Month: January 2018

Orders for flamethrowers in the USA were set a new record at the weekend when over 7,000 flamethrowers, priced at $500 each sold within just a few hours, making the company, Boring, an estimated $3.5m. Businessman Elon Musk set up The Boring Company a year ago after getting stuck in a traffic jam and tweeting: “Traffic is driving me nuts. Am going to build a tunnel boring machine and just start digging …”. Musk, the multi-billionaire founder of electric car company Tesla is well known as a maverick businessman.   He had promised that if The Boring Company sold 50,000 baseball caps at $20 each he would start selling flamethrowers.

 

The hats sold out, and Musk started selling $500 flamethrowers on Sunday, tweeting: “Guaranteed to liven up any party!” He also put Boring fire extinguishers up for sale, which despite him saying they were overpriced were snapped up in thousands.

 

Why?  It would appear that this was a publicity gimmick which in 2018 can easily go viral.  The flamethrowers and extinguishers are on pre-order so there might be a few refunds in the process in the cold light of day, and it will surely only be a matter of time before someone gets seriously injured or worse.  In the UK flamethrowers (as described), are considered weapons and as such are illegal.  Additionally, importing such weapons to the UK would be likely to mean that an unwelcome visit from HM Customs might be delivered instead.  Anyway, if you want party fun, a chocolate fountain would probably go down equally as well …

 

For all your fire safety needs including great value extinguishers, fire blankets and fire alarms contact us at Bath & West Fire & Safety.

 

In these days of environmental responsibility, have you ever wondered what happens to your extinguishers when they are removed from their stations as an ‘extended service’ and whether they are recycled?

 

As part of our regular visits to your property, our qualified technicians carefully inspect all your fire safety equipment.  If an extinguisher is showing signs of losing pressure or a non-serviceable state, or when extended or overhaul services are due, we will remove it and a replacement extinguisher primed for pressure and ready for service will be supplied. The old extinguisher will be loaded on our van and taken back to our warehouse, where it will be stored ready for collection.  Once a month the extinguishers are removed for recycling.

 

Our recycling contractor is a licensed waste carrier with the relevant environmental permits in place for this operation. They liaise with the Environment Agency and all waste is disposed of in line with current legislation.  After being safely depressurised, the contents of the extinguishers are emptied into different containers, the powder is processed into fertiliser. The empty extinguishers are then completely dismantled, and these sorted materials are then sent for recycling and reused in commercial equipment, household items, and in new fire extinguishers – this means that almost 100% of an extinguisher and the remaining contents are recycled.

 

All this is good news for the environment and it means that you, our customer, can be assured that it is our intention at Bath & West Fire & Safety to be as environmentally responsible as possible from start to finish.

 

Should you have to use your extinguisher, the extinguisher must be replaced as soon as possible, and we will prioritise any customers who have had the misfortune of a fire. Contact Bath & West Fire & Safety your local fire safety experts and we shall be happy to advise.

After the festive excesses, the shops have now replaced tinsel and turkeys with racks of miserably portioned calorie counted ‘for you’ foods which make January seem a very long month, but hey at least the days are getting lighter.
Here are five reasons NOT to go on a diet, and five tips for your smoke alarm. Sceptical? Read on …
1. Diets don’t work. That is … if you cut down on calories and starve yourself then guess what, your body cleverly goes into crisis mode and conserves fat reserves which make it harder to lose weight and easier to put on weight. Smoke alarms do work … they save lives, as long as you remember to test them regularly.
2. Weight does not equate health. We are all different – hooray! Healthy people are all shapes and sizes. Rooms come in all different shapes and sizes too. Make sure you have enough smoke alarms for the spaces in your property.
3. Diets come and go but it’s lasting change that counts. Be consistent with any changes and make sure they are for rest of your life – but be realistic in your goal especially with exercise. So get physical and test that smoke alarm now!
4. Dieting takes up too much time and mental anguish. Why hesitate at the restaurant when you really crave that steak with sauce and a pudding? A treat now and again is good for you, just as long as it is not all the time. Don’t fret about whether your smoke alarm is working, test it every month on the same day and get some batteries in reserve … sorted.
5. Restriction usually leads to bingeing and you will put on weight when you binge. It is far better to eat a balanced diet spread over the day, every day. Smoke alarms in restricted places won’t be able to pick up a change in air quality from a distance, so don’t deprive you and yours by having badly placed smoke alarms.

Have a happy 2018! For all your fire safety needs, including smoke alarms, contact us at Bath & West Fire & Safety, your local experts for fire extinguishers, fire safety training, fire alarms and fire risk assessments