If you’re a property owner, landlord or designated fire safety personnel, especially overseeing safety for a large number of occupants, a robust evacuation plan is essential to help people escape in the event of a fire.
After a fire risk assessment or compartmentation survey, approved contractors will provide owners and managers with an evacuation plan or the means required to devise one.
What is a fire evacuation plan?
A fire evacuation plan is a step-by-step list of instructions that provide personnel with the information they need to safely evacuate themselves and others from a building in the event of a fire.
All structures should have a fire evacuation plan in place, particularly apartments and HMOs, schools, hospitals, offices and workplaces, or any structure with a large number of occupants. Any fire evacuation plan should be a highly detailed yet clear document that explains all the actions that staff and occupants should take, and provide arrangements for calling firefighters to the scene.
What does a fire evacuation plan include?
A fire evacuation plan should include everything required to take adults, children, infants, disabled, vulnerable and elderly individuals to safety.
A fire evacuation plan should include;
- Identification of all exits, including main exits, emergency exits and stairwells.
- Mapping out all escape routes, including primary and secondary escape routes.
- Assigning roles and responsibilities. This will assert who is responsible for contacting fire fighters, leading evacuation and assisting those with disabilities.
- A safe meeting point for occupants.
- Emergency lighting to navigation individuals through smoke.
- Emergency doors and fire doors that open easily.
- Details on practicing fire evacuations and fire drills.
How to write a fire evacuation plan?
When it comes to creating a fire evacuation plan, there are numerous aspects of fire safety that should be taken into account.
Considering every scenario
Any robust and effective fire evacuation plan will be devised after considering various scenarios. When it comes to fire safety, there are so many variables when it comes to the threats to your building and its occupants.
Just some of the scenarios that fire safety personnel must consider include;
- Fires can occur in stairwells or different part of the building, that can make some routes inaccessible. This may require escapes through windows, additional fire escapes or other means.
- Fires in a crowded building will require a fire marshal to evacuate people quickly and safely, and could require the utilisation of numerous exits and a crowd control system.
- People with disabilities or vulnerability may require a separate evacuation plan entirety, as stairwells or other escape routes may not be possible.
- Fire scenarios with smoke can impact escape routes and evacuation plans as smoke can leave occupants lost or disoriented – this can include emergency lighting or wayfinding aids.
- Fires in buildings which contain hazardous materials require a plan to evacuate people without being exposed to dangerous substances. This can involve having protective gear available or transporting individuals to safe spaces.
Roles & Responsibilities
It’s essential for staff members or occupants to have delegated roles and responsibilities in the event of a fire.
Understandably, fire instils fear and can cause occupants to panic, so it’s crucial that designated personnel have clearly defined jobs during fire evacuations, whether it’s a fire warden or marshal, floor monitors for navigating people to escape routes or to task of contacting firefighters.
Fire drills and rehearsing
In addition to a good level of fire training standards among workforces or designated personnel, conducting regular fire drills and rehearsals to familiarise escape routes and learning where to stand so everyone can be accounted for.
Essential in schools, workplaces and busy public spaces, workforces can work to improve the efficiency and speed of their evacuations to further protect public safety in the event of a fire.
Feedback and amendments
Before implementing a fire evacuation plan or an all-out policy via a document, nominated fire safety personnel should consult occupants and workforces to see if there are any issues and factors that haven’t been taken into consideration, and make the necessary amendments to ensure every potential is taken care of.
