All business owners will know the importance of ensuring fire safety and fire protection in the workplace. Fire damage can literally destroy a business, so it’s imperative that employers give fire safety and protection their utmost attention.
Mezzanine Floor Safety
Given their wide-ranging properties, the installation of mezzanine floors are just one way in which employers can ensure that their building complies with the governing regulations. When installed for storage purposes only, mezzanine floors do not have to be fireproofed, but there are other instances where additional protection is required in order to meet building standards.
Exposed steelwork heats up at a rapid rate – a property that makes it imperative that all steel frames should have some kind of protection to help it maintain its structure. There are two main reasons for this with the first one being that the structure of a mezzanine floor can hold together for long enough for employees to escape and secondly, the protection will allow firefighters to rescue anyone that may be trapped in the blaze. Fire-rated staircases are a perfect example of what can be used for such purposes.
Determined through a number of different ways, the level of ‘fire rating’ that a structure is given is normally specified by a period of time such as 1 hour, 2 hours etc. To decrease the damage that can be caused by a fire, it’s absolutely vital that all employers take the necessary steps to install structures such as mezzanine floors that are given a high fire rating in their workplace. Additionally and for further security, other elements such as column casings, cavity barriers, fire walls, sprinkler systems, fire doors and smoke detection alarms can also be used to further fireproof a mezzanine floor.
Planning ahead and being prepared should a fire break out helps to avoid injury, reduce damage to stock and protect the lives of employers and all of their employees.
First Floors Mezzanine (UK) Ltd specialise in all aspects of mezzanine floors & flooring, including mezzanine floor design, manufacture and installation, suspended ceilings and partitioning.
