Why is Fire & Evacuation Drill so Important!!

Emergency Evacuation

Emergency evacuation is the urgent immediate egress or escape of people away from an area that contains an imminent threat, an ongoing threat or a hazard to lives or property. Examples range from the small-scale evacuation of a building due to a storm or fire to the large-scale evacuation of a city because of a flood, bombardment or approaching weather conditions, especially a Tropical Cyclone. In situations involving hazardous materials or possible contamination, evacuees may be decontaminated prior to being transported out of the contaminated area.

A safe evacuation plan is very important for the occupants of any high rise building. (Refer Annex-D (Clause-4.11) of Part-4, Life & Fire Safety under National Building Code-2016, India.) The systematic evacuation plan ensures that staff, customers or their visitors to your premises understand what they need to do if there is a fire.  A fire & evacuation drill is a simulation of a real life emergency event and should be treated as such, for the safety of all concerned.

Simple Outline of the Procedure are:

1. Mimicking a situation for the designated Evacuation Team to act and effectively evacuate the occupants of the building, as they would do in case of an actual fire.

2. Creating awareness of the “Emergency Exit Route” and the “Emergency Exits” for safe exit from the building to reach assembly point.

3. Carrying out a Roll call

Post the fire and evacuation drill, evaluation of the mistakes made by the Evacuation Team and the occupants should be done to ensure proper training to all to ensure smooth, effective and calm evacuation in the future drills or in an unfortunate event of an actual outbreak of fire, without causing any panic.

Prior to conducting the Fire & Evacuation Drill, it is most important to evaluate the Emergency Lighting System, Exit Signage, Fire Escape Door and Staircase/s, especially clear path to rush through the escape route to the assembly point. Proper functioning of the access controlled doors, its smooth function to release the access lock, immediately on receipt of the “Fire” signal, actual or simulated, to facilitate smooth exit of the occupants.

Things To Remember:

1.       Do not panic

2.       Stop work

3.       Proceed to the nearest Emergency Exit

4.       Do not run, walk fast

5.       Follow the instructions of the Evacuation Team Leader of your floor

6.       Use the “Fire Escape” staircase to exit the building, DO NOT USE THE ELEVATOR/LIFT

7.    Walk on the left side of the staircase, leaving the right side for the Fire Fighters, Life Savers and the Rescue Team.

8.       Do not talk while you walk

9.       Give preference to physically challenged people, expectant mothers, and elderly people.

10.    Proceed to the predesignated “Safe Assembly Point”.

11.    DO NOT RE-ENTER THE BUILDING UNTILL THE SIGNAL IS GIVEN

12.    Maximum time to evacuate should not exceed 2.5 to 3.00 minutes

Aakaar Building Solutions conduct these drills post the project completion and train their safety/security staff, customers and occupants of the building in accordance with the procedure defined in the National Building Code.

For more information plesae visit us: www.aakaarbs.co.in