Fire Safety, First Aid and Evacuation Course (EU): Lessons 2026

Lesson 1: Emergency planning: who does what

The EU laws in this course

• Framework Directive 89/391/EEC: the main EU law on safety and health at work. It applies to almost all sectors, public and private. Its Article 8 covers first aid, fire-fighting, evacuation and serious and imminent danger.
• Workplace Directive 89/654/EEC: minimum requirements for workplaces, including emergency routes and exits, fire detection and fire-fighting, and first aid rooms and equipment.
• Safety Signs Directive 92/58/EEC: the colours, shapes and signals used for safety signs at work, including escape, first-aid and fire-fighting signs and the evacuation alarm.

A directive sets minimum rules. Each EU country puts it into its own national law, and the national law sets the details, such as how many first-aiders you need or how to report an accident. Article 1(3) of the Framework Directive says countries may keep or adopt rules that protect workers better.

The employer's duties

Article 5 says the employer has a duty to ensure the safety and health of workers in every aspect related to the work. If the employer uses an outside safety company, the employer is still responsible.

Under Article 8, the employer must:

• Take the necessary measures for first aid, fire-fighting and evacuation, adapted to the nature of the activities and the size of the business, and taking into account other people present, such as customers, visitors and contractors.
• Arrange any necessary contacts with outside services, especially for first aid, emergency medical care, rescue work and fire-fighting.
• Designate workers to carry out these measures (for example first-aiders and fire wardens). Their number, training and equipment must be adequate for the size and the specific hazards of the workplace.

When several companies share a workplace, such as an office building or a building site, their employers must cooperate, coordinate their actions and inform each other and their workers about the risks (Article 6(4)).

Training

Article 12 says every worker must get adequate safety and health training that is adapted to their own workstation or job. Training is needed:

• when you are recruited
• when you transfer or change job
• when new or changed work equipment is introduced
• when new technology is introduced

Training must be adapted to new or changed risks and repeated when needed. It may not be at the worker's expense and must take place during working hours.

Serious and imminent danger

Article 8(3) to 8(5) protect workers when there is a serious and imminent danger:

• The employer must inform all workers who are, or may be, exposed as soon as possible of the risk and of the steps taken to protect them.
• If the danger is serious, imminent and unavoidable, workers must be able to stop work and leave immediately for a place of safety.
• A worker who leaves in this situation may not be put at a disadvantage.
• If your supervisor cannot be contacted and there is serious and imminent danger to you or others, you should be able to take appropriate steps, using your knowledge and the means you have, to avoid the consequences.

Your duties as a worker

Article 13 says each worker must take care of their own safety and that of others affected by their work. You must use equipment correctly and immediately inform your employer, or the workers with safety responsibilities, of any situation you reasonably think is a serious and immediate danger, and of any shortcomings in the protection arrangements.

Quiz sa paksa 1: Emergency planning: who does what

Lesson 2: Fire basics and fire prevention at work

The fire triangle

UK health and safety guidance (from the Health and Safety Executive, HSE) explains that a fire needs three things to start. Together they are often called the fire triangle:

Fire prevention means keeping heat and fuel apart. For example, a heater placed next to a stack of paper brings heat and fuel together, and the air supplies the oxygen.

Some fuels are less obvious: engine oil, grease, packaging materials and fine dusts from wood, flour or sugar can all burn.

Most fires are preventable

The UK HSE's fire safety guidance says most fires are preventable. Two simple examples show how fires start:

• A worker throws a cigarette end onto a pile of rubbish behind the building. Later the rubbish catches fire. Careless smoking near rubbish brings heat and fuel together.
• A shop piles packing waste next to its back door. The waste catches fire and blocks an exit. Waste should go to a safe storage area away from exits and heat.

Good habits help: keep work areas tidy, store rubbish and packaging away from exits and heat, keep flammable liquids closed and stored as your site requires, and smoke only in places where smoking is allowed.

Principles of prevention

Article 6(2) of the Framework Directive lists general principles of prevention. Those most useful for fire are:

• Avoiding risks (this comes first).
• Evaluating the risks that cannot be avoided.
• Combating the risks at source.
• Replacing the dangerous by the non-dangerous or the less dangerous, for example a non-flammable cleaning product instead of a flammable solvent.
• Giving collective protective measures (which protect everyone) priority over individual protective measures.

The employer must evaluate the risks, including from chemical substances, and must adjust the measures when circumstances change, for example when a warehouse starts storing a flammable liquid.

What fire equipment a workplace needs

Under Annex I point 5.1 of the Workplace Directive, the fire-fighting equipment, fire detectors and alarm systems a workplace needs depend on:

• the size and use of the buildings
• the equipment they contain
• the physical and chemical properties of the substances present
• the maximum number of people who may be present

Workplaces must have appropriate fire-fighting equipment and, as necessary, fire detectors and alarm systems. National fire laws and your site's fire risk assessment set the details.

Quiz sa paksa 2: Fire basics and fire prevention at work

Lesson 3: Fire classes and fire-fighting equipment

Fire classes (EN 2)

The European standard EN 2 sorts fires into classes by what is burning. The table follows a UK fire and rescue service's summary of EN 2:

Extinguisher types

The table below is based on guidance from UK fire and rescue authorities (one country's guidance). Your national rules and the label on each extinguisher always apply.

The same UK guidance says a fire blanket is suitable for small fires in containers of cooking oil or fat, such as a pan. For Class C and Class D fires, specialist advice is needed. Fires involving aerosols are not safe to fight with an extinguisher.

Colours of fire equipment

Under the European standard EN 3, portable fire extinguishers have a red body. UK fire and rescue service guidance says a zone of colour of 5% of the body shows the extinguishing agent. Always read the label to check the type before use.

Directive 92/58/EEC says the colour for identifying fire-fighting equipment is red. Signs showing where fire equipment is (for example an extinguisher, a fire hose or a fire ladder) are rectangular or square, with a white pictogram on a red background, and red covers at least 50% of the sign.

Where equipment is kept and who uses it

• Non-automatic fire-fighting equipment, such as extinguishers, must be easily accessible, simple to use and shown by signs (Workplace Directive, Annex I point 5.2).
• Extinguishers should be easy to see on escape routes, for example near exits, and not hidden behind doors (UK fire and rescue service guidance).
• Safety equipment must be regularly maintained and checked (Workplace Directive, Article 6).
• Extinguishers are provided mainly for trained people (UK fire and rescue service guidance). Under EU law, the employer designates and trains workers for fire-fighting.

Quiz sa paksa 3: Fire classes and fire-fighting equipment

Lesson 4: Alarms, escape routes and safety signs

The alarm

Under Directive 92/58/EEC, the acoustic signal for evacuation must be continuous. Acoustic signals must be considerably louder than the background noise, so everyone can hear them. Illuminated signals (lights) and acoustic signals may be used together, which helps in noisy places.

Emergency routes and exits

Annex I of the Workplace Directive 89/654/EEC sets these rules:

• Emergency routes and exits must lead as directly as possible to the open air or a safe area, and it must be possible to evacuate all workstations quickly and as safely as possible.
• Their number, distribution and size depend on the use, equipment and size of the workplace and the maximum number of people present.
• Emergency doors must open outwards. Sliding or revolving doors are not permitted if they are specifically intended as emergency exits.
• Emergency doors must not be locked.
• Emergency routes and exits, and the routes and doors leading to them, must be free from obstruction so they can be used at any time.
• Routes that need lighting must have emergency lighting of adequate intensity in case the normal lighting fails.
• Emergency routes and exits must be shown by signs.

Safety signs: colours and shapes

Directive 92/58/EEC sets the meaning of safety colours and the design of signboards. Signs are used where hazards cannot be avoided or reduced enough in other ways, and employers must tell workers what the signs mean.

In short: red means prohibition, danger alarm and fire-fighting equipment; yellow means warning; blue means a mandatory action; green means emergency escape, first aid, or no danger.

Signs that need electricity must have a guaranteed emergency power supply in case of a power cut.

Example: a green escape sign is 30 cm by 15 cm. Its area is 30 × 15 = 450 cm², so at least half of it, 225 cm², must be green.

During an evacuation

1. When the alarm sounds, stop work and leave by the nearest safe exit. Follow the green signs.
2. Use lifts only if your site's plan says you may. Do not stop to collect belongings.
3. Help visitors and others who need help, as your plan says, and follow the instructions of fire wardens.
4. Go to the assembly point named in your site's emergency plan, so the people in charge can check that everyone is out and tell the emergency services if someone may be missing.
5. Do not go back inside until the person in charge or the emergency services say it is safe.

Quiz sa paksa 4: Alarms, escape routes and safety signs

Lesson 5: First aid awareness and calling 112

First aid arrangements at work

• The employer must designate workers for first aid, with adequate numbers, training and equipment (Framework Directive, Article 8).
• First aid equipment must be available wherever working conditions require it, suitably marked and easily accessible (Workplace Directive, Annex I point 19.3).
• One or more first aid rooms are needed where the size of the premises, the type of work and how often accidents happen call for it (Annex I point 19.1).
• First aid signs use a white pictogram on a green background.
• European first aid guidance recommends first aid kits in workplaces, clearly marked, easy to reach and properly maintained.

Find out who your first-aiders are, where the first aid kit is and where the nearest AED (automated external defibrillator) is kept.

Calling 112

• 112 works everywhere in the EU, free of charge, from fixed and mobile phones, to reach any emergency service.
• It works alongside national emergency numbers. Some countries, such as Denmark, Finland and Sweden, have made 112 their only national emergency number.
• Operators in many countries can answer in the national language and also in English or French.
• If you do not know where you are, the operator can find your location and pass it to the emergency services. Still give the address if you can.

When someone collapses: the first steps

1. Check that it is safe to approach: look for traffic, live wires or violent people.
2. Check for a response: gently stimulate the person and ask loudly, "Are you OK?"
3. Call 112 (or get someone else to call) and alert your workplace first-aider. Put the phone on speaker so your hands are free while the dispatcher gives you step-by-step instructions.
4. If the person is not breathing normally, they need CPR. The dispatcher can guide you until help arrives. Send someone to fetch an AED and use it as soon as possible, following its voice prompts. Each minute of delay lowers the chance of survival.

The recovery position (awareness)

First aid courses teach the recovery position: lying a person on their side with the head placed to help breathing. It is used for someone whose responsiveness is reduced because of illness (for example, they are very drowsy or do not respond), who is breathing normally, shows no signs of trauma (injury, for example from a fall) and does not need CPR. Their breathing must be checked again and again.

It is not used if breathing is not normal or if there is trauma: do not move the person into the recovery position. Someone who is not breathing normally needs CPR, lying flat on their back. Follow the dispatcher's instructions.

Other key points

• For life-threatening bleeding, firm, direct pressure on the wound is the key action while help comes.
• Do not move an injured person unless they are in an unsafe place.
• Follow the directions of your workplace first-aider and the emergency services.

Quiz sa paksa 5: First aid awareness and calling 112

Lesson 6: After an incident

Going back inside

Do not go back inside until the person in charge or the emergency services say it is safe. Except in rare, justified cases, the employer must not ask workers to resume work where a serious and imminent danger remains (Article 8(3)(c)). A worker who left because of such a danger may not be put at a disadvantage (Article 8(4)).

Records and reports

• The employer must keep a list of occupational accidents that leave a worker unfit for work for more than three working days (Article 9(1)(c)).
• The employer must draw up reports on accidents for the authorities in line with national laws and practice (Article 9(1)(d)). Each country sets its own reporting rules and deadlines.
• Workers with specific safety responsibilities, or workers' representatives, must have access to the list and reports of accidents (Article 10).

Example: Ana is off work for 2 working days, Ben for 4 and Chloe for 3. Only Ben's accident is over three working days, so only his must go on the list.

Make equipment ready again

• A used extinguisher must be reported so it can be checked and replaced or refilled. Safety equipment must be regularly maintained and checked.
• Tell the person in charge when first aid kit items are used, so the kit can be restocked.
• Report faults found during an incident or drill, such as emergency lighting that did not work, a fire door wedged open or an alarm that could not be heard. Remove a wedge yourself only if it is safe and allowed.

Learn and improve

• The employer must adjust safety measures to changing circumstances, for example when a fire or a drill shows that the plan did not work well (Article 6(1)).
• The employer must consult workers and/or their representatives on safety and health measures (Article 11).
• Training must be adapted to new or changed risks and repeated when needed (Article 12).
• If people could not hear the alarm in a noisy area, an illuminated signal (flashing light) may be added, since lights and acoustic signals may be used together.

Writing an incident report

A good report sticks to the facts: what happened, when, where, who was involved and what was done. Write it soon, and do not guess or blame. Clear reports help the employer keep records, report as national law requires and improve the plan.

Quiz sa paksa 6: After an incident