General Requirements
The employer must provide portable fire extinguishers and must mount, locate and identify them so that they are readily accessible to employees without subjecting the employees to possible injury. Only approved portable fire extinguishers can be used. The employer must not provide or make available portable fire extinguishers using carbon tetrachloride or chlorobromomethane extinguishing agents. The employer must assure that portable fire extinguishers are maintained in a fully charged and operable condition and kept in their designated places at all times except during use.
Inspection
The employer must be responsible for the inspection, maintenance and testing of all portable fire extinguishers in the workplace. Portable extinguishers must be visually inspected monthly. The employer must assure that portable fire extinguishers are subjected to an annual maintenance check. Stored pressure extinguishers do not require an internal examination. The employer must record the annual maintenance date and retain this record for one year after the last entry or the life of the shell, whichever is less.
Training
Where the employer has provided portable fire extinguishers for employee use in the workplace, the employer must also provide training to familiarize employees with the general principles of fire extinguisher use and the hazards involved with incipient stage fire fighting upon initial employment and at least annually thereafter. The employer must provide employees who have been designated to use fire fighting equipment as part of an emergency action plan with training in the use of the appropriate equipment upon initial assignment to the designated group of employees and at least annually thereafter.
Selection and Distribution
Portable fire extinguishers must be provided for employee use and selected and distributed based on the classes of anticipated workplace fires and on the size and degree of hazard which would affect their use. The employer must distribute portable fire extinguishers for use by employees on Class A fires so that the travel distance to any extinguisher is 75 feet or less.
The employer must distribute portable fire extinguishers for use by employees on Class B fires so that the travel distance from the Class B hazard area to any extinguisher is 50 feet or less. The employer must distribute portable fire extinguishers used for Class C hazards on the basis of the appropriate pattern for the existing Class A or Class B hazards.
The employer must distribute portable fire extinguishers or other containers of Class D extinguishing agent for use by employees so that the travel distance from the combustible metal working area to any extinguishing agent is 75 feet or less. Portable fire extinguishers for Class D hazards are required in those combustible metal working areas where combustible metal powders, flakes, shavings or similarly sized products are generated at least once every two weeks.