Those easily forgotten Christmas fire safety tips

It's so easy to overlook that, as your employees start to get excited about the upcoming festive period and everyone rushes to get assignments done by those final pre-holiday deadlines, the highest standards of fire safety continue to apply in your organisation. That naturally means doing everything possible to maintain fire alarms and other vital equipment, as can be purchased from Triple Star Fire (http://www.triplestarfire.com), but it also means taking note of the aspects of fire safety that are slightly different at this time of year.

Generally speaking, Christmas wouldn't increase the fire safety risk in your workplace if it wasn't for the many electrical decorations and lights that tend to be increasingly strewn around the office as December looms. Basic steps that you are advised to take therefore include reviewing your firm's fire risk assessment, identifying the additional hazards and calculating the risks, as well as identifying who is at risk - with the elderly, young and disabled a particular priority. A hierarchy of control should also be used to identify the necessary control measures, and significant findings should finally be recorded and instruction given to workers.

Good general fire safety advice for this time of year includes ensuring that fire exit signs, call points, emergency lights, fire alarm sounders and other fire safety equipment is not concealed or obscured, as well as introducing any additional directional or exit notices that you deem to be necessary. Nor should fire escape doors or routes ever be obstructed or made harder to use by any Christmas trees, decorations or lights.

We'd also advise you to carefully consider the exact decorations that you introduce to your workplace. The extremely flammable nature of paper trimmings and cotton wool, for example, should certainly rule them out as an option, and you might look for a supplier of fire retardant foil decorations and fire resistant paper decorations. You should also space out your decorations so that in the event of a fire, it does not spread easily from one decoration to another, and nor should your decorations be placed in close proximity to ignition sources.

Some businesses opt for artificial Christmas trees to reduce their fire risk, not least as a real one can be highly flammable if it is allowed to dry out as a result of inadequate watering by busy workers. The tree should also be placed in a sufficiently stable container that it cannot be easily knocked over. Be wary of using lighted candles anywhere near your Christmas tree, and ensure that any lighting and electrical decorations that you use have been tested prior to use by a competent person, in addition to meeting the relevant British Safety Standard.

There is so much more advice in relation to Christmas fire safety that we can give you here at Triple Star Fire (http://www.triplestarfire.com) - not least, the importance of not only investing in the right fire alarm installations, but also all of the associated fire equipment maintenance.

Editor’s Note: Triple Star Fire (http://www.triplestarfire.com) are represented by the search engine advertising and digital marketing specialists Jumping Spider Media. Email: info@jumpingspidermedia.co.uk or call: +44 (0)20 3070 1959 / +34 952 783 637.