Tips to Make Your Fire Extinguisher Easy to Find

1 September 2017
 Categories: Environmental, Blog

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A fire extinguisher can be an essential tool if a fire starts, but it's worthless if no one can find it. At home, it's easy to let your family know where you keep the fire extinguisher, but in a commercial environment, you have to make a bit more effort. Here are tips to make your fire extinguisher more noticeable.

1. Mount It Rather Than Storing It

Ideally, you shouldn't keep the fire extinguisher in a cabinet. Rather, you should mount it in a prominent place. There are special cabinets made just for mounting fire extinguishers. If you opt for a cabinet, look for a bright coloured one or one that features a clear door so everyone can see the fire extinguisher.

2. Hang at Eye Level

Whether you decide to put the fire extinguisher in a special cabinet or mount it directly to the wall, you should put it at eye level. When people are panicking due to a fire or for any other reason, they may not see everything clearly. They may completely overlook a fire extinguisher if it's in the wrong spot. Because of that, it's easier if you put it at about eye level.

The average man in Australia is 175.6 cm and the average woman is 161 cm. That makes the average person about 168 cm. If you hang the extinguisher just a bit below that height at about 160 centimeters, that's roughly eye level for most people.

3. Use Signs

Signs can also help. Just as you probably have signs over exits and guiding people to those exits, you may want to put signs over your fire extinguisher. For example, light-up arrows or glow-in-the dark signs can work well to draw attention to that area. Additionally, you may want to hang up or distribute maps of the facility that show where all the various fire extinguishers are located.

4. Focus on Training

When it comes to fire safety, everyone needs to be trained to handle the situation. If you have employees, you may want to hold training sessions, and if you have an apartment building, you may want to have an introductory session with each tenant where you inform them about the fire extinguishers.

These sessions should cover the location of the extinguishers and tips on how to use them. You should also update everyone if the extinguisher gets moved.

To get more tips or to look for a brightly coloured noticeable fire extinguisher, contact a fire service company directly.