Lindby

Impact of Fire on Your Life and Business

When businesses burn down they have not just lost their physical assets, they have lost customers and their staff in many cases lose their jobs. That is quite apart from the psychological damage that has been caused by the fire.  UBC Faculty of Medicine states that

“The impact (of fire) varies according to a range of complex factors including the nature of the loss, the degree of impact and disruption on their lives, the aftermath, the person’s age and their level of psychological adjustment. Most people cope well with losses, although they may experience some degree of distress such as anxiety, depression or sleep disturbance. Grieving the loss of one’s cherished possessions is a natural psychological reaction, although most people are able to move on with their lives”.

From personal experience, waking up to a house fire, I was emotionally and psychologically fine after the fire. Or so I thought. About six years later I was studying, and the lecturer showed a fire training video and it triggered an emotional freak out within me. I had a melt-down moment when I realised that I have four children under the age of five and the fear that I could not save them all in the event of another fire. Even years after the fire, every time we had a BBQ or we went camping I would have to struggle to overcome my absolute fear of fire. It didn’t help to have two boys who were fascinated by fire … one threw an aerosol into a campfire and had his eyebrows and hair singed when it exploded; another time they almost set the neighbours house on fire.

When I started my career in Occupational Health & Safety, I realised I had to overcome my almost terror of fire. Learning to teach fire training helped me to overcome and take control of the variables. Knowledge gave me power.  Understanding the mechanisms of fire and what was needed to put a fire out successfully and being able to use the equipment competently assisted greatly.  I am still not 100% comfortable being around fire… truthfully I think that played a huge decision in our creating online fire training courses.


Online Fire Training Courses

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Discover why precautions are better than consequences

Podcast with Janeen Vosper and Guest Speaker Corrina Lindby

Having provided safety advice to business for seven years, Corrina Lindby sees risks everywhere. Whether a sole trader, start-up, a small or large business, Work Health & Safety issues should important to all.

Were you aware that every business MUST complete a Hazard and Risk Assessment and document? Yes, even if it is a home business.

In this interview, Corrina explains why you need to treat your home like a work environment then consider and document every task and then consider whether a hazard is foreseeable.

Are you prepared for fire or injury?

Do you have an extinguisher and fire blanket? And know how to use them?

Do you have an up to date first aid kit in your home and vehicle? And know how to use it?

Discover why there is a lot to consider when you do due diligence and assesses your work environment. And it is legislated.

Corrina reminds us that “Precautions are better than consequences.”

To contact Corrina you can visit her website www.answeryes.com.au or email info@answeryes.com.au or phone her personally on 07 31804422 if you would like to have a chat about your business WHS.

Mention this interview as Corrine is offering a complimentary fire audit of your business.


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Category: Safety and Wellbeing Capability

AS3745 Planning for Emergencies in Facilities needs to be changed

I was working with a national client to implement consistent general evacuation training. A branch manager refuted the need for ALL his staff to do general evacuation training.  He insisted he only needed one chief warden trained.  His argument was that AS3745 states SHOULD do general evacuation training not MUST. Therefore he believed his staff did not have to do the training.

So it came time to do the drill.  It was a large warehouse with a showroom attached and upstairs offices and about 20 staff scattered throughout the building.

I said to the workshop manager “This is a fire drill, pretend there is a fire over there, what would you do?” He looked at me as if to say what the! Then said “I know! I go to the assembly area and he took off”… well, that had never happened before!

I told the showroom salesperson “this is a drill, there is a “fire” in the maintenance area, what do you do?” She said to me, “well there is no one in the showroom so I go to the assembly area” and she takes off! For real?

So I said the same thing to a warehouse worker.  He says to me “I am just a casual but if you want, I can go to the assembly area”, and he takes off”!

So what was wrong with this situation?
  1. No one alerted anyone else that there was a problem. The people upstairs would have been trapped if there had truly been a fire in the maintenance area
  2. No one closed any doors or swept any areas
  3. No one grabbed the first aid kit
  4. When I did get the Chief Warden to start the evacuation he did not sweep any areas, close any doors or stop more delivery drivers entering the premises.
  5. They could not decide where the assembly area was as most thought it was in the middle of the driveway where emergency services would typically park.

For this reason, regardless of what AS3745 says I believe you MUST do general evacuation training for all staff.  QLD is the only state that says that ALL staff MUST do General Evacuation training every year and every two years they MUST do First Response Evacuation Training.

General Evacuation Training can be done as a face-to-face training course or it can be done online.


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Category: Safety and Wellbeing Capability

Failing to conduct a Risk Assessment could result in no insurance payout!

What if you a computer caught fire in your office and you used a Dry Chemical Powder (DCP) Extinguisher instead of a Carbon Dioxide (C02) extinguisher.  There is no problem with using the DCP extinguisher except if the powder got into other computers. This happened to a company. The staff used a DCP extinguisher on the fire and put it out but the powder got into nine other computers.

Dry chemical powder extinguishers are also known as ABE extinguishers because they are capable of putting out class A (regular solid combustibles such as wood plastic), class B (liquid fuel fires such as gasoline), and class E fires (electrical fires). Using your DCP extinguisher on electronics will destroy your electronics.

How are your electronics destroyed by a DCP?

Dry chemical extinguishers can also be quite corrosive to metals such as aluminium and are also potentially abrasive.
Using the Dry Chemical Powder extinguisher, the powder, being fine like talcum powder got into nine other computers. So, the company put a claim in to replace the ten computers. The insurance companies denied the claim and stated they would only pay for one.

Why was the claim denied?

According to Legal Aid Qld on why insurance claims are denied… the damage was not caused by the disaster. The damage to nine other computers was caused by using the wrong fire extinguisher. Had the staff used a C02 extinguisher then the other computers would not have been damaged.  The insurance company would only pay for the replacement of the one computer that was damaged by fire.

What should they have done?

Had they conducted a full risk assessment then they would have determined that they had the wrong extinguishers, or had they consulted a qualified Fire Safety Adviser they would have been advised to install C02 extinguishers


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Category: Safety and Wellbeing Capability

WHS Failure-Retail Staff fall nets $235k damages

Businesses in the retail sector often think it won’t happen to them… a fall from heights… A worker at Millers Clothing outlet fell from a step ladder as she was trying to remove a mannequin from a high shelf.

At the hearing, the worker claimed that her employer was negligent in that it had:
1. Failed to devise and implement a safe system of work.
2. Failed to provide proper equipment to carry out the task.
3. Failed to provide a ladder suitable for the task as the ladder was too small.
4. Failed to provide a means of getting clothing from the mannequins that did not require climbing up to the shelf.
5. Failed to provide adequate manual assistance.
6. Failed to supervise the task to ensure it was carried out without injury.
7. Failed to exercise due and proper care of her safety.
8. Failed to comply with the Work Health & Safety Act.
9. Failed to undertake an adequate risk assessment to identify hazards and apply effective control strategies.
10. Failed to implement a policy ensuring that a second worker be present when the stepladder is used.
11. Failed to instruct the employee to ignore calls while serving customers.
12. Failed to instruct staff about a safe method to remove clothing from mannequins on the overhead shelf.

Do you have a safe system of work?


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Category: People and Culture Capability

New guidance: work-related psychological health and safety

new guidance material

Taking preventative action works

Work-related psychological health and safety – A systematic approach to meeting your dutieswill help employers and workers understand and meet their duties concerning psychological health and safety in the workplace.

Dr Peta Miller, Special Adviser for Safe Work Australia, said we know what causes psychological harm in the workplace and that taking preventative action works.

“Our new national guidance material is essential reading for anyone who wants to build a healthy and safe workplace.

“It provides guidance on the causes of work-related psychological harm, advice on how to intervene early, and ideas and strategies for taking preventative action.”

Contact your local WHS regulator for detailed information on how to use the guide in your workplace.

Category: Safety and Wellbeing Capability

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