How to Protect Your Business from a Fire

Protecting your business from a fire takes careful planning. But, you aren’t just counting on yourself to keep your business safe. You’re also counting on others. Whether it’s your customers, employees or other businesses in the building, the risk of fire can come from a number of sources.

Fortunately, there are some simple steps you can take to protect your investment and reduce the risk of a devastating fire. Let’s take a look.

Start With the Four Walls of Your Business

Clutter makes a potential fire even more difficult to put out. Go through old papers and files and discard what you can. If you have a lot of sensitive documents, hire a paper shredding company.

Now is also a good time to have an electrical inspection done. Make sure your building is up to code, and if it’s not, fix the issues immediately.

Install Reliable Smoke Detectors  

Your business should have the best fire protection possible, which in this case is a hard-wired fire detection system that is monitored by a business security company. This way, if there was ever a fire, emergency crews would be notified immediately.

Aside from having reliable smoke detectors, also check for how loud the alarm is. The alarm needs to be loud enough that it would alert customers and employees to evacuate the building.

Have Fire Suppression Methods Available

Add fire extinguishers to the appropriate places in your business, such as on the walls or in hiding spots. Your staff should be trained on how to use the equipment. Many businesses have fire extinguishers, but they are useless if their employees don’t know where they are or how to operate them.

Keep Sensitive Documents in Safe Places

Fires can happen to any business, which is why it’s important to safeguard important documents. Keep hard copy documents in fire-safe cabinets. Backup computer files regularly and store the files in a fire-safe cabinet or off site.

Educate Your Staff

We discussed the importance of training your staff to know how to use fire extinguishers. Staff should also be trained on how to turn on the business monitoring system each night before they leave. If anything were to go wrong overnight, the alarm will notify the right people.

It can also be beneficial to have your staff participate in fire safety seminars. Some of the things discussed in these seminars include how to use fire extinguishers, the safest exit routes and ways to reduce fire hazards at the workplace.

Fires can come out of nowhere. It doesn’t take much to safeguard your business and reduce the threat of fire. For maximum protection, install a fire alarm that is hard wired into your business security system.

Texas Security and Surveillance offers security solutions for all types of businesses. Call us today to learn about the different business alarm system packages we have available and how we keep our customers in good hands.