COVER STORY
HOW TO EVACUATE A MULTI-STOREY BUILDING
Mark Roberts, Sales Director at Evac+Chair International, offers tips about evacuation and how firms can prepare for all eventualities.
When it comes to evacuating multi- storey buildings, all companies and organisations open to the public need to be prepared for any eventuality to get everyone out safely. With this in mind, extra precautions need to be taken into account to accommodate wheelchair users and the mobility impaired ensuring the risk level when evacuating is reduced.
Evacuation procedures should be set in place along with designated trained staff that will assist those in need during the evacuation process. Those employees must undergo practical training in the use and operation of any evacuation equipment that may need to be used. It is the employers or service providers responsibility to evacuate all people from a building in an emergency, as it is no longer the responsibility of the fire service to facilitate the evacuation of non- domestic premises, which is outlined in the Regulatory Form Order for Fire Safety 2005. It is therefore illegal to plan a fire evacuation that relies solely upon the fire service being involved.
Employers who neglect proper evacuation measures for all employees, visitors or the mobility impaired can be found guilty of failing to provide a duty of care and charged with corporate manslaughter in workplace cases. Pre-planning is therefore essential.
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Businesses must ensure the needs of all employees, visitors or the mobility impaired are identified and a Personal Emergency Evacuation Plan, known as a ‘PEEP’ or a ‘GEEP’, (General Emergency Evacuation Plan) is devised by the relevant person responsible to comply with the Fire Safety Order.
The PEEP is tailor-made to secure the safety of the named individuals in the event of a building evacuation. It will explain the method of evacuation, detailing the escape routes, and identify the people who will help carry out the evacuation and training or practice needs. It will also detail the refuge areas - where the mobility impaired can wait for assistance.
The plan should be tested and used during regular drills, to ensure all staff involved are aware of the procedures and receive a copy of the relevant PEEP. When planning for an emergency in a public access building where mobility impaired or disabled people have total access, a PEEP would not be sufficient. The responsible person would need to devise a GEEP, to accommodate the needs of everyone.
The time required to evacuate a small building that is not a high rise, wouldn’t normally be an issue due to passive fire protection. Therefore high rise buildings can present a number of challenges,
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