What is Fire Safety Training?
There are typically two reasons why we take professional training courses: to learn how to deal with a situation that is new to us, or to learn how to prevent a situation from happening.
Fire safety training covers elements of both of these things. After all, nobody wants a fire to break out in their workplace, but everyone needs to know exactly what to do in the event of an emergency.
For this reason, it’s essential that everyone in your workplace has at least a basic level of fire safety training (achieved by completing a course such as our online Fire Safety Training), with larger teams needing to appoint a fire warden or fire marshal who will take a lead responsibility for fire safety in your workplace (after completing a course such as our online Fire Warden/Marshal Training).
What is fire safety training?
So, now we’re all clear on our responsibility to complete fire safety training. But what exactly is a fire safety training course? Surely, we all have enough common sense already to know how to stop a fire from breaking out, and we all know to run away from fire in the event of an emergency… Right?
Well, actually, there’s quite a lot of important life-saving information you can learn from a fire safety training course that probably didn’t cross your mind before. The simplest of mistakes can lead to the most serious of consequences in a real-life emergency, which is why it’s essential for you to understand the theory behind fire safety and have a practical knowledge of how to get yourself and your colleagues safely out of a life-threatening situation with as little damage as possible.
Below are just some of the essential topics a fire safety training course will cover:
The different types of fire
All fire is big, orange, scary-looking, and can be put out by using the extinguisher in your office corridor, right?
Actually, wrong. There are different types of fire, with different causes and colours, and attempting to put a fire out with the wrong extinguisher could actually result in you losing your life.
A good fire safety training course will teach you the different types of fire, including electrical fires, fires caused by oils and fats, fires caused by flammable liquids, and many more. A fire safety training course will also teach you the different means of combustion for each of these fires, and why different extinguishers must be used to safely put each fire out.
The different types of fire extinguisher
Following on from your knowledge of the different types of fire, a good fire safety training course will teach you the different types of fire extinguisher and how to choose which one to use in the event of an emergency.
You might have already noticed that many buildings have multiple fire extinguishers, often hanging all together and looking slightly different. The coloured labels on a fire extinguisher coordinate with their type and what they are used for.
A good example of this is that not all fire extinguishers contain water, as many people tend to believe. Other extinguishing substances, such as powder and foam, are used to put out a fire, but it’s important to know that you can actually make a fire worse or risk your life if you try to extinguish a fire with the wrong type of extinguisher.
Understanding what a fire actually is
The best way to know how to deal with a fire is to understand exactly what a fire is. Yes, we all know fires can be scary, destructive, and dangerous, but could you honestly explain how a fire starts and what chemical processes happen in order to extinguish a flame?
A good fire safety training course such as our online Fire Safety Training or Fire Warden/Marshal Training will teach you to “know your enemy” and will give you a deeper understanding of how fires begin, how they continue to burn, and how you can fully (and safely) extinguish a fire.
This is important stuff to know if you ever find yourself in a burning building, because this depth of knowledge will help you to understand exactly how fires spread, and how they can so easily and quickly transform from a tiny ember, to an easily controlled fire, to a deadly blaze.
The fire triangle
If you haven’t heard of the fire triangle before, a good fire safety training course will teach you exactly what it is and how you can break it.
The fire triangle is made up of the three elements that start a fire. In order to fully extinguish a fire, one of these elements needs to be taken away. Fire safety training will teach you the three different elements and how to safely break the fire triangle to put out a flame and reduce the risk to life in an emergency.
Risk assessments and the law surrounding fire safety
Every business owner in the United Kingdom has a responsibility to provide fire safety training if they have more than one employee. This is just one step in the fire safety process, however, as almost every business will be required to complete fire risk assessments, install the appropriate fire safety equipment, and appoint at least one member of staff to take lead responsibility for fire safety on the property.
A good fire training course will teach you about fire risk assessments and how to create one that is unique to your business. You will also learn about the laws surrounding fire safety and how they relate to you, as well as the role all of this plays in relation to keeping you, your staff, and customers safe at work.
Want more information about fire safety training?
Give our friendly customer support team a call on 01327 552160 if you’d like more information about fire safety training, or to receive a tailor-made quote for your team. Alternatively, you can use the live chat feature available on this website to chat to us, or drop us an email at hello@smarthorizons.co.uk today.