fire

Any workplace must take special care when it comes to fire safety, since fire is one of the major safety hazards in metal fabrication and can be especially devastating. While accidents involving fire have occurred in utility, defence, agriculture, and mining environments, the most damaging fires have tended to take place in structures, and most of those structure fires occurred specifically in manufacturing properties. However, through the proper use of the right tools, technology, and training, manufacturing and industrial fires can be prevented. This blog will look to delve into fire prevention techniques in greater detail.

Industrial Fire Protection System

A manufacturing facility’s first defence against any fire is its fire protection system. From fire detection to suppression, a building has an entire system that is designed to protect the facility from fire. While it is always important to prevent fires in manufacturing facilities first, it is also essential that in the event of a fire, plant employees know how to respond safely. Every manufacturing and industrial facility should create a comprehensive fire evacuation plan. This plan should clearly detail how to leave the building safely in a fire. Once complete, the evacuation plan should be clearly communicated to all employees. The evacuation plan maps should be displayed on walls throughout the facility, so that employees always know how to exit safely in the event of a fire.

Special Hazard Fire Systems

Large vehicles and heavy machinery are one of the top causes of manufacturing and industrial fires in the US. Many of these fires can be prevented with the implementation of special hazard fire protection systems. These fire systems are uniquely designed to protect high-value and high-risk equipment which use sheet metal fabrication techniques and include large agricultural vehicles, CNC machines, cutters, grinders, lathes etc. Because these machines often work in or create high-temperature environments, and because they make use of highly flammable oil-based lubricants and coolants, fires can start easily and quickly expand throughout the facility. For this reason, should manufacturing and industrial companies implement special hazard fire detection and suppression systems that can help minimize fire-related damage related to heat induction bending services. Capable of detecting and stopping a machine fire in seconds, these special hazard solutions can help protect expensive machinery, while also preventing fires from spreading throughout the plant.

Fire Prevention Training

Fire safety training works to educate manufacturing facility employees of the fire hazards present in the workplace, and how best to avoid them. From hot work training to lockout tagout, there are several fire safety training courses that can help give plant employees the tools they need to stay safe at work and prevent fires. When it comes to fire response training, employees should understand the details of the evacuation plan, however they should also have hands-on fire extinguisher training. Many heavy steel fabrication companies are required to provide hands-on fire extinguisher training at least annually. That is because trained fire extinguisher operators are shown to use a fire extinguisher with four times more accuracy and capacity than a novice operator.

Final Word

Fire safety is essential to the productive, efficient operation of a manufacturing facility. Because industrial and manufacturing facilities work round the clock in such high-risk environments, it is important to make sure that plant machinery, products, and people are as protected to the maximum. Additionally, there are fire safety inspection software solutions that can be used to manage an organization’s full range of fire and life safety inspections. So, manufacturers should never wait till things get on fire – literally and figuratively!