It’s better to be prepared than to be caught in the dark. Should a fire break out, does your clinic have an established emergency plan? Are procedures in place and staff aware of the steps to take to provide for their safety? Have measures been taken that supply added security for the future of your business? The following information highlights important details that need to be considered before a catastrophe occurs.

Establishing a Fire Safety Plan for Your Veterinary Clinic

Develop an emergency plan by taking the time to address safety points, including:

• Clearly identify exits
• Check that all doors open freely and that access to exits are never blocked
• Map a secure escape route that takes people out and away from clinic
• Identify a meeting spot away from the building in order to account for all staff present at the start of the fire
• Designate a staff member to be in charge of issuing roll call once at meeting spot
• Install smoke detectors, fire alarms, and sprinkler systems according to the needs of the facility, and test them regularly to ensure that they are functioning properly
• Mount fire extinguishers in plain sight and train staff on their use
• Monitor outlets to eliminate chance of overloading sockets
• If outlet strips are used, make sure they are properly grounded and not overused
• If space heaters or fans are being used, keep them away from anything that could catch on fire
• Make sure that everything has a place and is in its place, clutter not only increases the chances a fire will spread, but also makes fire more difficult to extinguish
• Store combustible materials properly
• Provide easy access to ash tray in order to properly extinguish and dispose of cigarettes

Protect Your Information
If a fire were to start, everything inside a clinic runs the risk of being damaged. Patient chart files, veterinary resource materials, inventory records, insurance policies, basically anything paper can be easily destroyed. Additional information stored on computers may also be lost if the hard drives are damaged by heat, fire, or water.
A plan that provides added protection of the data that is vital to the clinic’s daily operation could include:

• Investing in cabinets that are rated to provide additional protection for hard copy documents that need to be kept on-site
• Storing any paper or back-up discs either off premises or within a fire safe
• Routinely downloading a backup copy of all pertinent clinic information to a separate computer hard drive housed away from the clinic
• Use of a cloud-based information service that stores documents safely and securely online, and provides instant access to the materials no matter your location.

Patient and Client Protection
To be prepared in case fire damage requires the clinic to close unexpectedly, steps need to be addressed in regard to patient needs. If the damage is not extensive and the clinic is expected to reopen shortly, some appointments and responsibilities may be re-scheduled. However, if the damage is extensive or when a delay is not an option, the following may need to be considered:

• Establishing a referral relationship and agreement with another veterinarian and/or clinic
• Determining methods to maintain a connection with clients in order to:
• Provide notification of the situation
• Establish access to emergency and referral contact information
• Issue updates on status and clinic contact information
• Arrange for a way to stay up-to-date with future clinic changes.

Being prepared is the best way to safeguard a clinic’s staff, patients, and information. While the damage can be detrimental, developing an emergency plan that focuses on safety will prove beneficial should a fire ever occur.

If you are looking for other ways to safeguard your clinic in the event of an emergency, please contact your Covetrus representative at 855.724.3461.