WHAT TYPES OF FIRE EXTINGUISHERS DOES MY BUSINESS NEED?
As above, this depends on the type of business you undertake, but here are a few examples to help you start assessing the range required.
For larger premises such as a car dealership that has a showroom, office, workshop, store and flammable storage, you need to break this down and consider each area on its own. So here you have office, showroom and store that probably have similar needs whereas the workshop and flammable areas have different needs.
However, it is best not to have too many different types on the same premises if possible as this adds to confusion in a panic. So, if you have foam in the workshop, use foam as the water-based one in the office area.
If you have multiple risks such as a garage workshop, powder may be better as your fire may include wood, paper, paint and fuel all at the same time. In a garage workshop we would recommend powder for general use and CO2 for small welding fires but the office area would still need water-based ones as powder will make a mess. In an office or hotel or nursing home, powder would make a dust cloud that may stop people from finding exits.
A commercial kitchen should have a combination of fire blankets, wet chemical extinguishers for any deep fat dryers, plus C02 for electrical fires.
An office would have the same risks as most shops, salons, hotels, residential homes, shopping centres, etc so the requirements would be a water additive extinguisher with a CO2 at each fire point.
Construction sites would have multiple risks so powder and CO2 would be a good option.
And don't forget fire extinguishers in company vehicles - every vehicle should have a 2kg powder extinguisher in the driving area, and larger vehicles carrying dangerous goods require further fire extinguisher provision.
Another consideration is the temperature. So, if they are stored outside on a petrol station forecourt or building site, powder would be best as it can be used down to minus 30 degrees. Foam and water would bee antifreeze but this reduces the fire-fighting ability and, by the time an engineer visits, discharges and refills with antifreeze, will probably cost more than you paid to buy a new extinguisher!
