Fire Prevention Week 2019

Anyone that has taken a training class with me discovers my secret love of superheroes.  There is just something about them that makes life fun.  They show up in all sorts of places during training.  From signatures on shipping documents to addresses on packages, it is just a little something to make training a little less boring.  I bring this up because the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) has designated the week of October 6^th-12^th as Fire Prevention Week.  This year’s theme is – Not every hero wears a cape.  Plan and Practice Your Escape.

According to the NFPA website, some home fires can limit a family to only one or two minutes of time to get out and reach safety.  Let that sink in for just a little bit. Two minutes is not a lot of time to make life saving decisions.  This is why the goal of this year’s week is to have people make their own home escape plans AND to practice them. 

There are tons of resources on the NFPA site to help you.  Simply go to  https://www.nfpa.org/Public-Education/Staying-safe/Preparedness/Fire-Prevention-Week to see all of the options.  There are videos, activities for children, games and safety tip sheets. Many of these are free to download and use. In an effort to learn more about this year’s theme, I downloaded the Escape Planning Tips sheet on the website.  A summary of what is on there is shown here.

Tips for Escape Planning:

• Make a home escape plan. 
• Know 2 ways out of every room.
• Have an outside meeting place.
• Practice your home fire drill at least twice a year.
• Practice using different ways out of the home.
• Teach children how to escape on their own.
• Close doors behind you as you leave.
• If the alarm sounds, get out and stay out.
• If there is smoke, get low to the floor and get out.
• Call the fire department from outside the home.

After reading it, I began to think about the fact that my office is just a space in the basement of our house.  It never occurred to me to think about how I would escape if a fire starts upstairs. How would I get out?  What about my animals?  Are the windows large enough for me to fit through?  Where is the smoke detector?  This list has certainly given me some things to ponder and change.  I see an Escape Plan in my future.

As to how this week could be used by your facility, have discussions about how fire prevention and response.  Where is this information found?  When was the last time a fire drill was held at your facility?  Who is on the response team?  When was the system last inspected?  Often times it is part of a site’s safety and security plan that has this information.  Also, some locations are required to have an “official” security plan as a result of 172.800 in Title 49 of the Code of Federal Regulations because of certain hazardous materials.  This security plan is supposed to be reviewed yearly. Has your plan been reviewed?

ICC Compliance Center is here to help.  Safety is just as important to us as the other services we offer.  We can work with you to develop custom signs for hallways, doors and fences.  We have the ability to take a safety data sheet and develop workplace labeling that meets the OSHA HazCom2012 and WHMIS2015 requirements.  ICC Compliance Center also has a selection of spill kits available along with salvage drums that could be needed for cleanup.  Give us a call today.  By being proactive now, you too could be seen as a hero.