How to Enhance Fire Safety in Warehouses

• Fire risk assessments in warehouses are legally required and must outline fire prevention, containment and safe evacuation measures.
• Fire risk assessments should be reviewed every six months or after any fire incident or operational changes.
• Warehouses must have appropriate fire detection systems, clear escape routes, fire doors in critical locations and suitable firefighting equipment near potential fire hazards.

Determining how to enhance fire safety in a warehouse starts with the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 (FSO).

Under the FSO, all workplaces must have an active fire risk assessment, which documents fire hazards, who is at risk and how risks have been managed.

Fire risk assessments are the duty of the “responsible person” – the figure accountable for compliance with the FSO. In warehouses, the responsible person will be the individual with direct control over the premises, typically the employer or manager.

Each premises in a shared building must have its own responsible person and fire risk assessment.

If your business shares a building with another organisation, you must cooperate with your counterparts on fire safety and share relevant information. Common areas should be looked after by the building owner or landlord. It’s their duty to assess fire risks in shared spaces and ensure the necessary precautions are in place.

Your fire risk assessment should outline how you’ve achieved compliance with the FSO and met duties to:

• Prevent fires from starting
• Prevent fires from spreading
• Ensure everyone (workers and visitors) can evacuate safely at all times

There are five steps to conducting a fire risk assessment:

1. Identify Fire Hazards: Note anything that could start a fire.
2. Identify Who is at Risk: Note who might be harmed by a fire.
3. Evaluate, Remove and Reduce Risks: Assess the likelihood of a fire starting and its potential to cause harm, then plan how to prevent or reduce that harm.
4. Record, Plan and Train: Document your assessment findings, share them with staff or their representatives and provide relevant fire safety training.
5. Review and Update: Review the fire risk assessment to ensure all risks are accounted for and control measures are effective. Reviews should happen every six months and after any fire incident or change in work or work environment.

You must return to your fire risk assessment regularly. Fire risks aren’t static, and changes to your operations or premises can void your control measures.

Even something as simple as installing taller storage racks can increase fire risks. Taller racks give flames a route to spread vertically during a fire, meaning employees have less time to get it under control, and you’ll need to adjust your control measures accordingly.

To know how to enhance fire safety in your warehouse, go back to your fire risk assessment. If it’s up-to-date and thorough, you’ll have everything you need to manage fire risks and comply with the FSO.

If it’s not up-to-date, you should review it as soon as possible. Fire risk assessments can only be done by people with the right experience, knowledge and training – a combination of qualities referred to as “competence.”

As with everything health and safety, if you have doubts about your ability to do something, don’t chance it. Bring in a more experienced third party to carry out a fire risk assessment of your warehouse.

Fire hazards are anything that might start a fire. To prevent fires from starting, you need to identify every potential ignition source in your warehouse and plan how to manage it.

Each warehouse is different, but we’ve listed some common fire hazards below.

Faulty electrical equipment can start fires by overheating or creating sparks.

Train workers to conduct pre-use checks of all equipment and appoint someone to conduct regular portable appliance testing (PAT).

Portable or fixed heaters are an obvious fire hazard. Make sure all heaters are kept a safe distance away from flammable materials placed on level surfaces or, ideally, fixed to a wall.

Heaters brought from home must also be checked and confirmed as safe, so ensure personal devices are also put through PAT.

Forklifts powered by lithium-ion batteries can be a fire hazard. Lithium-ion batteries can overheat and ignite in a process known as “thermal runaway.” This is more likely to happen when batteries are overcharged or physically damaged.

Train workers to handle lithium-ion batteries (in all devices) safely and isolate any batteries that show warning signs such as overheating, swelling or leaking.

Industrial equipment can get hot even when working properly.

Ensure good ventilation around the equipment and keep it a safe distance from any combustible materials.

Lit cigarettes that are carelessly discarded are a notorious fire hazard.

Enforce a strict no-smoking policy indoors. Designate outdoor areas for smokers and provide suitable metal ashtrays. Ashtrays should be emptied daily, but be wary of cigarette butts; they can continue burning for several hours.

Covering smoking areas isn’t a must, but it can prevent workers from hovering around entrances when it’s raining.

Fire risk is a measure of a fire’s potential to cause harm to people or property. A good example of this would be a faulty fire door that doesn’t close properly. It won’t start a fire, but it won’t prevent one from spreading, either. So, the chance of people’s escape route being blocked by flames or smoke increases, which makes it more likely they’ll be harmed.

To enhance fire safety in your warehouse, you need to eliminate or reduce fire risks. Below are some of the most common ones.

Packaging materials are potential fuel for a fire. Depending on the nature of your business, the goods you store could also keep a fire burning.

All flammable materials need to be safely stored away from heat sources and in a way that limits fire spread (fire spreads faster vertically, so avoid stacking items where possible). It’s safest to keep materials in separate storage areas detached from the main building or built using fire-resistant materials.

Poorly maintained machinery can malfunction and overheat.

Ensure workers who use machinery are properly trained on its safe operation and can spot obvious faults. You must also arrange for regular maintenance to be carried out by a competent person.

Anything that’s not safely stored or thrown away can become a fire risk. Clutter blocks escape routes and can act as fuel during a fire incident.

Mark fire doors and escape routes so workers know to keep these locations clear. Provide suitable containers where rubbish can be stored before removal. Outdoor bins should be a safe distance from any buildings in case they catch fire.

Under the FSO, you must also ensure general fire precautions are in place and working to protect everyone on-site.

You need to provide the right type and number of fire extinguishers for your warehouse. Consider what class of fires are most likely to start and where, and ensure the correct extinguisher to handle it is close by, ideally within 30 metres.

Suitable fire alarm systems must be implemented and maintained. What counts as suitable depends on the size and layout of your warehouse. For clarification, refer to your fire risk assessment.

You must also appoint and train someone to manage routine testing of your fire alarm.

You must ensure everyone on-site lawfully can evacuate safely at all times.

Consider the layout of your building and workforce. There need to be enough escape routes to accommodate everyone when your warehouse is at its busiest, and they should be placed strategically to cut down on travel time.

Home Office guidance on fire safety risk assessment in warehouses and factories provides more details on minimum escape route widths and travel distances.

Fire doors hold back flames and smoke to contain fire and protect escape routes in an emergency. This isn’t helpful for the warehouse floor, but fire doors are still needed in long corridors and at entrances to stairwells.

Corridors longer than 30m long should be subdivided with a fire door. For multi-storey buildings, stairwells should be protected by fire doors and fire-resistant walls to ensure people can reach the ground floor safely in an emergency.

The FSO also requires that fire doors be inspected and maintained in “efficient working order.” Only trained, competent inspectors can perform the necessary checks.

Understanding how to enhance fire safety in your warehouse is critical for protecting your business, employees and property. For warehouse owners and managers looking to extend their fire safety knowledge, our online Fire Safety Courses provide flexible and comprehensive training.

These courses cover everything from fire risk assessments to fire door inspections. Whether you need to refresh your knowledge or train members of staff to take on fire safety duties, you’ll find the relevant course.