FIRE SAFETY & DISASTER RECOVERY


A GET-OUT PLAN


Simon Wood, Sales Director at Chubb, explains why planning for a safe evacuation is vital to a building’s fire safety strategy.


One of the critical elements of an effective fire safety strategy is the ability to evacuate a building quickly and safely. As the 2017 Grenfell tragedy and subsequent inquiry have highlighted, fire safety failings can have fatal consequences.


Since the publication of the 2018 Building a Safer Future report, there has been immense pressure to adopt safer ways of working and have a greater focus on on-site safety, the specification of safe materials, and an increase in data recording.


Last June, the Building Safety Act 2022 was enacted and with it came clearer guidance for buildings at ‘higher risk’. Section 65 defines a higher-risk building as being “at least 18 metres in height or has at least seven storeys and contains at least two residential units.”


60 | TOMORROW’S FM


Emergency evacuation planning Now that legislation has made high-rise residential blocks and other tall buildings high-risk, the importance of a comprehensive evacuation plan cannot be overemphasised. This plan is vital for ensuring occupants can exit the building without delay or injury while ensuring a building remains compliant with BS 8629 – the BSI code of practice for the design, installation, commissioning, and maintenance of evacuation alert systems (EAS) for use by fire and rescue services in buildings containing flats.


With the changing nature of emergencies and the unique challenges of different building designs, we are seeing a growing need for tailor-made emergency plans, as there is no ‘one solution fits all’.


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