Fire protection is obviously an important part of any Safety and Health Management System. Fires can devastate a business and create serious perils for employees. This is why OSHA created standard 1910.155, which covers fire protection. This standard lays the groundwork for an effective method of protecting your employees and place of work in the event a fire breaks out by defining what equipment should be in place and what steps should be taken should a fire start.

The standard discusses what equipment qualifies as “approved” and what does not. To qualify as “approved,” an item must be certified by a nationally recognized testing laboratory, have been tested by a Federal agency and found to be compliant with the National Fire Protection Association Fire Code, or must be custom made and have test data available to inspectors (1910.155(c)(3). If these are devices which can be used by employees, and are not automatically triggered (i.e. sprinklers), they must have proper signage stating where they are.

It goes on to discuss various potential hazards, including fire classifications and other potentially lethal issues resulting from fires. It then discusses how to protect your employees from these fires. But at the heart of any good fire protection plan is a firm auditing schedule. Without proper third party safety audits, you run the risk of keeping outdated equipment in use in your facility, or of being out of compliance without ever realizing. Or, worse yet, having an unacceptable evacuation plan, which could severely limit the effectiveness of your fire protection plan.

If you have any questions about fire protection and standard 1910.155, please feel free to contact us. And if you have anything to add about fire protection, please leave a comment.