Fire hazards are present in many places in commercial and industrial operations. There are usually many sources of fire hazards, especially in production and warehouses.
Preventive fire protection is therefore the be-all and end-all. This involves many recurring inspections and revisions of fire protection equipment. Fire safety inspections often involve trained personnel carrying out inspections with checklists and test protocols at regular intervals in the operating facilities.
Why a fire safety book is indispensable in day-to-day business.
Companies are only too well aware of the importance of fire safety, especially due to the legal framework. However, the actual implementation in day-to-day operations looks very different. Inspections can easily fall by the wayside and the latest employee briefings are anything but up-to-date.
The aim of fire protection is to take appropriate precautions to prevent the spread of fire and smoke. This involves keeping fire loads low, identifying potential sources of ignition and training employees in correct behavior. All of this can be recorded in fire safety books to document processes and keep track of upcoming inspections.
Which areas need to be checked regularly for fire protection?
Not only fire extinguishers play an important role in fire protection. Early fire detection, smoke extraction and escape routes, as well as the associated safety lighting, must also be regularly checked and maintained to ensure that they can be used at all times.
To ensure that employees can be evacuated from the building quickly and easily in the event of an emergency and that a fire can be extinguished as quickly as possible, the following critical facilities must be in order at all times:
- Fire department access road
- Bulkheads
- Fire & smoke protection doors
- Emergency exits & exits
- Escape routes, lighting & marking
- Fire extinguishers, risers & wall hydrants
- Extinguishing water systems, sprinkler systems, spark extinguishing systems and gas extinguishing systems
- Fire protection & alarm plan
- Storage of hazardous substances + labeling
- Fire alarm system, fire controls & fire smoke ventilation system
- Smoke and heat extraction systems
- Electrical installations
There are many other inspection points and obligations: From the spatial separation of individual buildings and rooms to fire barriers such as smoke & fire doors, all critical points must be checked in the event of a fire. The effort required for the inspection usually increases with the size of the company.
Companies should therefore have sufficient fire safety officers and fire safety assistants. As a rule of thumb, around 5% of employees should be trained as fire safety assistants.
The digital fire safety logbook as a central documentation tool.
A fire safety logbook is used by fire safety officers to professionally manage internal company inspections and to fully document all the results of regular inspections. This must be kept by the fire safety officer.
Contents of the fire protection book:
- Self-checks (when, where, by whom)
- Training and instruction (content, when)
- Official inspections (when were deficiencies identified?)
- Fire protection inspections
- Defect logs (which defects, defect categories, severity)
- Measures (what measures were taken, when and by whom was the solution found, duration)
- Leg fires (causes and measures taken to prevent them)
- Revisions (rectify defects that have occurred, check reports)
In contrast to the usual documentation with paper, pen and clipboard, digital tools offer an efficient way to speed up the process and, above all, to map it in a legally compliant manner.
Using a mobile app, the fire safety officer can quickly and easily create a digital checklist for all inspection elements. This checklist is available at any time on a smartphone or tablet and can be used during inspections. The “paperwork” of checklists and inspection logs is no longer necessary. Upcoming inspections can be given a completion date in advance and assigned to an employee. This means that safety-related checks are never forgotten again.
There are also other advantages:
- Changes only need to be made in one place, eliminating the need for laborious printing and distribution
- No media disruptions – integrated camera modes allow photos and videos to be uploaded and edited directly in the app
- Defect recording directly in the app – additional information such as severity and defect categories support efficient processing and resolution.
- Automated log generation of the fire safety inspection
- Central overview of all checklists and self-checks
- Massive time savings in the documentation and evaluation of results, as all data is evaluated at the touch of a button
In the following, we present three different application scenarios where digital tools such as mobile checklist software can provide enormous relief.
1. inspection of fire extinguishers
Mobile checklist apps also simplify the inspection and documentation of fire extinguishers: checklists for inspecting the respective fire extinguishers can be carried out easily and paperlessly on mobile devices (smartphone or tablet).
For planning purposes, all fire extinguishers in the building can be recorded individually as a test object and the corresponding checklists added. The checklist does not have to be created several times, but simply assigned. Different types of fire extinguishers are simply recorded and checked as a variant of the test object.
Tests that have been carried out are automatically saved in the system in an audit-proof manner and can be retrieved at any time. This makes it possible to check at any time during audits or safety inspections whether the fire extinguishers have been properly maintained or whether a test is still outstanding. As all tests are clearly assigned to a specific fire extinguisher, you can always be sure that all fire extinguishers have been tested.
2. inspection of fire doors
Fire doors must also be checked regularly and properly. Not a single point should be neglected, because in an emergency this could be the decisive factor in whether the door does its job or not.
However, not all fire doors are the same, which is why checklist apps offer the option of creating and easily managing multiple variants of checklists. This ensures that each door receives exactly the required inspection.
But what should you do if a fire door is actually damaged? The defect is noted in the checklist and a photo is quickly added in the app. The defect to be repaired is then assigned to the responsible employee directly in the app – done! The inspection is complete and the repair has already been delegated!
Ideally, the door manufacturer will also use the checklist software. This enables them to ensure that the manufacturer knows about the defect immediately and comprehensibly and can rectify it. Thanks to the digital documentation of defects and the additional photos, the service visit can be planned precisely and the range of spare parts can be taken along.
The digital recording of data has another advantage over test reports on paper: the test data can be evaluated. This means that manufacturers and customers can work together to develop improvements for the doors – all based on the completed checklists, which are stored digitally.
No matter how fire doors are tested – their functionality is crucial. In an emergency, this saves lives and protects your property. With digital checklists, safety inspections can be easily and seamlessly documented digitally.
3. evacuation drills
Digital tools can also help when carrying out evacuation drills in the event of a fire. The evacuation should be practiced once a year. The company building is evacuated quickly and all employees gather at the assembly point.
The fire safety assistants, who are informed in advance, usually time such exercises. This can then be entered in checklists. This means that the results of the evacuation training are immediately displayed digitally.
Defects” can also be recorded beforehand. For example, if markings are missing or a fire door is open or wedged open, this can be recorded. Or if material is placed or stored in front of an escape route, this does not comply with the safety precautions and can be recorded directly as a “defect”. This also ensures that no information is lost and that responsibilities are clarified.
Conclusion
Using digital checklists instead of paper checklists not only avoids the fire load caused by paper filing, but also makes regular checks easier. Digital tools help you to keep the checklists up to date, manage them centrally and significantly reduce the time required for documentation.
About Testify EHS
Testify EHS is the checklist software for digital occupational health and safety. With the help of ready-made, standard-compliant checklists from voluntary self-inspection as part of preventive fire protection, you have the perfect tool for regular inspections. With the functionalities tailored to your requirements, you can save considerable time during inspections and when processing defects and also have all data immediately available for retrieval. Read more at Testify EHS.
Sources: TÜV Austria / Fire protection; Company service portal / Fire protection; Safety Xperts / Evacuation drill
