Fire Training by Lo!

It was that time of year again… fire training!

Every year CQC require the practice staff to either attend a course off site or have training in the practice on how to manage the situation should a fire occur at the practice.

Here at Woodborough House we usually have a company come to the practice during one of our monthly team meetings. So, on Thursday 22^nd May, we all finished in surgery for the morning and gathered in our reception area for a fire awareness presentation and some lunch.

During the time the fire trainer was here we covered different types of fire extinguishers and appropriate situations to use them, where all the fire alarms are in the building and the difference between a smoke alarm and a fire alarm. We discussed where the fire exits are and where the safe place outside was should we have to evacuate.

During the training we assigned four fire marshals. Their job in the event of a fire is to make sure everyone has left the building safely without panicking too much. We decided the best people for this would be Dr Sarah Fitzharris and Dr Sen Senthil alongside Leah and Lauren, our two receptionists. We allocated them as they are present in the practice most day of the week. and at least one of them is here every day.

The fire trainer asked us about how often we check the fire alarms and where we log this. Our lovely business manager Karen makes it her weekly Friday morning task and it for sure wakes us all up to start the day! :) We got told how important it is to keep records of this for insurance.

Now for the fun part, we all got to have a go outside using the CO2 fire extinguishers! This is a great extinguisher as it puffs out a big cloud of smoke and makes an impressive noise. Although it was raining outside everyone took their turns with the umbrella and pretended to be a fire-fighter for just a few seconds.

The following Tuesday we also had our annual fire inspection to make sure the practice was not causing any fire risks. They checked that all electrical equipment had been officially PATS tested and we were not overloading any electrical sockets. Again, Karen ensures we are all up to date with any testing needed in the practice.

I am pleased to say that we passed with flying colours and all officially know what to do in the disastrous event of a fire!