Opening a New Business? Are Your Essential Safety Measures in Place?
Before anybody can open a commercial property, trade with others and invite people into the structure, they must make sure that it is as safe as possible. To do this, they have to install essential safety measures, and these must be checked on an annual basis. If this is your first time, what do you need to know about these obligations so that you can install everything carefully and be compliant?
Understanding the Obligation
Various regulations are in place that state exactly what these measures are. You can find a list of the regulations on your state's government website, and it is well worth familiarising yourself with the content before going much further.
Duty of Care
You will find that you have a duty of care to people in or around the building and have to install certain items of equipment just in case. For example, you may have to put an automatic fire sprinkler system alongside handheld or portable extinguishers. You may have to introduce an automated fire detection system and make sure that you connect it to an alarm. You may also need to add piping and hook this up to a fire department pump set so that personnel can tackle any outbreak, no matter where it is.
You've also got to make sure that people can evacuate as quickly and efficiently as possible. To do this, you may have to add fire-resistant doors, and you should also mark the location of fire doors and have emergency lighting that can point the way.
Extra Requirements
You may face additional requirements based on the category of building and, crucially, what you intend to do with it. If you provide overnight accommodations, then you need to ensure that your safety measures are even more stringent.
Protecting Your Investment
Remember, you not only have a duty of care to employees and visitors but should think about the value of your asset as well. After all, you will want to do as much as you can to reduce the risk associated with fire and keep the damage as low as possible. Furthermore, you will want others to see that you comply as well if you're going to get the right level of coverage from your insurance company.
Implementing the Plan
To make sure that you install the right safety measures, talk with installation experts and contractors who specialise in this field. They will also help you to perform your annual inspection and register the details with the local authority.