Retail
A shop almost never burns through the shop window.
It burns through the stockroom, through the distribution board, through whatever is left charging overnight behind a closed door. And when there are flats above, it is no longer only your business at stake.
Your obligations
What actually applies to you
The risk is at the back, not at the front
Cardboard, shrink wrap, pallets waiting to be unpacked, a distribution board set into the back wall: the stockroom concentrates the fire load of the shop, and it is the one room nobody walks through all day. A suitable extinguisher within reach, clear space in front of the board, and nothing stacked against it.
At street level you also protect the people above
A shop beneath flats is the most common arrangement in Belgium and the worst handled. Compartmentation between the shop and the shared stairwell — fire-resisting wall, self-closing fire door — is not decoration: it is what gives the residents time to get down. The Royal Decree of 7 July 1994 applies as soon as there is building or conversion work.
Escape routes: the most common finding
Restocking ends up in the corridor, the fire exit behind a clothes rail, the extinguisher behind a pallet. None of it is deliberate and all of it makes the report. Escape routes must stay clear, exit doors must open from the inside without a key, and the emergency lighting must be tested rather than assumed.
Whatever charges overnight belongs in the risk analysis
Electric bikes and scooters, tool batteries, devices in for repair: unattended charging has become a risk in its own right, and insurers are starting to ask about it explicitly. The fire risk analysis required by the Code on well-being at work has to cover it like the rest.
On inspection day
What gets looked at first
An inspection does not start with the drawings. It starts with what is visible walking through the shop, and that is where most findings come from.
- Extinguishers, signed and reachable — not behind a pallet of stock
- The date of the last service, on the label of every appliance
- The fire door to the stairwell: does it actually close, or is it wedged open
- The distribution board, clear with nothing stored in front of it
- Emergency lighting and exit signage, tested
- The safety register, and this year’s evacuation drill
A survey of your shop
We come on site, sales floor and stockroom alike, and you leave with a written report setting out what is missing and what is enough.
Frequently asked questions
The answers people ask us for in meetings.
Your situation is not on the list? A project manager calls you back within 24 working hours, with no sales intermediary.
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