The first time somebody uses an extinguisher should not be during a fire

Why it matters

The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 requires the responsible person to make sure staff have adequate fire safety training. If you have extinguishers on the wall, that includes knowing how to use them. Most people have walked past the same red cylinder for years without ever picking one up.

Getting it wrong is worse than doing nothing. Water on a fat fryer, or a CO2 grabbed by the horn, causes injuries. A two-hour session removes that risk and gives people the confidence to deal with a small fire before it becomes a big one — or to recognise straight away that this is not one to tackle.

What the session covers

• How fire starts and spreads, and how quickly you have to act
• The extinguisher types you actually have on site — water, foam, CO2, dry powder, wet chemical
• Which one goes on which class of fire, and what happens if you use the wrong one
• Handling: pulling the pin, distance, sweeping and stopping
• When to fight a fire and when to raise the alarm and get out
• Your own fire procedure, call points and assembly point
• A practical go, so everybody has actually discharged an extinguisher

Built around your building

We use your equipment and your layout, not a generic slide pack. If you have a wet chemical unit in the kitchen and CO2 in the server room, that is what we cover. Staff leave knowing where their nearest extinguisher is, not just what one looks like in a photograph.