Fire Drills

1/6/2022 (Permalink)

A Fire Alarm Pull

When running a business, your top priority should be the safety of your employees and patrons. Having a safety plan in place will help your employees know what to do in case of an emergency event. Doing drills such as a fire drills will help your employees know what to do and where to go if a fire should happen. Doing regular fire drills with different scenarios is important, because of the many variables that could occur. So it is best to be prepared as much as you can. When putting together an emergency plan, remember the Seven P’s (Proper prior planning and preparation prevents poor performance). There should be one person per shift that is in charge during an emergency.

For a commercial building, there should be some key points in a fire plan: You will want to establish roles and responsibilities for a fire evacuation team. Make sure there is a communication plan, such as mapping out routes. Make sure you know the locations of all fire alarms, smoke detectors, and fire extinguishers. It is best to run your employees through a fire drill at least twice a year.

When setting up standards for you fire drill, it becomes easier after the first one. You will have a better idea what needs to be done, routes, and acceptable times.

You should have goals, such as how much time does it take to shutdown critical equipment, how long does it take for everyone to get out of the building, and do a check-in. Once the first one is done, have a sit down with the leaders and have them give you a report. Then re-adjust either your goals, routes, or routines on getting out.

Once you have things established, rehearsing fire drills regularly is important. Changing the routine is important too. People can start getting complacent, so when the time comes, everyone will be on top of their game.

Appoint independent observers during drills. You want people that are not on your team to keep an eye out during a fire drill. Things they should be looking out for: large groups moving slowly and talking to each other, people using cellphones, people grabbing coats, purses, or bags, doors that are hard to open or slippery floors that could cause problems with people that have a disability, or anyone that chooses to use a different exit rather than the one close to them.

After a fire drill is done, there should be an AAR(After Action Review). Things that should be reported include: did employees close the door after exiting the room? Was everyone calm and confident? Did everyone go where they are suppose to go? Did all the alarms work properly?