The Fire Exit Behind the Pallet Stack
A warehouse stores cardboard packaging in a 12,000 m² building. The main dispatch area has two marked fire exits, but one has been blocked for two months by stacked pallets because 'the fork-lift route is quicker that way'. The exit sign above it is unlit - the emergency lighting unit was disconnected during electrical works and never reconnected. There are 14 staff on the day shift and 6 on nights. The fire risk assessment was done three years ago and lists the building as 'low hazard, normal risk'. A small fire starts in a cardboard stack at 02:10 on a night shift. The night supervisor smells smoke, investigates, and finds flames about 1 m high spreading up the stack.
1. Assess the fire risk assessment against what is actually in the building, and say what is wrong with the 'low hazard, normal risk' classification.
Read the worked answer
The classification is wrong on its face. The building stores large quantities of cardboard - a high fire-load, fast-spreading fuel. That is not 'low hazard'. The assessment is also three years old and does not reflect:
- the blocked exit,
- the disconnected emergency lighting,
- the change in storage layout and pallet stacking.
What a competent assessment would have captured:
- Fire load and spread rate of cardboard stacks.
- Number and location of exits relative to occupancy (14 day / 6 night).
- Travel distances to the nearest usable exit.
- Emergency lighting and signage as life-safety systems.
- Housekeeping and stacking rules as fire-prevention controls.
- Night-time occupancy: fewer staff means slower discovery and fewer people to fight a small fire.
The key error: treating a storage building as low hazard because 'nothing much happens there'. The hazard is the fuel load, not the process. A three-year-old assessment with no review trigger is also a system failure - changes to exits and lighting should have forced a review.
2. The supervisor finds a 1 m fire at 02:10. Set out the correct immediate actions and the decision points.
Read the worked answer
Immediate actions, in order:
- Raise the alarm and call the fire service before attempting anything. At 02:10 with six staff, the priority is evacuation, not heroics.
- Evacuate via the usable exit; account for all six staff at the assembly point. The blocked exit is now a life-safety issue - people must know which exit is usable.
- Only if trained and it is safe, attempt to fight the fire with the nearest suitable extinguisher, keeping a clear escape route behind them. A 1 m fire in cardboard can double in size in under a minute; the decision point is whether the fire is still small and the escape route is clear. If either is not true, leave.
- Do not re-enter for stock or vehicles.
- Meet the fire service and tell them: cardboard fuel, layout, the blocked exit, and that emergency lighting is out.
Decision points: Is the fire still small? Is my escape route clear? Am I trained? Is anyone unaccounted for? If any answer is unfavourable, evacuate and wait.
3. What are the post-incident corrective actions, and how would you check the site is safe to reopen?
Read the worked answer
Corrective actions:
- Clear the blocked exit immediately and mark a no-storage zone in front of every exit; enforce it with floor marking and a daily check.
- Reconnect and test emergency lighting; record the test.
- Re-do the fire risk assessment with the actual fire load; reclassify.
- Review stacking heights and separation from ignition sources; housekeeping regime.
- Night-shift specific arrangements: discovery, alarm, evacuation, roll call.
- Fire drills for night shift, not just day shift.
Reopen check (walk the building before signing off):
- Every exit opens, is unobstructed and is signed and lit.
- Emergency lighting tested and logged.
- Extinguishers in place, charged and accessible.
- Alarm tested and audible in all areas.
- Assembly point known and roll-call procedure in place.
- Staff briefed on the new rules.
Sign off only when each item is physically verified, not when the work order says it was done.