UK employers are potentially putting their employees’ lives at risk by cutting back on fire safety in the current economic climate, according to a survey commissioned by the Fire Industry Association (FIA).
Almost a fifth of bosses said they had revised fire safety measures, such as delaying maintenance checks of fire safety equipment, reducing staff training or delaying updating their fire risk assessments. This is despite the fact that 20% of them saying they have had a fire in their premises.
Some 16% admit to not having an up to date fire risk assessment and a quarter don’t even know who does their fire risk assessment.
The survey also found that a third of staff don’t know what to do in the event of a fire. Over half of staff surveyed don’t know how to use a fire extinguisher or fire alarm, while a quarter of workers don’t know where their nearest fire exit is and a third don’t know where their fire assembly point is.
Graham Ellicott, CEO of the Fire Industry Association, said:
“The figures are very worrying; 82% of employees would like more training on fire safety and 14% don’t believe their company has any fire protection. We would like to remind all businesses across the country to review their fire risk assessments, making sure they are up to date, and to continue the maintenance schedule for all their fire safety equipment.”
According to the FIA, the poorest performing sectors in terms of fire safety are arts and culture and travel and transport.
Earlier this month, the FIA published a best practice guide to fire safety in commercial premises.
The FIA workplace fire safety survey was carried out online by Opinion Matters between 21 February and 3 March 2011 among 518 decision makers and 512 employees.
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