Three Reasons to Have the Fire Extinguishers in Your Business Premises Serviced on a Regular Basis
If you own a business, it's essential to have the fire extinguishers that are present on your premises serviced at least once a year. Read on to find out why.
To ensure your business is compliant with the relevant health and safety laws
Regardless of what industry you happen to be in, you will need to take steps to ensure that your business premises and operations comply with the relevant health and safety laws.
If, during an inspection by a health and safety officer, the fire extinguishers in your building are found to be damaged in some way, there could be serious professional and financial repercussions; you may receive an official warning as well as a large fine.
If word gets out about your failure to comply with these laws, your professional reputation could also be negatively affected, potentially to the point where your enterprise's profitability is reduced.
You can spare yourself this stress and expense simply having your fire extinguishers serviced on an annual basis.
To protect your employees
The presence of a functional fire extinguisher in a room where a fire breaks out could help to save the lives of the employees working in that area by allowing them to quickly and easily quench the flames before they can cause injury.
Conversely, if a fire breaks out in an area of your building where the fire extinguishers are broken, the flames and the smoke could cause serious injury to nearby individuals in a matter of minutes.
Having your fire extinguishers serviced by a specialist at least once each year will drastically reduce the chances of your employees sustaining burns in the event of a fire, as during a servicing, the fire extinguishers will be thoroughly checked for faults, and any damage will be immediately repaired.
To protect your premises
If the condition of one or more of the fire extinguishers in your building has deteriorated to the point where they are no longer usable, you could be putting your building at risk of severe fire damage.
Without a working fire extinguisher, a seemingly small fire could spread rapidly throughout your premises, causing significant damage that could cost thousands to repair.
It should also be noted that if you are found to have failed to keep your fire extinguishers in good working order, your insurance might not cover these costs, and as such, you could be forced to pay for the repairs out of pocket. If you cannot afford to do this, your business could go under.
Given this, you should view the cost of having your building's fire extinguishers serviced as an investment that will protect your building (and by extension, your business). If you'd like to learn more, you can find out here .