Fire safety training for employees: what it should include

Fire safety training for employees means familiarising them with fire safety rules, with the building’s fire safety instructions and with what to do when a fire breaks out: how to raise the alarm, when to fight the fire, how to use an extinguisher and how to evacuate. It works best when every participant performs these steps themselves at least once, rather than only hearing about them.

This article describes the rules that apply in Poland. If you operate elsewhere, check your local requirements; the content of a good training session is largely the same.

Legal basis in Poland

• Fire Protection Act, Article 4(1)(6) (consolidated text, Journal of Laws 2025, item 188): the owner of a building, structure or site must familiarise employees with fire safety regulations. Under Article 4(1a) this duty can be taken over by the manager or user under a contract; without one, it lies with whoever actually controls the property.
• Labour Code, Article 209¹: the employer provides the means for first aid, firefighting and evacuation and designates employees to fight fires and carry out evacuation. The number of these people, their training and equipment must reflect the type and level of hazards.
• Regulation of the Minister of Interior and Administration of 7 June 2010 on fire protection of buildings, other structures and sites (consolidated text, Journal of Laws 2023, item 822): the fire safety instructions (IBP) include, among other things, how users of the building, including employees, are familiarised with fire safety regulations and the instructions themselves (§ 6(1)(6)). In buildings with more than 50 permanent users (outside the ZL IV category), a practical check of evacuation organisation and conditions must be carried out at least every 2 years (§ 17(1)).
• Health and safety training: the framework programmes in the regulation on health and safety training cover basic fire protection rules and what to do in a fire (general induction), and what to do in emergencies such as a fire (periodic training).

How often should fire safety training take place?

The rules cited above do not set a single repeat interval for fire safety training of all employees, as the health and safety regulation does for periodic training. How employees are familiarised with the rules is set out in the building’s fire safety instructions, and fire topics come back at every periodic health and safety training. The practical evacuation check, however, has a fixed interval: at least every 2 years in buildings covered by § 17 of the regulation.

What fire safety training should include

1. Fire hazards in your building: what can catch fire, where flammable materials are, which rules apply to hot work and electrical equipment.
2. Raising the alarm: when and how to use a manual call point and how to call for help.
3. Portable firefighting equipment: fire classes, choosing an extinguisher, the fire hose reel, the emergency power switch.
4. Fight or flee: when to try to put out a fire and when to evacuate straight away.
5. Evacuation: escape routes and exits, signs, the assembly point, helping people with limited mobility.
6. Tasks of designated employees for firefighting and evacuation (Article 209¹ of the Labour Code): checking rooms, leading the evacuation, liaising with the fire service.

The practical part: an extinguisher without real fire

Practice is the hardest part to organise. Fighting a real fire needs a safe place, an instructor and extinguishers that then have to be refilled, so usually a few people practise while the rest watch.

In a VR headset every participant puts out the fire themselves, in a training room or a corridor, with no flames, smoke or clean-up. They can repeat the scenario until they act with confidence, and you can see how they did. Apps that fit fire safety training:

• Fire Extinguisher Basic VR Training: a virtual firefighter explains fire classes, then the participant puts out a switchboard fire and uses the emergency power switch.
• Fire Training Evacuation VR Training: responding to an alarm and a fire, manual call point, extinguisher, fire hose reel, and finally a test without hints in an office kitchen.
• Warehouse Fire – Fire Marshal Training in VR: for employees designated to fight fires and lead evacuation.
• Fire Hose Reel VR Training: switching off the power and fighting a fire with a jet and spray stream.

You will find all fire training apps in the Fire safety VR training category. VR does not replace handling a real extinguisher or a real evacuation drill in your building. It does let all your employees practise the fire itself, not just a few volunteers.

What drives the cost of fire safety training

The price of fire safety training depends mainly on:

• the number of participants and whether you train one group or several shifts,
• the format: run by your own specialist, by an external provider or as part of health and safety training,
• the practical part: fighting real fire means paying for the site, the instructor and refilling extinguishers,
• evacuation drills in the building and how long work has to stop.

With VR you pay for headsets, not per person, so the cost does not grow with every extra participant. Plans and pricing are described in pricing for business. For a one-off event you can also rent headsets with the apps.

Want to see how your employees handle an extinguisher in VR? Request headsets for a free trial.