In the case of a fire, time is significant. Fire spreads quickly, and rooms can be filled with smoke and flames in the blink of an eye. You must get your employees out of the building quickly and safely as a business leader. You can do this with a well-thought-out fire evacuation plan that you and your crisis management team practice.
Many dangers come with a fire, can make it hard to see, sting your eyes, and even make you pass out. Heat, which can reach up to 1,100 degrees Fahrenheit and cause both external and internal burns; and poisonous gases that come from burning things and can make you feel dizzy, sleepy, and in other ways that are bad for you. Planning is the only way to stay safe, so if you do not already have a fire evacuation plan, start working on one immediately.
Why Do You Need Effective Fire Evacuation Plans?
Designated Meeting Place
With fire evacuation plans, workers know exactly where to go when they leave the building. Instead of going to different sides of the building or their cars, the plan tells the staff where they should be and when they should be there when the evacuation starts. After an evacuation, it is crucial to stay together so that the head counters can accurately count everyone who should have left the building. This helps the head counters tell emergency workers how many people are still in the building and where they might be.
Easy To Practice
Employees cannot use an old evacuation plan that hasn’t been used in years. The plan must be reviewed and practiced often so the staff can remember it. A written fire evacuation plan is easy to practice because everyone knows their job and how they should act in an emergency. When employees start to panic, a free-form evacuation only makes things worse.
Helps Workers Stay Calm
Most employees freak out during an emergency evacuation because they don’t know what to do. When they panic, they cannot think straight and soon act dangerously or irrationally. A fire evacuation plan tells employees what they need to do and gives them a list of things to check off for each step. The order of the steps puts people at ease and keeps them focused on the task, which is getting to safety.
Expandable To Visitors
During an emergency, people other than employees also need to leave the building. Vendors, clients, and other people who come to the building need help to get out safely. Even if visitors are not familiar with the building, they are less likely to be hurt in an emergency if there are written fire evacuation plans, signs marking evacuation routes, and safety coordinators who tell visitors about the plan.
Frequent Route Inspection
Strange things end up in hallways and other places that aren’t being used. Over time, those little piles of trash grow into big piles that block the way out of the building when it’s time to leave. A plan for getting out of a building forces employees to walk along their escape route calmly and steadily. As they move along the path, they can keep track of things like obstacles that make it hard to move, dead light bulbs that need to be replaced to keep emergency stairwells lit, or missing first aid kits at critical points along the path.An emergency requires an evacuation plan. Staying calm and having clear fire evacuation plans are often the difference between life and death. When an employer takes the time to make a thorough evacuation plan, they make the workplace safer for their employees and may even save lives.
