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Posted By Ian Bruce
I am considering a number of options for staff who have what can be considered "fire warden" responsibilities within our site contingency plans.
My thoughts are:
1. Brief them on the basic priciples during informal 1:1 conversations, based around their role within the contingency plans.
2. Give them more formal and detailed fire safety awareness, over and above the standard we would give new starters on induction, again detailing their role.
3. Send them on a course.
My question is:
What do other people do if they have staff with fire warden responsibilities?
If you send them on a course, who do you send them to and what are the typical costs. I am responsible for two sites, by the way, one in Warwickshire and one in Kent.
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Posted By Merv Newman
Depends on how you define their role. For me the fire warden's only responsibility is to check that everyone has evacuated from a defined area. They must check every room, including toilets, then get out and report to a coordinator. Briefing should have emphasis on their own personal safety.
I would not ask them to close doors and windows, nor to switch off machines or equipment. These actions can be included in everyones briefings on emergency action.
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Posted By Ken Taylor
I would want them to be informed of fire risks, fire safety, the nature of fire, fire procedures, methods of extinguishment, etc - but emphasising that they are not there to be firefighters or take risks. They can then act as 'eyes and ears' in preventing fires and better appreciate the situation they are in if an actual fire occurs. Extinguisher supply companies provide training in their use, some fire authorities, Fire Protection Association, etc run training courses and, if you have the expertise in house, useful videos are available from the FPA, Safety Media, etc.
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Posted By Jez Corfield
If you documented your own in house briefing and were sure you had covered most angles that might be enough. Doing your own in house course is good, as you can combine all the theory, with the practical aspects of your organisation, like walking the evacuation routes etc.
Most training providers will give good theory but will probably not be able to relate this to the layout of your own building or the culture within your company.
We have 91 buildings so we pay about £400 for a half day course (South East/London rates) and we are quite happy with the provider. BUT the problem is when one warden leaves and you want to train another one or two, its a lot of money to pay, so we end up with some wardens waiting for months. We try to give them an in-house briefing as a stop gap.
Jez
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Posted By Neil Pearson
I agree with Jez, in that there are two issues: one is an understanding of the subject (for which most brigades offer one-day courses) and the other is the specific procedure for your site, which you need to brief them on yourselves. Of the two, the second is more critical in my opinion. One-to-one briefings are fine; just record them.
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Posted By Ian Bruce
Thanks to the respondents.
I think I'm going to go down the in-house training route. The boss will like that, of course, as it's cheaper!
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