Building’s evacuation plan is an essential part of a building plan especially in cases of high raised buildings or skyscrapers. As opposed to five to ten-story buildings, skyscrapers usually contain a vast number of occupants making the evacuation process much more complicated and time-consuming at the time of emergencies. So let’s discuss the key components of the building’s evacuation plan.
Warning system
The building management should keep in mind after ensuring the evacuation route of a building is to make sure that an early warning system is in place in the form of an alarm or voice machine. The finest evacuation routes of a building may prove useless if the occupants of the building are not informed of the immediate threat or hazard within the early stage. It will definitely be time-consuming to ensure the safe exit of thousands of occupants of a high-rise building. So early caution is the most important part after the existence of a safe exit route.
Familiarizing the occupants with the system
The alarm system is to make the occupants of the building familiar with the building’s evacuation plan to avoid panic and confusion amidst them during emergencies. The building management should ensure that the building’s evacuation plan and exit routes of the building are familiar to the regular occupants. Also, there should be volunteers or office personnel to help visitors or other occupants who are not familiar with the plan or the routes.
In most high-raised buildings some measures are taken to lessen the impact of fire hazards by installing automatic sprinklers and smoke detectors. These installments are highly useful as sprinklers lessen the impact of fire and smoke detectors help detect the specific floor that is to be immediately evacuated to avoid casualties.
Specific plans for disabled and people stuck
The building management should include the persons with disabilities in their plan of eviction since they will find it much more difficult than a normal person to climb downstairs or to move with ease if crammed up in narrow spaces. There can be strongholds or isolated sections of a floor for people with disabilities to safely wait there for rescue. Also, the installment of a two-way communication system in places like these is very important so that people stuck there can communicate with the outsiders or the rescue team to give their location and updates about their situation.
Till now we’ve discussed what the authorities should do to ensure the safety of the occupants of a high-rise building. Stuck people inside should also take some smart decisions during the emergency eviction procedure. Otherwise, the building’s evacuation plan may not come in handy as much as it should have. So, now let’s talk about what the occupants should and should not do during emergencies.
Not climbing up the roof
Going up the roof of a skyscraper is not a good idea during fire hazards. Many may think that if they are on the top side of a high-rise building, then it would be better to climb up a few stairs to get to the roof instead of climbing down hundreds of stairs to get down. But it’s much more difficult for the rescuers to reach the top of a skyscraper. Also, helicopters are not a part of the initial stage of a rescue mission. When a building is on fire, a burning building releases excessive heat and smoke. Henceforth, it may get much more difficult for a helicopter to stay afloat and steady on top of a roof.
Not using the elevator
Using the elevator as a means of emergency exit during a fire hazard or earthquake is not a good idea. Because it may not remain stable. So the occupants should calmly climb down the stairs to avoid any further disaster. Following the building’s evacuation plan with a cool head is the best thing that the occupants can do. Such measures can avoid unnecessary casualties.
Not breaking or keeping the windows open
People who took shelter inside the building due to unavoidable circumstances may even face other critical situations. There might be fire or dense smoke. In that case, they can open a window just a little to let fresh air flow inside. But close the window if smoke starts getting inside. In such situations, breaking the window would not be a good idea. That would make it much more difficult to stop the smoke from flowing inside the room.
To avoid any form of casualties it is of utmost importance that a skyscraper should have a building’s evacuation plan. This is due to the increasing number of earthquakes and fire hazards. If a high-rise building faces any emergency situation and doesn’t have building’s evacuation plan, undoubtedly there will be massive casualties.
