Graham's Green Energy Blog

Why You Should Introduce a Fire Warden for Your Business

30 August 2019 by Robert Watson

Fire is an ever-present danger and is something that every business owner has to take very seriously. If you run a facility of some kind where you employ staff or welcome visitors for commercial reasons, then you have a duty of responsibility to those people and must implement measures to ensure that you are ready for anything. As part of your plan you may decide to appoint a fire warden, but why is this such a good idea and what is involved?

Fire Plan

As you may know, rules are laid down under the appropriate Australian standards that require organisations to be prepared in the event of a fire. As part of this plan, you should think about introducing a fire warden who is a person who is specifically responsible for managing the risk and acting in the unfortunate event that a fire starts.

Warden Responsibilities

• When you introduce a fire warden, they will be responsible for assessing the scale of any potential problem, while crafting and implementing an emergency plan for your workplace.
• This will be an ongoing process and, from time to time, they may need to modify the plan if there are any building improvements or should the size or scale of the building be changed in any way.
• Once you have an emergency plan in place and have introduced risk control measures, the fire warden should then monitor these measures, to ensure that they are always in good working order and compliant.
• They will also be able to educate others in the building to teach them how to respond in the event of an emergency and to be on the lookout for the risk of fire at all times.
• Part of this procedure will involve regular fire drills and active evacuations so that everybody is familiar with the emergency exits and escape routes.
• Should a fire break out, then the fire warden will be in charge of accounting for everybody and providing assistance to anyone who should need it during an evacuation.

Benefits of Training

This can be quite a challenging job and carries with it a great deal of responsibility. While there is no specific requirement that a fire warden is professionally trained, it is nevertheless a good idea for an employer to do so. This will help to ensure that they are on the top of the game and aware of all their duties, even though they may never be called upon in a true emergency.

For information on fire warden training, visit a website like https://www.fireprotectionservices.com.au/.