Fire Safety and Emergency Preparedness Checklist

Walk every work cell, aisle, and welding bay. Travel distance to the nearest extinguisher must not exceed 75 ft for Class A or 50 ft for Class B per NFPA 10. Flag any unit blocked by pallets, totes, or seasonal staging — that's the most common citation finding.

Confirm each extinguisher has a current monthly visual tag and an annual maintenance tag from a licensed servicer. Verify gauge in the green, pin and seal intact, no corrosion or damage to the cylinder. 6-year teardown and 12-year hydrostatic test dates should be on the collar.

Red-tag any unit that failed inspection or is past due, remove it from the wall, and stage in the maintenance crib. Place a temporary replacement at the same coverage point so travel distance stays compliant. Open a CMMS work order to recharge or replace before closing this step.

Coordinate with the monitoring company before testing so dispatch isn't triggered. Verify panel is in normal status, exercise a sample of pull stations, smoke detectors, and horn/strobes per NFPA 72 ITM. Capture the test report from the licensed contractor.

Run the 30-second monthly test on every battery-backed exit sign and emergency luminaire, and the 90-minute annual discharge test required by NFPA 101. Replace any unit that won't hold the full duration — failed batteries are the typical finding.

Required elements: evacuation procedures and routes, procedures for employees who remain to operate critical equipment, accounting for personnel after evacuation, rescue and medical duties, and the means of reporting fires. Update names and phone numbers if turnover happened this year.

Post current floor diagrams at every primary egress, break room, and time clock — with a 'You Are Here' marker, the primary and secondary route, and the muster point. Verify Spanish or other shop-floor language versions match.

One warden per shift per zone — assembly, machining, finishing, warehouse, office. Wardens sweep their zone, confirm bathrooms and break rooms are empty, and report headcount at the muster point. Cover backup wardens for vacation and second shift.

Run on a normal production shift, not a quiet day. Time from alarm activation to muster headcount complete; benchmark is under 5 minutes for typical shop floors. Watch for common failures: forklift drivers staying with their truck, machine operators trying to finish a cycle, contractors not joining the muster.

Cover the EAP, alarm and notification, evacuation routes by zone, and the incipient-vs-defensive decision: per 29 CFR 1910.157, employees expected to use extinguishers must be trained at hire and annually thereafter. Otherwise the policy is total evacuation.

Use a propane training prop or licensed third-party trainer in the parking lot. Each operator practices Pull-Aim-Squeeze-Sweep on a live fire. Classroom-only training does not satisfy 1910.157(g)(3) for designated responders.

Cover the hot work permit process (welding, cutting, grinding within 35 ft of combustibles), 30-minute fire watch after work ends, and dust hazards specific to your process — wood, aluminum, sugar, plastics resin. Dust deflagration starts when accumulation exceeds 1/32".

Day-1 orientation covers alarm sound, primary and secondary routes from their work area, muster point, and warden for their shift. Required before unsupervised floor access — not a check-the-box at the end of the first week.

Class I-II liquids in FM-approved or UL-listed cabinets; max 60 gallons per cabinet, max 3 cabinets per control area. Verify self-closing doors latch, vent bungs are sealed (or vented to safe location), and grounding/bonding for dispensing.

Primary containers carry the GHS pictogram, signal word, hazard and precautionary statements. Secondary containers (squeeze bottles, parts-washer reservoirs) need at minimum the product identifier and GHS hazard info. Confirm NFPA 704 placards on bulk storage match the SDS.

Check capture velocity at parts washers, paint booths, and weld stations. Replace booth filters before they bleed through; loaded filters are an ignition path. Confirm any local exhaust interlocks haven't been bypassed by a maintenance tech.

Match kit contents to chemicals used — universal absorbent, oil-only, hazmat. Confirm placement near dispensing points, not just at the EHS office. Train on the incidental-vs-emergency line per 1910.120; emergency releases require HazWoper-trained responders.

Walk every storage area against the chemical list. Note new products added without an SDS, products that exceed Tier II reporting thresholds, and quantities that push you into the next RCRA generator status (VSQG → SQG → LQG).

Walk each cell with the supervisor: cardboard, oily rags, pallet stacks, and packaging waste are the typical fuel loads. Oily rags belong in self-closing FM-approved cans; loose accumulation has caused multiple spontaneous-combustion fires in metal-finishing shops.

Verify 36-inch clearance in front of panels (NFPA 70E), no daisy-chained power strips, no extension cords used as permanent wiring. Note any heat discoloration on breakers or warm-touch panels for thermography follow-up. Capture findings as a paragraph for the corrective-action log.

Pull the CMMS PM history for compressors, hydraulic power units, dust collectors, and ovens. Bearings, motors, and belt-driven equipment are common ignition sources when PMs slip. Flag any deferred PM older than 30 days for plant manager review.

Inspect overhead horizontal surfaces — beams, ducts, light fixtures, cable trays. Accumulation greater than 1/32" over 5% of the floor area meets the NFPA threshold for a deflagration hazard. Use HEPA vacuums rated for the dust class; compressed air blow-down disperses dust into a cloud and is the wrong tool.