Having a fire evacuation plan is all about forethought. You’re essentially trying to predict the future, i.e., how, when, and where a fire might take place and what action needs to be taken.
That’s why you need to consider as many scenarios as possible and ensure that you’re well-prepared should a major fire break out at your building.
Alex MacArthur, director at North West Fire Solutions, explains how you can do this, what a fire evacuation plan is, and what yours should include.
In this article
What is the purpose of a fire evacuation plan?
What should a fire evacuation plan look like?
What can a fire evacuation plan cover?
What are the different types of fire evacuation plans?
How often should fire escape routes be checked?
How can you keep occupants fully aware of evacuation procedures?
Who needs to know about a fire evacuation plan?
How can you put together a fire evacuation plan?
Need support with your fire evacuation plan?
What is the purpose of a fire evacuation plan?
Your fire evacuation plan should outline what will happen in the event of a fire breaking out. For example, how is everybody going to get out of the building, and who will manage this evacuation?
It’s essential you put in place a well-thought-out plan to evacuate staff and have a person responsible for overseeing this. Our expert fire marshal training can help your team prepare themselves for how to respond in the event of a fire to keep your business safe.
You must get everybody out of the building as quickly and safely as possible, but your evacuation shouldn’t descend into chaos. This only increases the likelihood of people suffering serious injury or even losing their lives in the worst-case scenario.
That’s why having a proper fire evacuation plan in place is a no-brainer, so that everybody is as safe as possible and knows what they need to do.
What should a fire evacuation plan look like?
It needs to be clear, well-structured, and easy to follow.
It must reflect that your building has emergency exits, emergency doors that open easily, and clearly signposted emergency routes that are kept clear at all times.
Of course, you should have a fire risk assessment that ensures your building contains adequate escape routes and that its occupants don’t all go in the same direction in the event of a fire, as this will obviously cause bottlenecks to develop.
Within your plan, you may also want to include step-by-step instructions on what to do when a fire is discovered or when an alarm starts sounding.
What else can a fire evacuation plan cover?
If your building is a workplace, you may want to enlist additional people to help occupants get out of the building and make sure the fire service has been called. They could be fire wardens/marshals or designated leaders in the event of an evacuation, and they should be listed in your plan.
You may also want to build specialist measures into your plan for those who require further support due to their relatively low cognitive ability and/or mobility issues, such as people with disabilities, children, and the elderly. These measures could include a buddy system, communication systems, alarm upgrades that alert the individual through lights, or a simple text message.
Once occupants are outside the building, they should gather at a designated assembly point, which is a safe meeting place outside the building. You need to make sure that they’re not only outside but also far away from potential hazards, such as falling debris from the burning building.
A roll call system can easily be built into a fire evacuation plan and allows you to account for all evacuees.
Depending on the number of occupants within your building, you may need to use some kind of public address system so you can communicate clearly to everybody.
Another critical point that your fire evacuation plan should include is how you’d contact the emergency services in the event of a fire and who will do this. Again, if you’ve got fire marshals or designated leaders, this may be something that they can do.
There may be certain other special considerations you need to build into your plan. If your workplace contains flammable materials, particularly hazardous areas, or pets, all of these things should be taken into account.
Finally, you need to make sure you’re having regular training and drills so you’re prepared for a fire breaking out. This training may include how to use fire extinguishers or where specific emergency exits are located.
What are the different types of fire evacuation plans?
When we talk about an evacuation plan, typically we’re referring to a general evacuation plan. But you may also want to consider a personal evacuation plan.
As I’ve alluded to already, if your building contains quite a lot of people and some occupants have mobility issues or disabilities of some kind, they will likely require further support to help them evacuate the building.
As such, you may want to create a supplementary, personalised evacuation plan for that individual rather than include them in the main evacuation plan.
You could ask them questions like, ‘What provisions do you need?’ and ‘How would you plan to escape in the event of a fire?’.
You’re not thinking for them, but you’re working with them to put together a plan that gives them the best chance of a safe evacuation.
In certain circumstances—for example, if your building is a care home or hospital—you may not be able to get people out of that building. In this scenario, you may need a horizontal evacuation plan, whereby you move people away from the area of the fire to a place of relative safety on the same floor, such as a protected stairwell or corridor.
If you need further advice on creating a horizontal evacuation plan, you can call us at 0151 665 0124 or email info@nwfiresolutions.co.uk.
How often should fire escape routes be checked?
There’s no prescribed answer to this question. The simple answer is however frequently you deem sufficient for your building, taking into account its various potential fire risks and hazards.
If you manage a larger building with a concierge, you should ideally carry out daily checks and keep a log of when you’re doing these checks.
If you manage a smaller site, you may only need to do weekly or even monthly checks.
The optimal frequency depends on the size and risk level of your property.
How can you keep occupants fully aware of evacuation procedures?
If your building is a workplace, induction days for new starters and refresher days are perfect for keeping everybody up to speed with procedures. And, of course, people have access to emails and smartphones these days, so you can send regular emails or text communications to your building occupants with any important reminders or updates regarding your evacuation plan.
When it comes to residents or building users, it’s not as easy, particularly if you don’t have a strong line of communication. Even if you do, who’s to say if your residents or building users are opening the emails or text messages you send or taking fire safety as seriously as they should? All you can do is try your best to keep everybody informed.
Simple things like posters, signs, and letters through people’s doors can be super effective. In today’s digital age, it’s easy to keep all correspondence online, but reaching out to people in this way is a great way to grab people’s attention.
However you communicate your evacuation procedures, you need to make sure everybody’s received those procedures. You should then regularly (maybe on an annual basis) conduct an exercise to make sure everybody has received them again, in case new people have come into your building.
Thanks to the wealth of digital systems available today, you can store all of the relevant documentation online. Occupants can access this documentation via a QR code that might be on a sticker in a foyer or lobby, depending on your building type.
To summarise, there are many different ways in which you can communicate fire evacuation procedures, but the key is to keep on top of it and have some kind of process in place. This will ensure you’re constantly reminding people of the existing procedures and, of course, any changes that may happen.
Who needs to know about a fire evacuation plan?
Everybody who’s using the building.
The examples I’ve given have mainly been in relation to staff and residents, but we also need to consider buildings such as retail premises.
An average customer in a busy shopping centre is not going to check its fire evacuation plan, but, as a bare minimum, it’s important to have measures in place to help people understand how to evacuate the building properly. This means making sure you’ve got adequate lighting and clear walkways.
If you’ve got contractors coming to site, they may need a refresh every time they attend, in which case you’ll need specific processes in place.
How can you put together a fire evacuation plan?
A fire evacuation plan should be compiled by the responsible person for that premises. They know their building on a much deeper level than anybody else.
They know:
- Who’s in the building.
- Who’s coming and going.
- The risks on site.
- How the building’s being used.
They just need to dedicate time to sit down and put a plan together. And thanks to AI, you can create a basic template with minimal effort, which you can then expand on. It won’t give you everything you need straight away, but it’ll give you the ideas to develop something tangible.
Need support with your fire evacuation plan?
If you still feel you’d like further guidance on developing a plan, we can help you with this.
Whilst we don’t offer the building of an evacuation plan as an out-and-out service, we can work with you on a consultative basis.
You may have had a go at putting a plan together and just need an expert to give it a quick look over and provide their thoughts.
We are that expert.
We are accredited fire safety consultants, and our team has a combined industry experience of approximately 250 years at the time of writing.
You can arrange for us to attend your site by calling us at 0151 665 0124 or emailing info@nwfiresolutions.co.uk.