Fire Safety Laws - Why Small Businesses Should Know Them

An article recently noted that in the UK nine out of 10 small businesses are ignorant of fire safety laws. While this article pertained to businesses afar, the alarming number of businesses in this report is a good reminder for Oklahoma small businesses owners to evaluate how well they know the local fire safety laws.

It’s easy to see that small business is a large part of Oklahoma. In 2011, Oklahoma’s small businesses (those with fewer than 500 employees) employed over half or 675,890 of the state’s private workforce, according to the U.S. Small Business Administration. And organizations with fewer than 100 employees have the largest share of that small business employment.

Do all of these small Oklahoma businesses have a fire safety plan in place along with scheduled fire protection system maintenance and inspections?
According to a survey of 580 businesses in the UK, 90 percent of all small business owners were not aware of their responsibility to conduct a fire-risk assessment.
“Some business owners admitted they were unaware that fire safety legislation applied to them, particularly those in smaller units who often presumed that the building owners were ultimately responsible instead,” the article noted.

Likewise in the U.S., facility managers often may not know that they are responsible for overseeing the fire protection system for the building, even if they are not the building owner. Although the owner could manage the fire protection system, it’s vital to know who is in charge, whether it is in fact the building manager’s job.

Employers also need to ensure that the Tulsa or OKC fire alarms and fire suppression system in their buildings are up-to-date and that a well-thought-out fire safety plan is in place. Employers have the responsibility to provide a safe workplace for their employees, the OSHA noted, and ensure that the workplace conditions conform to applicable OSHA standards. Regular maintenance is required for fire detection and suppression systems including Tulsa and OKC fire extinguisher inspections and fire sprinkler system inspections.

In the UK article, the representatives from the fire-risk assessment company that conducted the survey, FireUK, were disconcerted by the number of businesses that weren’t adhering to basic fire-safety procedures.

FireUK spokesperson Mark Hall said in the article, “We are shocked to the core by these figures,” “We thought we would find a few companies that fell outside the law, not whole sectors of small businesses playing Russian roulette with people’s lives.”

The OSHA provides small business employers a free and confidential on-site consultation service to help them determine whether there are hazards at their worksites and how to address these.

The Tulsa and OKC fire alarm and fire suppression system professionals at Mac Systems, Inc. can help you make sure your small business is in compliance with all fire safety codes and regularly inspect and maintain all fire sprinkler systems and fire extinguishers as well as providing dependable fire alarm monitoring for the Tulsa and OKC areas.