Fire drills ensure your employees get to safety quickly in the event of a fire, power outage or other disaster in your facility. From chemical spills to terrorism, your workers need to be properly prepared. Conducting regular fire drills is one of the ways to keep your most precious asset, your staff, safe.
To run a successful fire drill, follow these steps:
How often you conduct fire drills depends on local regulations and fire codes, and on the local fire hazards your industry and local environment faces. For example, in a facility with serious fire hazards, fire drills should be conducted at least four times a year. In other facilities, once or twice a year may suffice. Check with local regulations and fire codes before you plan drills.
When you first implement fire drills, run them once or twice a month. Once employees get the hang of it, you can lengthen the intervals between fire drills. If you conduct them too often, employees may become nonchalant about the process and not take a real evacuation seriously. After your workers are well-practiced, you can go to the permanent schedule you’ve developed.
It’s a fact of life that emergencies happen. When you have a fire drill procedure and a staff that can competently follow it, you can rest easy knowing that if the unthinkable occurs in your facility, everyone will be well-prepared.
