Workplace Fire Safety

Workplace fires can be very costly in terms of monetary damages but more importantly in terms of human life and injury. Most workplace fire injuries and deaths can be avoided with some simple yet effective steps. The key is to provide appropriate training before a fire starts and to ensure the training in retained. Here are some basic Fire Safety Training and Emergency Action Training guides to help you stay healthy and happy.

OSHA does not require all employers to have a Fire Prevention Plan or an Emergency Action Plan but they highly recommend both. We believe it to be a smart move also. Employers should develop Emergency Action Plans that:
■ Describe the routes for workers to use and procedures to follow.
■ Account for all evacuated employees.
■ Remain available for employee review.
■ Include procedures for evacuating disabled employees.
■ Address evacuation of employees who stay behind to shut down critical plant equipment.
■ Include preferred means of alerting employees to a fire emergency.
■ Provide for an employee alarm system throughout the workplace.

■ Require an alarm system that includes voice communication or sound signals such as bells, whistles, or horns.

■ Make the evacuation signal known to employees.
■ Ensure emergency training.
■ Require employer review of the plan with new employees and with all employees whenever the plan is changed.

Fire Prevention Plans must:
■Be available for employee review.
■ Include housekeeping procedures for storage and cleanup of flammable materials and
flammable waste.
■ Address handling and packaging of flammable waste. (Recycling of flammable waste such as paper is encouraged.)
■ Cover procedures for controlling workplace ignition sources such as smoking, welding, and burning.
■ Provide for proper cleaning and maintenance of heat producing equipment such as burners, heat exchangers, boilers, ovens, stoves, and fryers and require storage of flammables away from this equipment.
■ Inform workers of the potential fire hazards of their jobs and plan procedures.
■ Require plan review with all new employees and with all employees whenever the plan
is changed.

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Personal Protective Equipment

OSHA requires the use of personal protective equipment (PPE) to reduce employee exposure to hazards when engineering and administrative controls are not feasible or effective in reducing these exposures to acceptable levels. Employers are required to determine if PPE should be used to protect their workers.

If PPE is to be used, a PPE program should be implemented. This program should address the hazards present; the selection, maintenance, and use of PPE; the training of employees; and monitoring of the program to ensure its ongoing effectiveness.

PPE is addressed in specific standards for the general industry, shipyard employment, marine terminals, and longshoring.

Earlier this year OSHA issued a Compliance Directive on Personal Protective Equipment. This instruction, Enforcement Guidance for Personal Protective Equipment in General Industry, establishes OSHA’s general enforcement and guidance policy for its standards addressing personal protective equipment (PPE). It instructs OSHA enforcement personnel on both the agency’s interpretations of those standards and the procedures for enforcing them.

Significant Changes
This instruction has been revised and updated to include the following significant changes:
*Clarifies what type of PPE employers must provide at no cost, when employers must pay for PPE, or for replacement PPE, and when employers are not required to pay for PPE.
*Clarifies the PPE payment requirements for PPE worn off the jobsite, for PPE that must remain at the jobsite, and for employee-owned PPE.
*Sets forth enforcement policies that reflect court and review commission decisions concerning PPE.
*Provides guidance that allows employers to use PPE constructed in accordance with the most recent national consensus standards.