Fire fighting training courses are so important! Every year, there are over 300 workplace related fires in South Africa – a shocking statistic that truly puts the importance of occupational health and safety aspects like attending a fire fighting course in perspective. If you are an employer or own your own premises, you have a legal requirement to ensure that your employees and property are kept safe from potential harm.
This includes assessing for and identifying any fire hazards that are present or could occur in your workplace and providing the necessary preventative measures, proper firefighting training and equipment needed to combat these hazardous situations. Fortunately, Absolute Health Services provides a range of firefighting courses and equipment to prepare yourself and your employees from such hazards and dangers.
Fire Fighting Training Courses at Absolute Health
Having employees in your company that are trained in the skill of fire fighting is not only a legal requirement but a good decision that can potentially reduce the damages a fire could cause to your premises at work, possible business downtime and loss of life to your employees your most valuable assets.
If your employees attend a fire fighting course it will ensure that your health and safety workplace is compliant with the fire fighting training legal requirements and more importantly empower your employees with the confidence to extinguish fires before they rage out of control!
Firefighting – 1 Day
The Basic Fire Fighting course is aimed at all the employees in a workplace who may be faced with a fire emergency.
Advanced Fire Fighting – 2 Days
Our Advanced Fire Fighting course has been constructed to ensure that candidates will leave the course with appropriate knowledge
1475 – SAQCC Fire Technician – 5 Days
If you are interested in becoming a qualified SAQCC Fire Equipment Servicing Technician…
Common Causes of Workplaces Fires
Fires in the workplace can start as a result of a number of different causes, so it’s important to have a thorough understanding of what the common root causes are and then to ensure that effective preventative measures are put in place and that the workplace staff are then trained in quality firefighting courses.
In most workplace settings, it’s possible for waste produced on-site to gather over time, and if left to accumulate becomes a fuel source of combustible material for a fire to start. Even simple office materials like paper and cardboard can easily catch alight if the situation presents itself. As a precautionary measure, always make sure that waste is cleared regularly from your workplace, and that large masses of paper such as archives are stored correctly and orderly and ideally rather backed up digitally where possible.
Depending on the industry you’re in, there may be flammable liquids being used that could potentially create a fire if an accidental spill occurs or if not stored correctly, were to happen. Fire hazards like these need to be prevented and accompanied by the proper storage facility and firefighting course training.
Accidents and incidents do happen in the workplace, but often the accidents are caused by employee negligence and employees not adhering to the company’s health and safety act and policy requirements. A common example is employees leaving heaters on in the workplace overnight and or smoking in the workplace. Always make sure that health and safety procedures are put in place and are enforced when employees are not adhering to the health and safety act and company policy. If you don’t a situation could lead to an outbreak of fire and serious damage to company property and loss of life!
Bad wiring and faulty electrical equipment are quite common causes of fires in the workplace. Any faulty electrical infrastructure in your workplace should be immediately reporting and fixed and an electrical compliance certificate obtained to avoid potential fire hazards. Professional electricians should always be consulted in these situations, and never allow unlicensed individuals to attend to or repair these hazards.
The smoking areas in your workplace should always be designed and allocated according to legislation and required safety measures in order to assist in preventing fires. The existence of a dedicated smoking area is also important to have for those at your workplace who smoke. Smoking signs and ashtrays need to be provided to ensure the proper extinguishing of cigarettes.
Fire Drills
- While fire and evacuation drills may seem like an inconvenience and a hassle when a fire is not actually present, it is a very important exercise and procedure that needs to be practised and in place, and all employees need to understand and practise this procedure in the event of a real fire and evacuation occurring. All companies must perform two fire and evacuation drills per year and have a record that of these fire drills were performed. It is also important for all employees to realise that firefighting equipment may not be used unnecessarily or tampered with, as these must be in good working order in case a fire starts.
- In the Occupational Health and Safety Act 38(1)(n) it states that any person who tampers with or misuses any safety equipment installed or provided to any person by an employer or user will be liable to a fine of up to R50 000.00 or to imprisonment for a period of up to 1 year or both! This includes stealing of fire equipment, using the fire hose reels to wash vehicles or floors, or general horseplay in the workplace with fire equipment.
Conclusion
Educating and training your workforce in the firefighting course should be viewed as an investment and they would be able to assist you in protecting your company assets and saving lives when a fire occurs.
Do you need assistance with your health and safety compliance? Why not make use of our speedy quote tool and get a quick and easy cost to ensure that you are compliant with the health and safety act training requirements? We will deliver the quote to your inbox today!