Health and safety

Escape routes

In an emergency situation, your venues escape routes become the most important asset you have.

Everybody in the building should be aware at all times where their nearest route is and have quick and easy access to it. 

To make sure this is the case, regular checks are required to ensure that the routes are clear, unobstructed, well-lit and signed.

Your emergency lighting system plays a big part of your escape route plan and requires regular inspection to make sure it’s functioning correctly. 

We include checks on your escape routes in our daily, weekly and monthly sections of the diary. 

Fire doors/Fire exits

These two types of doors are often confused and people misunderstand the difference between the two.

Fire doors are the internal doors in your building, generally found in hallways or between rooms. These are ‘fire rated’ doors which are designed to slow down the spread of fire and smoke. 

Fire doors only work when they are well maintained and remain closed. It’s very common to see fire doors wedged open, tied back or propped open. This is the behaviour we really need to avoid in order for the door to work as it’s designed. 

Fire exits are the last doors on an escape route which exit the building. These doors will have push pads/bars in order to speed up exit in an emergency and they must be maintained and used properly. 

We include checklists on both types of doors in the daily, weekly and monthly sections of the diary. 

Hazardous chemical

It’s important that hazardous chemicals which are on site are safely and securely stored away.

This is particularly true if your venue hosts the general public. The risk is particularly higher in this case as you will be hosting people who are unfamiliar with the chemicals and may have a potentially dangerous interest in them – for example, if children or drunk adults find access to them. 

We include a checklist in the daily section of the diary to ensure that chemicals are stored safely.

Housekeeping

General housekeeping can sound like a trivial risk but in a busy venue, it poses one the top hazards. 

Poor housekeeping practices such as blocking doors and walkways or leaving trailing cables and rubbish lying around can be a serious trip hazard and will eventually cause an injury. 

We include a housekeeping checklist in the daily section of the diary to help you manage this.

Accident book 

Accidents should be recorded for a number of reasons. It will help you to reduce the number of incidents in future by teaching you where your safety needs to improve. 

Some accidents must be reported to HSE immediately. Ask us for more details about this. 

We include an accident book in the front section of your diary, easily ready should it be needed. 

Investigation form

If an accident has occurred, it’s important that once you’ve recorded it in the accident book, you carry out an initial investigation quickly. 

The sooner you can carry out the investigation, the more accurate and reliable the information is for later use.

Within the front section of your diary you will find an investigation form with 14 pre-populated questions. Easily complete your investigation by answering these questions to the best of your ability. 

It’s important that you know who is in your building and what work they’re doing. It’s equally important that any visitor knows the safety procedures of your building.

There’s no need to record the general public who are staying within your front of house areas but any suppliers, contractors or visitors who will be moving around your building for a significant amount of time need to know certain pieces of information – such as where your escape routes are, where the assembly point is and if a fire alarm test is due. 

In the front section of your diary, you’ll find a page to easily share this information with visitors and to record their details.