Fire Drills - Does Your Staff Know What to Do?

As prescribed by the Occupatio nal Health and Safety Act, 1993 8. General duties of employers to their employees

“Every employer shall provide and maintain, as far as is reasonably practicable, a working environment that is safe and without risk to the health of his employees.”

The question arises - does your staff know what to do in the event of a fire? Everything might seem to be in place for employees to evacuate the building in a safe manner and as fast as possible. You may have, an emergency plan outlining staff duties and responsibilities of what to do in case of a fire, layout plans with the evacuation routes clearly displayed throughout the whole building, an emergency alarm that is audible to all employees and with all the necessary appointments (trained emergency co-ordinator, fire team members, evacuation marshalls, etc.) made in writing, but the question still remains how will your staff react under simulated fire conditions?

One of the best methods to test the success of all the above mentioned, will be to do regular fire drills, at least annually. On-going training is required to help ensure that staff is aware of those duties and responsibilities as being outlined in the emergency plan. Fire drills serve as an opportunity for staff members to demonstrate, under simulated fire conditions, that they can perform those duties and responsibilities safely and efficiently. Panic is contagious and the danger is greater in a large crowd. Fear, rather than actual fire danger, is the main factor in panic.

The main objective is to ensure that in the case of an emergency, personnel will be able to act swiftly and decisively. Emergency procedures and guidelines, if followed will prepare staff to handle, rectify and/or minimise emergencies that will potentially affect office activities and protect all employees and assets in the building. Fire drills shouldn’t only attempt to test your staff’s response to simulated fires, but also to test the buildings evacuation routes, emergency equipment available and if assembly points are well located. Fire drills will not be executed perfectly the first time, in fact that is only achievable after the drill has been practised a couple of times. As long as the organisation records all deficiencies and corrects all mistakes/deficiencies. These deficiencies may be as a result of the emergency plan being out dated or incomplete. This may also identify a need for additional staff training to be done.

When conducting a fire drill the following should be kept in mind:

1. All staff and visitors must participate in the drill (It  may be that the importance of conducting a fire drill is compromised if some of the staff members are being excused from the drill)
   
   
2. Special attention should be given to all persons with disabilities and if any assistance is required, assign a staff member to assist.
   
   
3. Drills must be held on a random basis because a fire is unpredictable. Fire drills need to be held at unexpected times and under varying conditions, to simulate the unusual conditions that can occur in an actual fire. This will make staff confident, that in the case of a real time scenario the potential for confusion or panic under actual fire conditions is significantly reduced. If staff can remain calm and self-assured under emergency conditions, there is less likelihood of upsetting or exciting the facility’s residents and visitors.
   
   
4. The person responsible for conducting the fire drills should simulate different scenarios every time a drill is conducted
   
   
5. The fire alarm must be signalled with every fire drill or in case of a simulated fire the nearest alarm must be signalled by the staff member discovering the fire.
   
   
6.  The emphasis when conducting drills needs to be on safe and orderly evacuation rather than speed.
   
   
7.  An important part of each drill is a procedure in which all employees and occupants (including visitors) are being accounted for after the evacuation/drill has been completed. In the absence of a procedure to account for everyone once the evacuation or relocation is completed, it will become difficult to measure the success of your fire safety/evacuation plan. It also makes search, rescue and fire attack activities more difficult for emergency responders.
   
   
8. An All clear signal should be given by the responsible person in charge to notify all staff and visitors once the drill has been completed. This signal whether manually or electrically should be distinctly different to the fire alarm signal.
   
   
9. All drills should be documented and these records should be kept in a safe place.

For any assistance regarding your Fire drills or Training of Fire fighters and First aiders please contact NOSA at Tel: (011) 218 8000 Web: www.nosa.co.za