By Janet L. Keyes, MS, CIH and Carol A. Keyes, CSP
October is Fire Safety Month. Why dedicate a whole month to fire safety? Because fires kill and fires cost. NFPA reported that fire departments responded to a fire somewhere in the US every 23 seconds in 2023. The Insurance Information Institute estimated property damage from non-residential fires to be over $3 billion. Over 3500 people lost their lives, over 13,000 were injured in fires that year. Structures (homes, businesses) accounted for more than a third of the fires. Vehicles accounted for 15%. And structural and vehicle fires were responsible for 89% of the deaths and 85% of the injuries.
Are you at risk? And if you are, are there ways you can lower your risk?
Do a risk assessment first. What could cause a fire in your shop? Fires need heat, oxygen, and fuel (and the chemical reaction to initiate the fire). You have those in your shop. Oxygen is in the air we breathe. Have an oxyacetylene torch? Then you have cylinders of nearly pure oxygen in your shop.
The fuel for a fire could be anything that burns, from the carpet in a car to a rag used to wipe up oil. But you have some products that burn a lot easier than rags. Gasoline, brake cleaner, and paint solvents ignite easily. Aerosol cans usually are kept under pressure with a mixture of propane and isobutane, gases as flammable as natural gas. Partswasher fluid can burn. Oil takes a lot more heat to ignite than thinner or gasoline, but it is certainly combustible.
Heat could be flame or a spark. Ask anyone who uses an oxyacetylene torch or welds if they’ve ever started a fire. We guarantee at least one employee will admit to having done so. Space heaters are known fire starters. “Electrical malfunctions” were responsible for 6% of Minnesota fires in 2023, according to the Minnesota Fire Marshal’s office. Is your wiring in good shape? Do people use electricity correctly?
Now that you’ve identified what could cause a fire, how can you control those? These are some of the critical steps:
- Check equipment before using to make sure it is in good condition. Repair or replace damaged cords. Don’t overload outlets or extension cords.
- Flammable liquids such as gasoline, lacquer thinner, and even windshield washer fluid can generate a static charge when they are poured. To dissipate the static, use metal containers and bond and ground them. Connect the metal container to a building ground, then make sure that the receiving container is physically connected (preferably by a wire) to the original container.
- Watch out for welding and torch use. Remember sparks can travel far. If you cannot remove flammable or combustible material from the area, cover them with fire resistant welding blankets. Never weld or cut near a paint booth or prep station.
- Limit the amount of flammable materials sprayed outside of approved paint booths. One can of brake cleaner or an ounce or two of primer isn’t a huge hazard. Consistently spraying those in areas not designed for spraying flammable materials puts you at risk of fire.
We would bet you have some emergency preparations in place, even if you haven’t done anything to prepare for a fire. So you’re not completely unprepared. You can thank the thousands of people who died in fires in years past for those preparations. Their deaths led to fire code, OSHA, and building code requirements to make your shop safer.
You probably have exit signs to guide people towards a safe place outside. You are likely to have fire extinguishers to stop the very small fire before it grows. You might have a fire sprinkler system, which will keep a fire in check if it does begin to spread. Your paint booth is probably designed to be explosion-proof, so no spark from an exhaust could ignite the flammable vapors. You probably purchased some sorbent such as floor dry, to clean up small spills. Those are a good start, as long as you maintain them.
Train your employees to prevent fires. But prepare them so they know what to do in case of fire. Do they know how to use fire extinguishers? Hands-on training, using a burn pan, is the best way to learn, as that gives people the feel for how extinguishers work. Check with your local fire department, as they may offer that training. Employees who learn how to use an extinguisher and have the opportunity to practice are more likely to know how to react when there is a fire, whether at work or at home. Make sure they also know when not to use an extinguisher. You don’t want them injured trying to fight a fire that has started to spread.
How would your shop warn everyone if they need to get out because of a fire? If your shop is small, yelling might be the easiest way. Don’t forget to alert office staff, too. If you have an intercom system, does everyone know how to use it? If your shop is connected to other businesses, decide how you will notify them. And assign someone to guide any customers who are in your building.
Have you thought about where employees should go if they need to flee because of a fire? You need to account for everyone, so you don’t want them running home. Don’t risk a firefighter’s life to hunt for someone comfortably lounging at home. Pick a meeting spot, near the building but away from the route that fire trucks will take. Post it and tell employees about it, so they remember to go there.
Have you ever done a fire drill? That’s a good way to be prepared – and to find the holes in your preparation. They don’t take very long – it should take only a few minutes to get everyone out and accounted for. When people have to physically carry out an action, such as evacuating, they’re more likely to remember how to do that when the disaster strikes.
Invite your fire department in for a visit. That gives them the opportunity to get to know your facility. And they may see hazards you missed.
This article originally appeared in AASP-MN News (October 2025). It is intended to provide general information (no advice) about current safety topics. If you have questions about emergency and disaster planning, handling workplace injuries, workplace safety rules, or other safety issues, contact CHESS at 651-481-9787 or carkey@chess-safety.com.