In the most recent issue of “Firewatch!“, a fire suppression industry magazine, two important points were brought up in articles. The first being that you should always hire a reputable company to handle your fire protection needs. A Norfolk, VA business owner was arrested this past summer for improper work on suppression systems and extinguishers, including changing labels without actually testing.
While choosing a trustworthy fire protection company is important, it is also the responsibility of the business to comply with local and national fire codes. Numerous businesses have been cited and fined this summer and fall for fire extinguisher compliance issues. Fortunately for both businesses and customers most of these issues were discovered by inspectors before a fire occurred. Even still, the fines ranged from $49,210 to $1.9 million for extinguisher violations including blocked or unmounted fire extinguishers and failure to inspect monthly. Surprisingly, the most common violation was for a lack of employee fire extinguisher training. Always remember that having protection available won’t do much good if you or your employees don’t know how to use it.
Schedule fire extinguisher training before it is too late by calling Lisa Malone at 410-247-1422 ext. 226