Serving the Teesside Business Community | 67
Advice - Joe Flounders,
head of Fire Engineering
at Cleveland Fire Brigade.
TOPIC
The messages businesses should know about fire prevention
I
f there’s one thing that Joe Flounders
knows about his job it is this: fire does not
discriminate.
Businesses large and small, well
established or fledgling, with multi-million-
pound turnovers or limited cash flow – it
doesn’t matter. If a blaze takes hold it has
the same end result.
And the figures make for startling reading
– 86% of businesses that have a fire do not
recover from it.
Joe leads the Fire Engineering
department at Cleveland Fire Brigade,
the protection and prevention arm of the
emergency service which provides vital
advice and guidance aimed at keeping
people safe and secure as they go about
their daily lives.
His team inspects between 1,500 and
2,000 business premises every year as well
as spending countless hours working on fire
safety regulations with all kinds of firms.
The team is also responsible for enforcing
those regulations and has the power to
prosecute businesses that do not comply
with legislation – prosecutions that can
carry fines and even custodial sentences.
It is a serious business to be in and one
that the incredibly knowledgeable team is
committed to.
All businesses must follow fire safety
regulations regardless of who they are,
what they do or the business size. It can be
quite complex, but that’s where Joe’s team
come in.
So what exactly are the need to know
essentials – and where can firms get help?
“The primary information for businesses
in relation to fire safety comes from the Fire
Safety Order of 2005, or the FSO for short,”
says Joe.
“There are a number of areas, within
that legislation – for example identifying
a ‘responsible person’ who might be the
person that owns the business or a person
who has some control over the premises. It
can be complicated.
“We are absolutely there to support
businesses. We have a risk inspection
programme, we’ll go out and visit premises
every year to advise them and make sure
they are compliant with legislation.
“We can offer one-to-one advice and we
have information to help on our website and
through our social media channels.”
“86% of businesses that have a fire do
not recover from that incident,” says Joe. “It
might not just be that they are not insured,
they lose customers, making it extremely
difficult to recover.
“Having some business continuity
arrangements in place is extremely
important. Store customer details off site,
protect your server rooms with suppression
systems, for example.”
Suppression systems, including sprinkler
systems, are something the team is trying
to drive in all types of buildings and hope
to be able to support businesses in that.
Site visit to provide advice.
Cleveland Fire Brigade have already noted a
couple of successes in getting two newly-
built schools in Hartlepool fitted with them.
There are several steps contained
within the legislation which businesses
must comply with. If they don’t, says Joe,
enforcement action can be taken.
“If people breach prohibition orders, they
do have the likelihood of being prosecuted.
Regulations are there to protect everybody,”
says Joe.
“Having said that, we have not had a
fatality in a business premises for as long as
I can remember and only one injury in the
last 10 years. That’s down to two things -
the work we do here and also undoubtedly,
the businesses themselves.”
For help, advice and guidance on fire safety regulations for
businesses, contact the Fire Engineering team on 01429 874109
or email [email protected]