Nearly half of hospitality workers (45%) would not know what to do in the event of a fire at work according to new research commissioned by health and safety training provider Phoenix Health & Safety.
The study, which surveyed 1,500 participants UK-wide also found that almost the same amount (44%) of hospitality staff would not be able to find their fire safety assembly point, and only 8% have had a fire safety drill in their workplace in the past year. As well as this, only around one in six (17%) would be able to state who the fire officers in their workplace are.
Nick Higginson, CEO of Phoenix Health & Safety, shares; “For fire safety to be most effective in a workplace, it’s key that individuals at every level of the organisation understand the procedures in full.
“Without a well-rehearsed fire safety procedure, there can be delays to taking appropriate and immediate action, so it’s essential that businesses ensure their staff are fully aware of every aspect of the process.”
On top of this, only 7% of hospitality workers stated that they would know which fire extinguisher they could use to put out fires on different types of materials. To test fire extinguisher knowledge, respondents were given two scenarios to test their understanding of fire extinguisher types and their differences.
In the first scenario, respondents were asked to identify which fire extinguisher was not safe to use to put out a fire caused by combustible materials such as paper and wood. A large majority of respondents answered incorrectly, with almost three quarters (73%) unable to identify that the black CO2 extinguisher is not safe to use.
For the second scenario, respondents were tested on which fire extinguisher would be safe to use to put out a fire caused by an electrical fault. Once again, most respondents answered this incorrectly, with over three-quarters (78%) of respondents failing to identify that ‘black, blue or green’ extinguishers should be used.
Nick says, “Understanding which fire extinguisher to use in the event of a fire could be the difference between the fire being dealt with quickly and safely, or a full-scale emergency.
“In most workplaces, the fire extinguishers available should have signage that shows the extinguisher type and what sort of fire it can be used on. Whilst you may want to react quickly, taking a few seconds longer to identify the correct fire extinguisher could potentially be life-saving.”
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