It is important to test your fire evacuation plan and it is recommended that organisations test their emergency evacuation every 6 months. Testing your plan will allow you to ascertain if you are able to safely evacuate your building in a timeous manner and it will also give your fire wardens practical training in their roles, and also ensure employees practice safely evacuating a building. These drills will help you identify and faults in your evacuation plan.
All businesses should consider the risks that a fire would present to their organisation and then consider how they plan on preserving life. A fire evacuation plan should be documented and can be included within staff inductions and also posted in relevant areas within the building. The information in a Fire Evacuation Plan gives information on what to do when the fire bell is activated. A fire plan should include the following information.
- Evacuation protocol – employees and fire wardens/marshals need to be aware of what actions they should take if they discover a fire.
- Evacuation Strategy – Depending on your circumstances there are 4 types of evacuation strategies, Simultaneous evacuation, Vertical or horizontal phased evacuation, Staff alarm evacuation (silent alarm) or Defend in place (Stay Put)
- Designated person to call and liaise with the emergency services
- Where firefighting equipment is positioned throughout the building
- How building occupants will be alerted to the fire
- Escape routes
- Emergency Lighting
- Fire fighting equipment
- Evacuation plans for employees and visitors with special needs or disabilities
- Lone workers
- The final assembly location – Is it safe and away far enough away from obstructing emergency services and debris from the building.
- Where specific isolation points are within the building, such as gas and electrics – Isolation points should be signed and information handed over to emergency services.
- The person who is responsible for shutting down machinery or removing equipment from the building if it is safe to do so.
- Roll call – a system for determining who is present and who may still be in the building.
When you discover a fire and are evacuating, keep these things in mind so that the safety of all are not compromised.
