How Working with a Fireproofing Contractor Will Ensure Your Safety and Compliance Requirements Are Met

Reg­u­la­to­ry bod­ies like the Occu­pa­tion­al Safe­ty and Health Admin­is­tra­tion (OSHA) and Nation­al Fire Pro­tec­tion Asso­ci­a­tion (NFPA) out­line and dic­tate the var­i­ous fire codes facil­i­ties must meet to con­tin­ue oper­at­ing. While it’s impor­tant to know a thing or two about the require­ments rel­e­vant for your build­ing, you have plen­ty on your plate as it is. As such, it’s more effi­cient to work with a knowl­edge­able fire­proof­ing con­trac­tor that can keep your facil­i­ty up to code and up to date. Let’s explore how work­ing with a fire­proof­ing con­trac­tor will help ensure all your fire safe­ty and com­pli­ance require­ments are met (and stay that way).

Famil­iar with Your Facility

When it comes to pro­tect­ing your facil­i­ty from flames and keep­ing it com­pli­ant, you don’t want to hire just any fire­proof­ing provider. Tak­ing the time to research a con­trac­tor with whom you can build a rela­tion­ship is worth the effort. After all, you want your fire­proof­ing con­trac­tor to know your facil­i­ty as well as you do. By work­ing close­ly with your provider this way, they’ll gain an inti­mate under­stand­ing of your building’s unique needs and chal­lenges, point­ing out prob­lems in a time­ly man­ner, deploy­ing opti­mal strate­gies to resolve them, and reduc­ing poten­tial down­time — they’ll also know which type of fire­proof paint pro­tects your sur­faces and what to do should it begin to deteriorate.

Peri­od­ic Inspec­tions and Maintenance

Your fire­proof con­trac­tor shouldn’t just be well-versed in apply­ing and repair­ing fire­proof coat­ings — they should also know how to con­duct thor­ough inspec­tions to keep your facil­i­ty in line with all nec­es­sary reg­u­la­tions. Indeed, fire­proof­ing is only one arm of your facility’s fire safe­ty and com­pli­ance pro­to­cols. You must also pay atten­tion to oth­er fire pre­ven­tion sys­tems (both active and pas­sive), such as smoke detec­tors, alarms, extin­guish­ers, sprin­klers, ven­ti­la­tion sys­tems, and more. Qual­i­fied fire­proof con­trac­tors know how to prop­er­ly exam­ine each of these fire safe­ty com­po­nents peri­od­i­cal­ly to mit­i­gate safe­ty haz­ards, ensure your build­ing is always up to code, and devel­op and adjust main­te­nance plans.

Mul­ti­tude of Ser­vice Offerings

Just as there’s no sin­gle way to pro­tect your facil­i­ty from fire (it involves a vari­ety of strate­gies and equip­ment), there’s no sin­gle method of fire­proof­ing your sur­faces. Dif­fer­ent fire­proof­ing mate­ri­als and appli­ca­tion meth­ods may be bet­ter suit­ed in cer­tain con­texts, and your con­trac­tors must have the resources and knowl­edge to deploy their strate­gies accord­ing­ly. Cemen­ti­tious fire­proof­ing, for instance, is more effec­tive in dry areas, where­as intu­mes­cent coat­ings can endure in more humid envi­ron­ments and offer a greater degree of pro­tec­tion over­all. Fire­proof coat­ings can also be sprayed on or applied via brush or roller depend­ing on the sur­face in ques­tion. Your fire­proof­ing con­trac­tor should also pro­vide fire­proof patch­ing ser­vices so that any dam­aged or destroyed fire­proof coat­ings are quick­ly repaired or replaced to keep your build­ing safe and up to code.

Keep­ing your build­ing pro­tect­ed from fires and com­pli­ance issues is no small task, but it’s imper­a­tive for the safe­ty of your peo­ple and your busi­ness. Work­ing with an expe­ri­enced, com­pre­hen­sive fire­proof­ing con­trac­tor like Kaloutas will relieve you of this bur­den and allow you to focus on what you do best with added peace of mind. To learn more about us and all that we do, con­tact us online or give us a call at 978−532−1414 today.