Fire Safety Grab Bag and Premises Information Box Essentials
Should the worst happen and you have a fire at your premises, being prepared is essential in saving lives, and your business. Along with Fire Risk Assessments and trained fire marshals, having a Fire Safety Grab Bag, or a Premises Information Box, will help the attending Fire Service Crew access the vital information they need when devising firefighting tactics.
BS9999:2017 Annex M requires operational information to be available to the Fire and Rescue Service, and the HM Government guidance notes on fire safety risk assessments call for the provision of information to the Fire and Rescue Service under section 7.3.
Although there is no specific legislation on how this information should be provided, grab bags and Premises Information Boxes allow the provision of important and relevant information to a responding fire service.
What are Fire Safety Grab Bags and Premises Information boxes?
They are red bags or boxes, depicted below, which contain important fire safety information which will aid emergency services in the event of a fire. They are placed at key locations of the premises, either inside, outside, or both. Typically, a Grab Bag will be used inside, and a Premises Information Box (PIB) on the outside. The location of the PIB should be recorded with the local Fire Service who will use a specialist key available to all fire and rescue services to open the box if required.
Fire Safety Grab Bag
Premises Information Box
Do I need a Fire Safety Grab Bag/Premises Information box at my premises?
It is advisable that all business premises have vital information easily available to any attending fire crews in the event of an incident. Many buildings are now equipped with fire engineering systems and solutions, which are often complex. Having up to date, accurate and clear information is essential when making tactical firefighting plans.
It is especially important if you have any of the following:
• Dangerous substances or hazards on site.
• Complex layout.
• A fire engineered solution.
• Complex firefighting facilities/controlling equipment.
What should be in the Grab Bag/Premises Information Box?
The Grab Bag/ PIB should contain documents with clear, simple, and usable information needed by emergency service crews to enable them to swiftly make and execute rescue and fire containment plans in the event of an incident.
Essential items to include are:
• Simple floor plan layouts including any relevant access, fire resistance, firefighting facilities, equipment, and hazards.
• Schematic fire system plans if any are in place
• Any operational contingency plans drawn up with the local fire service.
They usually identify resources available on site to assist with the incident. There may also be plans for other specific actions such as removal of staff from site to home when they cannot re-enter the premises to get keys, bags etc.
• Simple plans and/or schematics of the building to include locations of high risk processes (heat sources such as ovens, heaters etc. welding, cutting and other hot works, dangerous substances such as LPG, flammable liquids, refrigerants etc. forklift charging areas, battery stores.
• Location of any utility services cut-off points and a register of types of insulated panel in use and their locations etc.
• Any relevant information relating to equipment and fixed installations associated with fire safety such as automatic smoke detection, sprinklers and smoke extraction including basic operating instructions
• Contact names and numbers of the responsible person(s) for the site
• Any other information relevant to the site, premises, or occupancy. e.g., IT Server for business continuity.
Ideally, only Fire Service information should be stored in the Grab Bags/ Premises Information Boxes
The type, location, and contents of either your Fire Grab Bag or Premises Information Box would be determined by a competent fire risk assessor at your annual assessment. It is imperative that the information is kept up to date and checked regularly.
Please get in touch if you need any assistance with this, or any other fire or health and safety needs. Many businesses do not have in house safety experts and JCH Safety can act as your competent person in this area. We are based in Nuneaton in Warwickshire and serve clients across the Midlands including the cities of Coventry, Leicester, Derby and Birmingham providing fire risk assessments, and Health and Safety Consultancy. We work for a variety of different types of organisations meaning we have experience in many different areas. We provide safety consultancy and fire risk assessments for schools, businesses, pubs, golf clubs, warehouses and factories.
Contact us now to see how JCH Safety can help you.
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