Everyone knows fires are dangerous, but have you ever realized the threat they pose to your business? Research from the National Fire Protection Association shows that in 2014, there were 1.298 million fires that caused 3,275 deaths, 15,775 injuries, and $11.6 billion in property damages.
In 2010, there 98,000 fires that directly impacted commercial or municipal buildings. Of the over $11.6 billion in property damage that fires did that year, more than $2.6 billion was done these non-residential structures.
Fortunately, there are steps you can take to protect your business. Here’s what you need to know.
- Have commercial fire protection services inspect your offices and business spaces. It’s one of the easiest and most simple things you can do to reduce the risk a fire poses to your business. They’ll be able to tell you what works, what doesn’t work, and what you can do to further protect your business, while ensuring that you’re within compliance of fire codes and regulations.
- Install smoke detectors and fire extinguishers where ever necessary. Research shows that these tools protect and save lives. One study found that fire extinguishers were able to put out about 80% of all fires. Another study found that the death rate per 100 reported fires was more than twice as high in homes that didn’t have any working smoke alarms.
- Outfit your business with automatic fire sprinkler systems. One study found that sprinklers operated in 91% of all reported structure fires large enough to activate sprinklers. When sprinklers operated, they were effective 96% of the time, effectively putting out 87% of all reported fires where sprinklers were present.
These are just some of the steps you can take to ensure that fires pose little to no threat to your business. Of course, there is one last thing you must do — keep it up. Once your smoke alarms, fire extinguishers, and fire sprinklers have been installed, they need to be maintained. If they’re not, they won’t work. Fortunately, that’s why it pays to have commercial fire inspection services inspect your business. They’ll be able to tell what needs to be done.
If you have any questions about protecting your business, feel free to share in the comments.
