As the festive season draws even closer, so are the celebrations in the workplace. This year, our Health and Safety Officer, Amy, has shared her top tips to keep you and your workplace fire safe:

Light it Up! Festive lights give us that nice warm feeling and brightens up the office, but make sure that your plugs and bulbs aren’t getting too warm, check these regularly. Avoid overloading sockets and make sure that you check the condition of plugs, cords and cables for fraying, exposed wires and degradation. Fairy lights must not impact work lighting, or cause detriment to employees. 

When putting decorations up at work it can be tempting to go all out and decorate anything and everything in sight. Along with the tree, fairy lights and tinsel on your desk many people are also tempted to hang decorations from overhanging lights in the office or around lamps. While this might look great, Christmas decorations are usually very flammable, so when overhanging lights heat up, this heat can cause decorations to set alight, which is why it is best to avoid decorating these areas.

Naughty or Nice? Many employees will bring their own decorations into an office, if they are electrical then they need to be from a reputable supplier and in a good condition!

Time for a Break! Many workplaces close over the festive period, make sure you’ve turned off lights, appliances and equipment, especially any extra electrical extension cords. Turn it all off before closing for the festive period. Best practice is to turn them off at the end of every day so they aren’t on unattended.

Location, Location, Location! When setting up your work decorations, make sure that you aren’t blocking any life saving functions (such as sprinklers!) or placing your tree and decorations within 3 feet of a heat source.

Step into Christmas! But be careful when setting up lights, trees or presents that they aren’t a trip hazard in the office! Leave suitable and sufficient space for walkways and fire exits. Make sure all decorations are properly secured.

Wrap it! Doing a secret Santa? Finishing for the festive period? Collecting Christmas Cards? Make sure you’re emptying bins and not leaving any leftover flammable materials such as paper that could be an ignition source, especially next to plugs, sockets and lights. Manual Handling: Many offices will have kept their festive decorations in the loft, or a storage space – make sure you are lifting, carrying and moving trees and decorations safely, MSK injuries can cause long term impacts that affect millions of people in the UK.

Test your Fire Alarms! Preventing dangerous situations from happening is an important step towards fire safety in the workplace, but in case something does go wrong, you also need to have the correct procedures in place. Testing your smoke alarms should be done all year round (monthly!) and when there are more hazardous and flammable objects in the office around Christmas, this is especially important.