Fire Safety in Restaurants
Due to the nature of the business, restaurants are more susceptible to fire and can find it more difficult to recover from, meaning that 80% either never re-open or close within 18 months of a major fire. This makes being aware of the causes, and how to prevent and manage fire effectively, essential when running a restaurant business.
Fire Safety in Restaurants
Due to the nature of the business, restaurants are more susceptible to fire and can find it more difficult to recover from, meaning that 80% either never re-open or close within 18 months of a major fire. This makes being aware of the causes, and how to prevent and manage fire effectively, essential when running a restaurant business.
The three main causes of restaurant fires are kitchen appliances, cooker and electrical. However, a lack of proper staff training on what to do in afire and the use of fire fighting equipment also appears to be a contributing factor.
Common fire risks in restaurants are:
- Ducting Maintenance – not cleaning ducting regularly increases fire risk.
- Fire-Safe Separation – Without the proper fire safety equipment, fires can easily pass through buildings causing secondary blazes.
- Electrical Fires – Testing portable appliances e.g. kitchen blenders, is vital, they can cause fires if faulty.
- Electrical Lighting – Any electrical lighting too close to flammable material increases the risk of fire.
- Cooking Techniques – Overheating oils or deep fat fryers used improperly make you more susceptible to fire.
- Tumble Dryers – without regular checking for left-behind clothes or lint, they can overheat and increase fire risk dramatically.
- Outdoor areas – Patio heaters and gas supply needs to be handled by someone properly trained to do so.
- Storage and rubbish – Not properly disposing of rubbish and obstructing emergency exits increases hazard of arson or accidental fires
- Gaps and holes – Damage to staircases or doors allows smoke to enter the premises and stops safe evacuation.
Creating a training programme and a checklist for staff to ensure that all these factors are addressed regularly goes a long way to helping prevent fire in a kitchen or restaurant environment.
Fire Risk Assessments, (FRAs), and fire emergency plans are also key to preventing and minimising the risk of fire to life and premises. An FRA is your legal obligation as an employer, owner or occupier of commercial premises and a written record should be maintained for premises of five or more people.
An FRA should:
- Identify the fire hazards.
- Identify the people at risk.
- Evaluate, remove or reduce the hazards.
- Record the assessment, prepare an emergency plan and provide necessary training.
- Review and update the FRA frequently, particularly with any significant changes to the business.
Although for small businesses it’s possible for the business owner to carry out the FRA themselves, larger businesses must have someone suitably trained to carry it out in order that they can make the right judgements about risks and how to reduce them.
As an employer, owner or occupier of business premises, you also have a legal obligation to make a detailed fire emergency plan which should include:
- A suitable fire detection system.
- A process for identifying false alarms.
- A clear understanding of who calls 999.
- All escape routes must be unobstructed, planned out and clearly marked.
- Emergency doors that open easily and emergency lighting if required.
- Employee training so they know escape routes and a safe meeting point.
- Always consider people who can’t escape quickly in a fire like wheelchair users.
Your emergency plan should be tested regularly.
The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 (FSO), the law which restaurants must comply with, states that your premises must reach the required standard and all employees should be provided with adequate fire safety training.
Adequate fire safety training includes but is not limited to:
- General fire awareness induction.
- Periodic refresher or extra training where the risk level increases because of business changes.
- Training to support employees meeting their fire safety duties.
- Skill-building such as the use of fire extinguishers.
Remember I can help you with both your Fire Risk Assessment and fire emergency plan as well as addressing any queries or concerns you may have in this area, so please do get in touch.