One of the biggest issues for businesses these days is what kind of commercial fire protection system to use. Not only are such devices important to ensure the safety of people visiting or working in your business, but they also can have a big effect on what you pay for insurance.
You may have never experienced a fire and may not see the need to have a commercial fire protection system, but you never know what can happen. For example, fires in hotels and motels kill about 15 people in a year and cause about $75 million in damage. That’s not a very big number considering how many hotels there are and how many people stay in them each year, but that’s likely indicative of the fact that hotels are required to have fire protection systems. There also are more than 6,000 fires at healthcare facilities each year and another 1,200 at warehouses. All of these fires could be disasters without fire protection.
One of the most common commercial fire protection systems is a sprinkler system. This is also one of the most effective fire protection systems. Though such systems are not foolproof, they are effective. The National Fire Protection Association says there has never been more than two fatalities in a fire in a building that had a sprinkler system that activated properly.
Another fire suppression system that you might find in certain businesses is a wet or dry chemical system. Such a system is essentially just a giant fire extinguisher. Such systems are often used in warehouse or machinery areas where people are not present and where water could cause significant damage to equipment.
In certain high-tech settings, such as server rooms at a data center, fire protection may consist of CO2 suppression. Such systems typically suck all the oxygen out of the room, which will cause a fire to die out quickly. A big drawback to such systems is that they can’t be used anywhere that people are present.
Of course, every business, no matter how large or small, should at least have a fire alarm system, even if it does not have a fire suppression system. In fact, fire alarm systems are more important in businesses that don’t have sprinklers or other commercial fire protection systems. In those businesses, getting people out of the building as quickly as possible in the event of a fire is the top priority.