Did you know?...

Yesterday, Greg and I met with Bill (the fire marshal) at the store. We walked with him through the store as he gave us an assessment of our "life safety" measures (basically, are we set up properly in case of a fire?).

Here is what we learned...hopefully someone out there can use these tips for their own retail projects:

1. It's a good idea to go to the fire marshal prior to construction to get an idea of what you will need in terms of life safety.
2. There are different kinds of fire extinguishers. A general one you can find at Home Depot is an ABC. If you have the potential for grease fires, you will need a more heavy duty "K" marked extinguisher.
3. Our deep fryers are located next to our stove. This is problematic because oil from the fryer can easily splash over and ignite a flame on the burners. Luckily, there are steel barricades you can buy to put in between the two. PHEW.
4. Emergency lights must be checked once a month. You can do this by holding down the switch for 30 seconds to make sure the battery is not on its last legs. Same goes for the Exit sign lights
5. You must have a life safety training plan for employees - it must state a common meeting place nearby for employees to gather to make sure everyone is out of the building.
6. New regulation states that the Ansul system must be checked 4x a year.
7. This is interesting - your ceiling tiles and anything that is upholstered must be certified. Each material must have its own permit - this can be done at the ISD.

So these are just some facts we learned from our meeting. We are constantly amazed by how much goes into this business...