Helping You Understand Annual Fire Safety Statements
Posted on: 14 January 2021
All commercial premises are expected to install fire safety equipment and put in place measures that prevent and control fires. These measures keep employees and any other person in the commercial safe from fire and smoke in the event of an emergency.
As a business owner, you also want to keep office equipment and documents safe from fire damage. Therefore, installing fire safety devices should not only be done because you are required to, but you will also be protecting the lives of the people in your commercial space and preventing costly fire damage.
To ensure that you follow through with installing fire safety equipment/devices and putting in place measures that prevent and control fires, the government requires an annual fire safety statement.
What Is the Annual Fire Safety Statement?
As stated earlier, you are expected to install particular fire safety devices and measures. An annual fire statement is a way for the government to ensure that you have done what is required. It highlights the fire safety devices and measures installed, their state and whether or not they are working as they should.
The annual fire safety statement must be prepared by a fire safety inspector who is registered and licensed. Make three annual fire safety statement copies; you are required to display a copy of the statement on your premises, send a second copy to your state's local council and lodge the third copy to your state's fire and rescue. This way, the government is assured that you have followed the installation of fire safety equipment requirement. Failure to do this can lead to hefty penalties or fines that can hurt your business.
Important Things to Note About Fire Safety Devices and Measures
Hire a fire safety specialist to inspect your commercial space. With their knowledge and experience, you will get effective and up-to-date recommendations on the fire safety devices to install and where to install them.
You are also educated on how to behave during a fire emergency so that everyone can be safe and no serious damage occurs to important office items. It is important to have designated people perform various activities to avoid panicking and disorderliness during a fire emergency.
Since an annual fire safety statement is required annually, this does not mean that your fire safety devices only need to be inspected annually. Let them be inspected and maintained regularly because you do not know when a fire may occur.
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