Fire safety awareness for all employees

For all employees: prevent workplace fires, know your role in the emergency plan, get out fast and decide when an extinguisher is, and is not, an option.

For: All employees in any workplace

  • 2 contact hours
  • 7 modules
  • 7 interactives
  • 4 job aids
  • Updated October 11, 2026

What you will be able to do

  • Explain how fires start, grow and spread, and why smoke is the main danger, using current national fire data.
  • Identify common causes of workplace fires and apply prevention practices consistent with a fire prevention plan.
  • Describe your role in your workplace emergency action plan, including recognizing alarms and reporting a fire.
  • Use exit routes correctly and recognize the OSHA requirements that keep them usable.
  • Evacuate safely, report to the assembly point, support accountability and assist people with disabilities.
  • Decide whether a fire can be safely fought with a portable extinguisher and describe extinguisher classes and the PASS technique.

A workplace fire can go from a small flame to a room full of toxic smoke in minutes. This course teaches every employee how fires start and grow, the everyday hazards that cause them, and the practical prevention habits that stop them. It then walks through what to do when the alarm sounds: your part in the emergency action plan, how exit routes must work, how to evacuate and be accounted for, and how to help coworkers with disabilities.

It is written for all employees, from call centers and warehouses to bakeries, shops and offices. You will learn how OSHA's exit route, emergency action plan, fire prevention plan and portable fire extinguisher standards affect you, and how to decide, in seconds, whether a fire is small enough to fight or whether to leave. The course ends with home fire safety, because the same habits protect your family.

This is awareness training, not OSHA Outreach training. If your employer expects you to use fire extinguishers, OSHA requires education when you are hired and every year, and hands-on practice is the best way to build that skill. Fire wardens and evacuation coordinators need additional training. You earn a certificate of completion for 2 contact hours.

What you’ll be able to do Monday morning

  1. Walk from your workstation to two different exits and on to your assembly point.
  2. Learn what your fire alarm sounds and looks like, and treat every alarm as real.
  3. Find out whether your workplace expects employees to use fire extinguishers, or to evacuate immediately.
  4. Clear anything stored in an exit route, in front of an extinguisher or within reach of a heat source.
  5. Report any blocked exit, burned-out exit sign, damaged cord or overheating equipment the same day.
  6. Test the smoke alarms at home this week and agree on two ways out of every room.

Curriculum

7 modules · 28 lessons · about 2 contact hours

01Why does fire safety matter, and how does fire behave?Free preview14 min
  1. The size of the problem
  2. What a fire needs: the triangle and the tetrahedron
  3. How fires grow, and why smoke is the danger
  4. Classes of fire
  • Matching activity: Match the fire class

Diagram · In practice checklist · 3-question knowledge check

02What starts workplace fires, and how do you prevent them?15 min
  1. The fire prevention plan
  2. Electrical, heating and cooking hazards
  3. Fuel: housekeeping, flammables, dust and hot work
  4. Security, arson and reporting hazards
  • Spot the issue: Spot the fire hazards in a bakery walk-through

Diagram · In practice checklist · 2-question knowledge check

03What is your role in the emergency action plan?14 min
  1. What the emergency action plan covers
  2. Alarms: treat every one as real
  3. If you discover a fire
  4. Critical operations, wardens and special roles
  • Decision tree: You discover smoke or fire

Diagram · In practice checklist · 3-question knowledge check

04How do you use exit routes, and what keeps them usable?14 min
  1. What makes an exit route
  2. Keeping routes clear every day
  3. Moving through smoke and heat
  4. Knowing your routes before you need them
  • Spot the issue: Spot the exit route problems

Diagram · In practice checklist · 2-question knowledge check

05How do you evacuate, get accounted for and help people with disabilities?15 min
  1. Evacuating well
  2. Accounting for everyone
  3. Assisting people with disabilities
  4. Practicing and improving
  • Branching scenario: Real alarm at the call center

Diagram · In practice checklist · 2-question knowledge check

06Should you use a fire extinguisher, and how?15 min
  1. What OSHA requires
  2. Fight or flee?
  3. The right extinguisher for the fire
  4. Using an extinguisher: PASS
  • Sort activity: Fight (if trained) or evacuate?

Diagram · In practice checklist · 3-question knowledge check

07What happens after a fire, and how do you stay fire-safe at home?13 min
  1. After a workplace fire or alarm
  2. Home fire safety: smoke alarms and escape plans
  3. Preventing home fires
  4. Making it stick
  • Self-assessment: Your fire safety habits

Diagram · In practice checklist · 2-question knowledge check

Final assessment: 23 questions, 80% to pass, then your certificate

Try it now, no account needed

Real alarm at the call center

A branching scenario from this course. Your choices are not saved.

Free sample activity

Real alarm at the call center

It is 2:10 p.m. on a Wednesday. The fire alarm sounds with horns and strobes on the second floor of the call center. You are on a customer call. Bolanle, who uses a wheelchair, sits two desks away; you are one of her trained buddies.

Inside the course

Practice activities

  • Matching activity1
  • Spot the issue2
  • Decision tree1
  • Branching scenario1
  • Sort activity1
  • Self-assessment1

Job aids you keep

  • Workplace Fire Hazard and Exit ChecklistChecklist
  • Job Hazard Analysis Template: Fire Risk TasksTemplate
  • Fire, Alarm and Evacuation Incident ReportTemplate
  • Fire Safety Training Sign-Off RecordLog

Credit and approval status

Certificate of completion

This course awards a certificate of completion for 2 contact hours of instruction. It is not approved or accredited by any licensing board, state agency or continuing education accreditor, and it is not OSHA Outreach (10-hour or 30-hour) training. OSHA does not approve or certify general awareness courses. If your employer provides portable fire extinguishers for employee use, OSHA requires it to educate you on their use and the hazards of incipient-stage firefighting at hire and at least annually (29 CFR 1910.157(g)), and it must review its emergency action plan with you (29 CFR 1910.38(f)). This course does not replace that site-specific training or hands-on extinguisher practice. Check with your employer whether this course meets your specific requirement.

Pathways we may pursue include review against IACET continuing education unit criteria and arrangements with employers who use this course within their fire safety training programs. No such approval exists today; the course page will show an approval only after it is granted.

Our full approvals list

Questions about this course

Does this course meet OSHA's fire extinguisher training requirement?

If your employer provides portable extinguishers for employee use, OSHA requires an educational program on general extinguisher use and the hazards of incipient-stage firefighting at hire and at least annually. This course covers those principles and gives a certificate of completion for 2 contact hours, but your employer decides whether it meets its program, and hands-on practice is strongly recommended. Ask your supervisor.

Will this teach me to be a fire warden?

No. This all-staff course explains what every employee does in a fire emergency and how evacuation wardens fit in. Wardens and evacuation coordinators need additional training on their specific duties, which CE Courses Hub covers in a separate Fire Warden and Emergency Action Plan course.

Does every workplace have to train employees to use fire extinguishers?

No. Some employers adopt a written policy that everyone evacuates immediately when the alarm sounds and no employee is expected to fight fires, with an emergency action plan and fire prevention plan in place. In that case, extinguishers are not intended for employee use. The course explains both approaches so you know which one applies at your workplace.

How long does it take?

About 2 hours: seven short modules with scenarios, interactive exercises and knowledge checks, then a 23-question final assessment. You need 80% to pass. You can pause and return at any time.

Is home fire safety included?

Yes. The final module applies the same principles at home: working smoke alarms, an escape plan with two ways out, and the leading causes of home fires. Home fires account for most U.S. civilian fire deaths and injuries, so these habits matter.

What do I get when I finish?

A certificate of completion with your name, the course title, the date and 2 contact hours, plus job aids: a fire hazard checklist, a job hazard analysis template, an incident report form and a training sign-off record. It is not an OSHA card or a state approval.

This course is general education and training awareness from CE Courses Hub on workplace fire safety. It is not legal, medical or professional advice and does not replace your employer's policies, your licensing board's rules, or advice from a qualified professional. Completing it earns a certificate of completion for the stated contact hours; it is not approved or accredited by any licensing board, state agency or accreditor unless an approval is shown on the course page. Check with your board, employer or state agency whether this course meets your specific requirement.