Improving fire safety
with effective Fire Escape Plans
Fire Escape Plans
If there is a fire in your workplace, would you know where
the fire extinguishers are?
Can you locate the safest route to a fire exit quickly, and
do you know where to meet your colleagues after exiting the building?
Whilst all companies should organise regular fire evacuation
drills, these normally follow a calm, orderly exit of the building using the
persons most familiar route into and out of the building. During a real fire,
people in a burning building are likely to be under significant psychological
and even physical stress.
A successful evacuation is partly dependent on physical
values such as the means of escape and partly on psychological values, such as
communication processes, understanding, evaluation and decision. A disorganised
evacuation may result in confusion, increased evacuation times, injury and
potentially loss of life.
To help reduce confusion in these situations, a properly
designed fire escape plan should be drawn up and displayed in prominent
locations around the building. This not only provides key information in time
of an emergency, but also acts as an excellent pre event training aid, helping
members of staff and visitors to become familiar with equipment locations and
all available fire exits.
Whilst the concept of fire escape plan design is simple to
understand, there are several key points that need to be included to ensure the
success of any escape plan. These include:
You Are Here
An evacuation map must contain an accurate diagram of
corridors, rooms, exits and the location of fire and evacuation equipment
within the building. The readers's location must be clearly marked so employees
can quickly know where they are in the building and easily identify the route
to the closest fire exit or fire fighting equipment.
Secondary Exit Routes
An evacuation map must display one primary exit route and at
least one alternate route. Wheelchair accessible exits can also be clearly
marked on the floor plan.
Stairs and Elevators
Evacuation maps of multi-story buildings should indicate the
location of stairwells and elevators. Stairwells that lead to fire exits should
be clearly marked as such. However, evacuation routes should designate stairs
as exits during an emergency, whereas elevators are clearly marked as not for
use during an emergency.
Safe Refuge
Areas of safety for mobility impaired personnel and guests
are becoming more common place, as are Evacuation Chairs. Employers are
introducing safe areas, and evacuation equipment, but their location is not
always well communicated. Clearly identifying these points on the escape plan
will help to reduce the time taken to locate and reach safe refuge areas, and
support your Personal Emergency Evacuation Plans (PEEP).
Assembly Area
An area away from the building should be designated for
employees to meet after evacuating in order to account for all employees. The
area should be large enough to accommodate all employees and should be clearly
marked on the emergency evacuation map together with the assembly points
location in relation to the building. Where practical, external references such
as road names should be provided.
Ultimately, the ability to quickly identify the safest,
quickest escape route is critical to ensuring safe egress from the building.
From Silver Bear.
The Swan Inn in Milton Keynes Village, which suffered a serious fire on December 7 last year, has presented £2,407.89 to The Fire Fighters Charity.
