Fire extinguishers and first aid: the retail basics

A fire extinguisher and a first aid kit are the two items in a store that are bought once, mounted, and then never thought about again — which is exactly the failure mode. An extinguisher that has lost pressure and a first aid kit with three plasters and an expired ointment are both worse than nothing, because somebody is relying on them.

The equipment is cheap. The schedule is what makes it real.

What kind of extinguisher does a store need?

That depends on what can burn. A store with a kitchen, a store with electrical equipment and a store holding paper goods have different exposures, and extinguishers are rated for different fire classes.

This is a question for your local fire authority and your insurer rather than a general rule, because requirements are set locally and they are specific about type, size and placement. Guidance on prevention from the US Fire Administration is a reasonable orientation.

Where should they be mounted?

On the escape route, not next to the hazard. The logic is that somebody reaching for an extinguisher should be moving toward the exit rather than into the fire, and a unit mounted beside a fryer is unreachable in exactly the situation it was bought for.

Mounted, visible, and unobstructed. An extinguisher behind a stack of cartons is a decoration, and that is how most of them end up after a busy delivery week.

What is the inspection schedule?

Monthly visual checks and periodic professional servicing, with the specifics set by local requirements. The monthly check is something a store does itself: pressure gauge in the green, pin and seal intact, no damage, still in its place and unobstructed.

Write the date on the tag. An extinguisher with a blank tag tells an inspector, and tells you, that nobody has looked at it.

What should the first aid kit contain?

Enough for the injuries a store actually produces: cuts from cartons and blades, burns if you have hot food, and minor slips. Contents requirements can be specified by regulation depending on your situation, and a commercially assembled kit is a reasonable starting point.

The thing that matters more than contents is restocking. Kits get used and not refilled, which is why a kit should be checked on the same schedule as the extinguisher.

Where does the kit belong?

Somewhere findable by somebody who does not work there often. The back of a cupboard in the office is the usual answer and the wrong one. Signed, at a known location, reachable without keys.

Two kits — one at receiving where the cuts happen, one front of house — is better than one central kit for most stores, and the second one costs very little.

Who needs to know what?

Everybody needs to know where both items are. A smaller number need to know how to use an extinguisher, and the honest guidance is that fighting a fire is a decision with a narrow window: small, contained, escape route behind you, everybody else already leaving.

Anything beyond that is evacuate and call. That should be said explicitly, because the instinct of a proud owner is to fight a fire that should be left.

What else belongs in the same review?

Exit routes clear, exit signage lit, the back door not blocked by stock, and whatever your local requirements specify for your premises. All of those degrade the same way — gradually, through ordinary business — and all of them are caught by the same monthly walk.

Ten minutes, once a month, with a written list. That is the whole programme, and the supplies to support it sit in store supplies.