The importance of a fire extinguisher is far greater to your business than most people realise. Aside from the obvious risk of fire; the extinguisher is also a must have for the health and safety inspector! Did you know that the Occupational Safety & Health Administration requires that all businesses and employers must provide portable fire extinguishers in all work environments; that includes offices. Not only this, but fire extinguishers must also be located in places known to the employees. This should be part of the workplace safety training and staff should be able to demonstrate their knowledge of all relevant extinguisher locations. These locations should be within 50 feet of all employees. When your business meets these guidelines, then it will be compliant with the OSHA fire extinguisher placement requirements for businesses.

Additionally, once you have purchased your approved fire extinguishers, correctly placed them and have trained your staff on the extinguisher locations; your business must also train your employees in how to safely operate the extinguishers. To meet safety regulations, you must also make sure that an annual inspection of the extinguishers is performed and documented. The service will usually involve checking all parts including tubes, gauges, safety devices and operating mechanisms to ensure that the extinguisher is safe and in good working order at the time of service. You and your business are solely responsible for the maintenance and the testing of all fire extinguishers in the premises.

If you’re lucky, your fire extinguisher will lay dormant for many years and will have never seen any action. But how long can an unused fire extinguisher remain safe to use? The National Fire Protection Agency recommends that every five years, all Powder, Foam, Water and Wet Chemical extinguishers should be discharged tested and refilled. This will involve a trained person emptying and refilling your extinguishers. During the process, they will check that the inside of the extinguisher is in good working order and that it has not corroded at all. If you have a carbon dioxide extinguisher, ensure that every ten years, a hydraulic testing is performed where the extinguisher will be removed from site and overhauled. No matter what the extinguisher, all must be replaced every twenty years.

A fire blanket is an essential safety tool made of fire resistant materials, which should be kept in every premises. They have become a useful aid in smothering fires and for wrapping around a person when their clothes are burning. When purchasing your fire blanket, make sure that it conforms to British Standard BS EN 1869:1997 and that you follow these simple rules:

• Your blanket should be accessible and easy to get to in an emergency
• You must never store your blanket in a cupboard
• Mount your fire blanket above a cooker or heater
• The most useful place to store a fire blanket is in the kitchen

The fire blanket is effective in extinguishing a variety of fires in the home and by professional fire departments. Remember that fires cannot thrive without oxygen, so when a fire blanket is applied to a fire, it will suffocate it, inevitable extinguishing the fire.

How to Use a Fire Blanket

In the event of a fire, use your blanket over it, making sure to pull all edges down to a solid surface below the fire, preventing oxygen from reaching the fire. When using your blanket to extinguish fires on a person or their garments, make sure to wrap the individual in the fire blanket, suffocating the flames.

What is a Fire Blanket Made of?

There are two kinds of fire blankets, small and large. Small blankets are for the home and are often found in kitchens, these are made of fiberglass materials. The larger fire blankets are typically made of wool and are used to treat bigger areas combined also with the use of a flame retardant liquid.

Cost

At Office 365 you’ll find a range of fire extinguishers and small personal use fire blankets which are available with savings of over 20%! Our fire blankets are just £22.61, a small price for your safety!

How to Store a Fire Blanket

When storing small fire blankets, make sure they are kept in an easily accessible location, folded so that they are self contained and can be stored on a shelf. However larger fire blankets including those used by fire fighters are usually hung in a readily available location somewhere inside the emergency vehicle where it can be easily accessed.

How Big Are Fire Blanket

With two options to choose from, you’ll need to know how big these fire blankets are. Small blankets for the home or for personal use are typically several square feet in size. However, fire blankets used by professionals are made so that they are large enough to cover an adult who is engulfed in flames.

Guardian Fire are a company who produce fire extinguishers and fire safety products  in the UK, Europe and world-wide. Their range of European Standard EN3 fire extinguishers set new levels for design and performance and for the first time, they offer their unique design benefits to all European countries. Their comprehensive, innovative and versatile new range of fire extinguishers (available at Office 365) deliver the reliability and assurance that only stored pressure types can give. These extinguishers are compact, powerful and fully featured, plus lightweight which makes them demonstrably user-friendly. Also, worry not as independent tests have proven that Guardian Fire Extinguishers outperformed their rivals. Their extinguishers are also power-packed and give rapid knockdown, plus with controlled grip discharge, they are perfect for effective firefighting.

Every business should equip their premises with fire safety products and utensils, but remember; your business must first conduct a fire risk assessment and fit high quality fire safety equipment. If you want the highest quality fire extinguishers, make sure they have BAFE, BSi and CE approvals like our Guardian fire extinguishers.

Our fire extinguishers cover virtually any fire situation, for example, for wood, paper, material and cloth fires, we’d recommend water fire extinguishers, foam fire extinguishers or dry powder fire extinguishers. For flammable liquids such as petrol, spirits or diesel, we’d also recommend extinguishers that include foam, powder and even CO2 Fire Extinguishers. For flammable gas fires, we’d recommend use of powder extinguishers making sure of course to turn off the gas! For electrical fires, the use of C02 or powder extinguishers are recommended. Please remember fire extinguishers are not door stops, it is vital that they’re properly fixed to the wall or mounted on special fire extinguishers stands. Ideally a monthly visual inspection should be done in house and logged in an appropriate book, plus a BAFE approved extinguisher technician should perform a maintenance service to BS 5306 part 3 once a year. For every business, a fire extinguisher is not only a legal requirement but should you ever have to experience a fire, you will feel safer just knowing that there is an extinguisher to hand. Don’t make the mistake so many others do by leaving that vital purchase until after the fire. Buy one as soon as you can and get protected with the knowledge that ours are made by Guardian, a trusted fire specialist.

Unlike the obsolescent disposable aerosol types, Guardian extinguishers are environmentally friendly, recyclable and refillable. With maximum intrinsic strength of high tensile steel body and brass valves, these extinguishers prove minimum achievable weight. Examples of available extinguishers are the BC Powder, ABC Powder and AFFF (foam), satisfying the most demanding requirements of Original Equipment Manufacturers and National Transport Regulations. They provide optimum performance, for example the 800 gm model has a certified 21B fire rating which is that required by European Standard EN3 for a 1 Kg model.

All Guardian extinguishers have achieved and often surpass the EN3 performance standards, all of which are certified. These high quality products are precision manufactured under an uncompromising ISO 9002 Quality System and are type tested and certified to European Standard EN3 and British Standard BS 5423 by an EC Verification Body. They also comply with the requirements of the Pressure Equipment Regulations and are CE marked. Guardian fire extinguishers are state of the art products and are advanced in design, of excellent quality and achieve the highest assured certified performance.