By Myrah Abrar, Contributor
As a restaurant owner, it is your job to ensure that the workplace is safe for everyone. Following strict hygiene rules and putting safety measures in places are a necessary part of managing a restaurant.
Fire hazard is a major concern for most restaurant owners. Therefore, owners must invest in fire safety equipment, processes, and habits. Getting smoke & fire detection systems, training staff, and getting gas safe certification are some of the ways that can keep your eatery safe from disaster.
Importance of Training Staff
Incidents of fire outbreaks have gone down over the years in the US. Statistics show that primary fires dropped down to 1,291,500 in 2019, a 3.2% decrease from 2010. There are many reasons for the trend, including the increase in the usage of smoke alarms, smart appliances, and smart fire safety equipment.
Still, fire remains a serious problem; especially in the restaurant industry where cooking with fire is a daily occurrence. This increases the possibility of a fire outbreak.
The best course of action is to put in place strong safety measures and have an emergency plan for when situations get out of hand. The most important thing, however, remains training the staff.
No amount of fire extinguishers or emergency exits will reduce the damage if the restaurant staff does not know how to use these properly. Staff should not just be educated on fire safety, but also practically taught what to do.
Training staff on safety greatly minimizes the damage caused by any kind of emergency, be it a fire outbreak or anything else.
Training Your Restaurant Staff
Here is some basic training your staff needs to get to deal with any kind of fire outbreak:
Teach Them to Use a Fire Extinguisher
Installing fire extinguishers is a legal requirement. However, many restaurant owners fail to consider that some of the staff may not know how to use them.
Show staff how to correctly use a fire extinguisher. Teach them PASS.
PASS stands for pull, aim, squeeze and sweep.
Show staff how to pull the pinout. The aim should be where the fire is the most intense and you should squeeze the lever or the button. Finally, use sweeping motions left to right while aiming at the fire.
Store Flammable Substances Carefully
Staff must be aware that flammable substances should be stored carefully. Any such substance should have clear labelling and need to be away from open flames.
Regularly Cleaning
While many restaurants pride themselves on strict hygiene rules, proper cleaning is very important. Many restaurant owners do not realize just how quickly fat, oil, and grease build-up can happen.
FOG is really bad since all three can easily catch fire or intensify a small fire. Teach staff to regularly clean the kitchen and work areas – including your bar & kitchen equipment. You must minimize FOG deposition to avoid serious problems.
Practice Emergency Drills
As already mentioned, teaching is not enough. Practicing emergency drills so staff can act properly is important.
Emergency drills may not carry the stress of the actual situations but are a good way to make sure everything is fine and that folks know what to do and where to go.
Running emergency drills also helps to identify issues with the safety system. You can detect if a smoke alarm is not working. Maybe you need more fire extinguishers and so on.
Have Proper Storage
The importance of having proper storage cannot be underestimated. Having boxes and cartons lying about can hinder the path you may need when evacuating. Emergency exits must be kept clear so evacuation is possible as soon as any danger is detected.
Create a Fire Suppression Team
Basic fire safety and training are compulsory for every staff member. This may not be enough. It is recommended that restaurant owners create a fire suppression team. This could consist of managers who, in times of emergency, can handle the situation.
They can get people to evacuate quickly and safely and use tools like fire extinguishers to get the fire under control.
Teaching Precautions
It is not enough to teach staff what to do in an event of a fire outbreak. Staff must be taught preventative measures as well.
As a restaurant owner, you want to keep the workplace safe. While dealing with a fire outbreak is a necessary part of training staff, putting in rules so the possibility is minimized is also important.
Some of these basic rules include never smoking indoors. Cleaning fat, oil, and grease also is important and so is being careful around open flames.
Additional Safety Measures
Aside from training staff, restaurant owners need to secure the building as well. Here are some additional safety measures to put in place:
Smoke alarms should be installed. These should be checked regularly to make sure they are in good working condition.
Have a suppression system in place. Suppression systems release chemicals to control and put out the fire in the case of an outbreak.
Provide staff with a suitable number of fire extinguishers. These should be easily accessible and in plain sight.
Keep the kitchens well ventilated.
Get the premises inspected by an expert regularly to detect any gas leaks.
Conclusion for Training Your Staff
Fire safety is very important no matter what profession is involved. Restaurants are especially at risk of fire outbreaks due to the amount of cooking involved.
Training staff is necessary to minimize the damage from an outbreak. An outbreak can prove very disastrous in a restaurant setting. This is due to the presence of flammable substances available close by.
Fires can spread rapidly and quickly become out of control. It is best to put in place preventative measures to minimize the possibility of a fire outbreak.
