Fires also happen in German companies

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Many fires in a workplace or commercial property can be prevented. This requires taking fire prevention measures, minimising damage if a fire does occur and putting effective systems, controls and procedures in place to safely evacuate people in the property. You also need to ensure that the emergency services are called quickly to prevent the fire from spreading. A fire safety officer supports responsible business owners in preventing fires in the business. In this article, we explain how a fire can destroy a business and how you can protect yourself from it.




According to VdS, fires break out in more than 10,000 companies in Germany every year . The economic damage caused amounts to around six billion euros per year - through property damage, loss of business, fines, claims for damages and increased insurance premiums. This underlines the importance of fire protection in your company. As the owner of a commercial property or a company, you have a legal responsibility that you should always take seriously. We recommend that the "person in charge" of your company appoint a reputable and professional fire safety officer to help you meet your legal obligations regarding fire, fire prevention, fire protection and fire safety measures.



fire protection legislation
Fire safety legislation applies to all commercial properties and other buildings to which the public has access. Fire safety laws state:

Employers (and/or building owners or occupiers) must carry out a fire safety risk assessment and keep it up to date. This follows the same approach as the health and safety risk assessment and can be carried out either as part of an overall risk assessment or as a separate procedure.

Based on the results of the assessment, employers must ensure that adequate and appropriate fire safety measures are in place to minimise the risk of injury or loss of life in the event of a fire.

To prevent fires in the workplace, your risk assessment should identify what could start a fire, i.e. ignition sources (heat or sparks) and flammable materials, as well as the people who may be at risk.

Once you have identified the risks, you can take appropriate measures to control them. portugal gambling data Consider whether you can avoid them altogether or, if that is not possible, how you can reduce and control the risks. Also consider how you can protect people in the event of a fire.

The effects of a fire in the company
It sounds shocking, but in reality, a fire in a business that results in injury or death has a huge impact on the owner or manager of the business. They are responsible for the safety of their employees and customers. In these circumstances, if a business cannot prove that it has the correct fire protection systems and safety procedures in place, there will be a police investigation that could lead to criminal prosecution.



Cost
If an insurance claim is invalidated, the cost of repairs to the property and compensation can be huge and could cause the business to cease trading. Often an insurance claim will not be paid out quickly as investigations are carried out into how the fire could have been prevented, how it started and what procedures were in place at the time. This can mean the business has to spend a large sum of money to keep operating before the insurance claim is paid out. Even if you have insurance, it will take a while to find and move into temporary premises and get your systems and processes up and running again, which is very costly.