A sprinkling of warehouse health and safety Tuesday, 31 March 2015 12:30:11 Europe/London

A sprinkling of warehouse health and safety

Recent statistics suggest that up to 1 in 5 warehouses in England each year have a fire that requires the attendance of a firefighter, around 621 different premises.

The impact of fires in English warehouses that do not have fire sprinklers is £232 million on the UK economy every year.

Although not mandatory, it is recommended that only warehouses larger than 20,000m2 in England and Wales should install a fire sprinkler system or equivalent fire preventative measure. Other EU countries suggest the use of the system in a much smaller area; for example 3000m2 is the space requirement in France and 1800m2 in Germany. This is on average around a tenth of the size for the recommendation in the UK.

So why should you install a sprinkler in your warehouse?

If your floor area is over 2,000m2, a sprinkler system is a cost effective system, offset by any losses you could potentially make in a fire.

Not only are you protecting your workers, the damage to your stock will be dramatically reduced with sprinkler systems carrying a 95% probability of successfully extinguishing the fire.

What exactly will a sprinkler system do if a fire starts in my warehouse?

- It will detect the fire

- Sound a local and remote alarm notifying the fire service

- Immediately start fighting the fire

- The system will contain the fire and prevent it spreading

- More often than not the fire will be successfully supressed before the arrival of fire and rescue services fire hoses use as much as 15-25 times more water making sprinkler systems much more economical

What are the main advantages to my business?

- Reasonable to install,

- Life expectancy of greater than 30 years

- Reduce your insurance premiums- up to 65%.

- Activate individually based on the heat from fire minimising water damage

Sprinkler systems are just one of the many systems available to protect both your workers and warehouse.

Here at 3JC, we have a variety of other safety items including eye and ear protection, worker boots, dust masks and high visibility clothing to make sure you provide the best protection to your workers.

Shop online or call us today for further assistance.