are simple measures you can take to keep you and your family safe:

Your building has been specially designed to resist fire, stop the spread of smoke and provide a safe means of escape. But should there be a fire in your block you need to ensure you protect yourself and your family.

If the fire is IN your flat or apartment:

• Follow your escape plan: get everyone out, stay out, call the Fire Service out.
• Close your doors to contain the fire.
• Activate the fire alarm if the building has one.
• Go down the nearest stairs, DO NOT use the lift.
If there is a fire, but it is NOT IN your flat or apartment:

• Call the Fire Service; NEVER assume that someone else has already done so – you could save someone’s life.
• If there is no smoke in the hallways or stairwells, and it is safe to do so, follow your escape plan.

However, if stairs and hallways are filled with smoke: If it is TOO DANGEROUS to follow your escape plan:
• Phone the Fire Service and stay inside your home.
• Keep your door closed and put towels or bedding round the bottom of the door to block smoke.
• The Fire Service will attend very quickly to escort you to safety.

City Fire Training Ltd remond landlords and owners of flats and aprtments that a fire risk assessment must be carried out in the communal / common areas of their buildings. The fire risk assessment must be suitable and sufficent and can be checked by London Fire Brigades workplace fire safety teams. Fire Safety London and surrounding areas is our priority – make sure it is yours too!!!