Fires happen. Cooking equipment, wildfires, and electrical malfunctions can lead to your building suddenly catching fire. It’s hard to think during a fire and equally challenging to devise an escape plan when flames surround you. Therefore, it’s crucial to have an established fire emergency evacuation plan for your office ahead of time.
Strategies for Designing and Executing Fire Evacuation Plans for Your Office
The following tips and strategies for designing fire evacuation plans will be invaluable if your office is struck with a fire.
Imagine various scenarios: Fire evacuation plans require some creative thinking. What can start a fire? Where can a fire spread? How can workers reduce the risk of a fire? You should understand the fire hazards in and around your business and react accordingly. Try to imagine various scenarios with different causes and outcomes. Then, you can set some house rules and design an effective evacuation plan. For example, you can limit the use of space heaters and paste an informational guide on microwave best practices in the kitchen.
Designate roles: You can’t use a fire extinguisher, act as a route guide, call 911, and alert employees at the same time. And you’re not alone in your office, so use your resources. You should designate fixed roles in the event of a fire. Somebody should act as the leader, doing a headcount, closing doors, and ensuring that your colleagues follow the fire drill procedures. Another person can serve as the route guide, making sure that each employee evacuates the office. Other people can fight fires with fire extinguishers. Fire emergency evacuation will go much smoother if people have fixed, established roles for evacuation plans.
Plan and map routes: Don’t wait until the last minute to plan your evacuation routes. Your fire emergency evacuation plan should include a primary, secondary, and tertiary escape route. The more escape routes you have, the more adaptable you and your colleagues can be if your primary escape route is suddenly engulfed in flames.
We all love to chat, and fire drills provide a space where everybody can get together and catch up. We’re no enemies of conversation, but fire drills are not the place to joke around. Fire drills can save lives, but only if you pay attention during the drill. Please make sure that you and your colleagues are taking fire drills seriously.
Part of any evacuation plan includes having the right tools and equipment for emergency situations. Total Fire Protection provides helpful Preparedness Kits to assure your office is ready for anything.
