You lock up your office for the evening, head home, have some food and sink off to sleep. But all through the night, as your open eyes and stare at the ceiling, you can’t help but think that something doesn’t feel right.

It’s only when driving your convertible up to your workplace that you notice your big mistake. Smoke billows from your office’s roof, ash impinges on the air and crowds have formed around police cordons.

A fire has raged through your workplace in the night – and there’s so much you could have done to stop it.

Questions rush through your head – what if someone had been trapped in there? What if a gas explosion took out half the street? How can your business recover?

The answer to all these questions is simple – you should take more precautions. Here’s what you could have done to avoid the flames.

Get a gust of air

Air circulation can be a dreadful thing for fire.

If you’ve ever seen the film Backdraft, you’ll know that opening a door at the wrong time during a blaze can lead to those flames growing stronger and stronger, gusting out of the door like a trapped tiger from an unlocked cage.

Instead, you need circulation that won’t make those blazes boom. With effective four hour ducts, for instance, you’ll be able to provide structural integrity to your air shafts, ensuring you don’t suffer any major air shifts that stoke those orange sparks into a roaring blaze.

Become a flaming Rambo

The office without fire-fighting equipment is the office that’s ill-prepared. This might seem like a common sense statement, but you’d be amazed at the number of bosses who’ll take a “that’ll do” approach to fire safety.

But if you want to stay fully covered, kit your workplace out like a fire-fighting Rambo. Fire extinguishers, blankets, sprinklers, alarms, hoses – every one of these could spell the difference between a burst of flames and their fizzling out.

While escaping the flames is more advisable than fighting them, having the ideal equipment will put your mind at ease and give you a chance if you’re trapped.

Keep your employees in the loop

You might know all your fiery facts, but that’s no good unless your employees are kept abreast of safety regulations.

Call fire safety offices to your office to chat with your workers, send out regular emails reminding them everything they know and hold fire drills at monthly intervals.

With this info in their minds, your employers will know how to avoid causing fires – and how to escape them if they start.

Cover photo credit: J Mark Dodds / Flickr