- To protect people, property, and equipment from damage or injury by fire.
- To prevent a small fire from becoming a big fire. Statistics from studies show that 80% of fires are put out by hand operated fire fighting equipment.
- Should a fire not be able to be extinguished soon after it’s inception the number of resultant damage increases rapidly resulting in more repair costs & often more downtime.
- If you do not have hand operated firefighting equipment your insurance company may decline your insurance coverage or charge higher premiums
- To ensure that it will work as effectively as it can if required.
- Firefighting equipment can lose extinguishing agent or propellant affecting the performance of the equipment.
- Sometimes firefighting equipment has tampered with this can result in loss of pressure, damage,and even leave the equipment in such a state as to present a danger to those around it.
- Environmental conditions can cause damage rendering the firefighting equipment inoperable e.g. corroded operating handles on fire equipment.
- Current statistics based on overseas research figures suggest that hand-operated firefighting equipment is used to extinguish about 5000 fires a year.
- Only a small percentage of fires where portable fire extinguishers are used get reported as people do not want to expose their companies to higher insurance premiums, potential investigations or possible penalties from the relevant authorities.
- As fire extinguishers are pressurized vessels they are covered by the same compressed gases regulations as dive cylinders & LPG cylinders which require periodic hydro-testing.
- Fire equipment locations are required to be identified by the use of blazon signs.
- For use instructions are on the blazons included in those instructions are the types of fires that the fire equipment can be used on.
- The blazons for use instructions are printed on a triangle with a color-coded background according to the extinguishing agent that is in the fire equipment e.g. foam has a blue background, white is used for ABE dry powder.
- On the fire extinguisher, it should state the extinguishing agent & the types of fire that it can be used on. On later model extinguishers, this should be in both written & pictorial form.
- No as a first aid appliance it needs to be easily located and accessible, especially as the window of opportunity to put out a fire with hand operated fire fighting equipment & prevent significant damage is generally limited.
- There are audible alarms and break-glass cabinets that can be used with most hand-operated firefighting equipment to minimize the risk of the equipment being tampered with or going missing.
