Summer Fire Safety: Preventing Fires In Commercial And Residential Settings

While everybody enjoys the warm summer months, they do change our behaviour quite significantly. We become more accustomed to spending time outdoors and using cooling equipment and as a result, we may neglect certain practices we would normally be vigilant over. At the same time, the environmental conditions presented by hot weather also provide a different type of fire risk.

A commercial building should already have various preventive and proactive measures in place to manage fire safety, and in a residential setting many of these also apply. But the summer months still require these measures to be tweaked in order to be fully effective and to be adaptable to the changing conditions. The following are the areas where summer fire safety measures are required, and which, in the main, apply to both commercial and residential settings:

Electrical safety

Inspection – You should continue to regularly inspect all electrical installations and appliances as normal, but electrical safety should pay particular attention to HVAC equipment and air conditioning systems which will be overused at this time, and may start to overheat. It would also be sensible to schedule periodical maintenance of an air conditioning system for the months leading up to the summer.

Overloading – It can be tempting to overload sockets and extension leads at this time with portable fans and air conditioning systems, but you should be careful not to exceed the safe voltage capabilities of the sockets, as this can lead to sparks and overheating.

Ventilation – Ensure all appliances have sufficient ventilation around them to prevent overheating.

Unplug – It would be vigilant to unplug all appliances not in use in case of overheating.

External housekeeping

Disposal – Be careful regarding the disposal of flammable materials and be mindful of how the heat and changing environmental conditions could affect them, i.e. there is more risk of an ignition source being present.

Rubbish – Prevent rubbish piling up outside and becoming a fire hazard.

Storage – Be careful when storing flammable materials externally, including liquids and gases. Always ensure they have suitable ventilation.

Smoking areas – Warn smokers of the dangers of smoking and disposing of cigarettes in hot weather, and increase the frequency of cleaning out cigarette bins. You should also ensure smokers stick to designated areas of the site.

Cooking – External cooking on grills and barbecues should be away from buildings, should only be carried out by nominated/authorised people and should not be left unattended.

Outside heating – Similar guidelines should apply to the use of firepits and chimineas, they should be only used in designated areas and should not be left unattended.

Fire safety equipment

Test – Inspect and test all fire equipment, including extinguishers and sprinkler systems.

Drills – Carry out more frequent fire alarm drills.

Maintenance – Have the fire alarm system serviced and maintained prior to the summer months.

Emergency procedures – Ensure your emergency procedures are up-to-speed and all escape routes are clear and available.

Security

Access control and ventilation – There is a natural tendency for people to leave doors and windows open during the summer, but this does cause a potential security risk, particularly for commercial businesses and residential complexes that operate over a 24-hour period. These types of buildings are open to vandals and arsonists if access is made easier out of hours, so there should be controls in place to only open and close doors and windows during certain times of day during the summer months, to prevent the threat of intruders and minimise the risk of fire.

Waking watch – It is good fire safety management to implement a waking watch system, whereby a nominated security professional carries out a regular site patrol and inspection to guard against the risk of fire, during hot weather periods.

Fire safety controls with Apardion

Apardion are your go-to solution for additional fire safety controls during the summer months. We can assist with electrical safety testing and inspection, fire alarm system service and maintenance and waking watch services, which all combine to ensure you have the extra risks presented by summer weather under control. So contact our team at Apardion today.