HospitalityUsing an extinguisher, only if trained
A small fire starts in the hotel. Only staff designated and trained under the emergency action plan may fight it with a portable extinguisher; everyone else in the fire area evacuates at once. If you are designated, you sound the alarm, keep your way out behind you, use the right extinguisher with the P.A.S.S. technique and leave if the fire grows. It follows OSHA's federal rule for portable fire extinguishers, as OSHA explains it in its evacuation eTool.
Free to startScenarios
- The plan designates certain employees to use the extinguishers: everyone else evacuates when the alarm sounds.
- Total evacuation when the alarm sounds: no one is authorized to use the extinguishers.
- The fire has spread beyond the material that first ignited, is hidden behind a wall or ceiling, or fills the room with smoke: evacuate immediately.
The steps
- Sound the fire alarm and call the fire department, if appropriate.
- Judge the fire: only a small fire, limited to the material that first ignited, with flames no higher than your head.
- Identify a safe evacuation path before approaching, and never let the fire, heat or smoke come between you and it.
- Select the right type of extinguisher for the fire.
- Use P.A.S.S. within the extinguisher's effective range: pull the pin, aim low at the base of the fire, squeeze the handle, sweep from side to side.
- Back away from the extinguished fire in case it flames up again, and watch the area.
- Evacuate immediately if the extinguisher is empty and the fire is not out, or if the fire grows beyond the incipient stage.
Safety rules that stop the station
- Use an extinguisher only if you are designated and trained; otherwise, evacuate the fire area at once.
- Do not fight a fire that involves flammable solvents, covers more than 60 square feet, cannot be reached standing, or cannot be fought without breathing protection.
- If you have the slightest doubt about your ability to fight the fire, evacuate immediately.
To pass
- Designated employees are trained when first assigned and at least once a year.
- Where extinguishers are provided for employees, everyone learns the principles of extinguisher use and the hazards of incipient fires when hired and every year.
- Before fighting any fire, a risk assessment covers the fire size, the evacuation path and the air near the fire.
Official source
Portable Fire Extinguishers: Fire Extinguisher Use (Evacuation Plans and Procedures eTool)
OSHA's evacuation eTool explains, free, how to fight an incipient fire with a portable extinguisher, step by step, with P.A.S.S.
Making Synapses is not affiliated with, sponsored by or endorsed by OSHA, FEMA, the U.S. Fire Administration, NFPA or any hotel brand or training provider. Agency, law and standard names are named only to describe the content.