Forum For Business July, 2015 | Page 9

The state of Florida has adopted many of the NFPA (National Fire Protection Association) publications as law. Some of these laws include, standard protocol for portable fire extinguishers (NFPA 10), standard on carbon dioxide extinguishing systems (NFPA 12), and standards for ventilation control and fire protection of commercial cooking operations (NFPA 96). These regulations are monitored for your safety and can ensure the safety of others. If you have troubles with any of the following information a local fire and safety inspector will gladly take a look. For example, if you own a restaurant, do not change out any appliances in your cooking line before consulting the fire safety company that maintains and inspects your fire suppression system. To learn more about how to properly use a fire extinguisher, watch the video below or ask your fire and safety company to show you personally. SPRINKLER SYSTEM Sprinklers are still rare in the places people are exposed to a fire. The fire sprinkler standards developed by NFPA created best practices for how to protect private residences from fires. When fire sprinklers operate, they are effective in extinguishing a fire 96% of the time. FIRE EXTINGUISHER To check your fire extinguisher look to see if the pressure gauge is reading property. To do this, check the gauge's needle to see that it indicates the pressure is in the proper operating range. Most of the time, the correct pressure will be marked in green on the gauge. Your fire extinguisher should have a tag to record the annual professional inspections. Check this tag to be certain that an annual schedule is being A Fire inspection can help you maintained. keep your insurance rates in check. Many insurance companies are now sending their own inspectors to perform these safety inspections prior to renewing insurance policies. Some might not renew the policy until the deficiencies have been corrected. SMOKE ALARM It is best to use interconnected smoke alarms. When one smoke alarm sounds they all sound. Test all smoke alarms at least once a month. Press the test button to be sure the alarm is working. Replace all smoke alarms when they are 10 years old. FORUM FOR BUSINESS | 9 ((0