Waking Watch Services

What are waking watch services?

A ‘Waking watch’ (also known as fire watch) is a service where trained fire wardens patrol all floors and the exterior perimeter of a building. The National Fire Chiefs Council (NFCC) recommended the use of waking watch services in high rise blocks of flats with risk issues after the tragic events at Grenfell Tower in 2017.

Why invest in a waking watch service?

A business should consider investing in a waking watch service if their building has fire safety issues that pose a risk to their employees, visitors, or assets. Important reasons to consider investing in a waking watch service are as follows:

• Compliance with fire safety regulations: A waking watch service can help to comply with important regulations, reducing the risk of fines, legal action, or reputational damage.
• Protection of people and property: The presence of trained fire wardens carrying out regular patrols can help prevent or reduce the risk of fires, reducing the risk of injury or death to staff and visitors and protecting the business’s assets.
• A tailored solution: A waking watch service can be customised to the specific fire safety needs of a business and site. Important considerations may be the size and layout of the building, the nature of the business activities, and specific equipment or machinery that poses a a high fire risk.
• Peace of mind: When you have a waking watch service in place, you have the peace of mind that the utmost care has been taken to protect peoples’ lives as well as the site, and demonstrate the importance of peoples’ safety to all stakeholders.
• Cost-effectiveness: A waking watch service can be a more cost-effective solution than installing or upgrading fire safety systems, particularly in older or complex buildings. It can also be a temporary solution while more permanent fire safety measures are being implemented.

Key features

The key features of waking watch services include:

• 24/7 on-site presence of trained fire wardens who patrol all floors and the exterior perimeter of the building
• Quick identification of potential fire hazards and immediate response to any fire outbreak
• Collaboration with the building manager to implement the most appropriate fire safety strategy
• Assistance to residents in evacuating the building in a safe and orderly manner
• Additional, specialist support for building manager on the most appropriate fire safety strategy

Safety personnel are on site 24/7, so they can quickly discover if a fire breaks out, raise an alarm and help residents evacuate calmly and safely. Waking watch duties include working with the building manager to implement the most appropriate fire watch services to meet their needs.

The waking watch service that we offer at Safe Site Security Solutions, includes a fire safety strategy in buildings. This strategic approach is important where safety issues may be a concern, such as unsafe exterior cladding or faulty alarm systems. You can enlist our specialist services and get that all important peace of mind that people in or around a property will be kept safe.

A guard on patrol is most likely to detect a fire early which will subsequently minimise the damage to property, save lives, reduce costs and give fire fighters the most possible time to safely evacuate a building and extinguish the fire before it spreads.

Contact our team today to learn how we tailor our services to the exact fire safety requirements of the building.