Posted By Rod Douglass Robert, You should be in an a place of comparative or ultimate safety within 180 seconds (3 minutes)The Managers have a valid point. You will have to look at alternatives, your Fire Wardens should ensure that their area of responsibility is clear, as far as reasonably practicable. (Do you have Fire Wardens?) Do you have a Fire Plan/Evacuation procedures? I would have a dry run with a Fire Drill, do not tell staff that you are having one this will defeat the purpose of the exercise.

Posted By Robert Weiland We do have a Fire Plan but we now have this new fangled tech system where people clock in on a fob. Hr wants to use the Computer system as a way to get most acurate list of who's on site. One idea I was thinking was that Fire Warden's are to ensure that their area of responsibility is clear, as far as reasonably practicable. Then the Security prints off the lists which are then taken to the assembly points. Everyone would be out of the building and safe within 3 min (hopefully). It's just due to print time and transport time from Security to assembly points, check's may not be able to be done until 5m. Thanks for your quick response it's first time I've used these forums.

Posted By Laurie Oh no! Not the personnel checklist again! Scenario - I work in nine storey block, bags of corridors, four staircases, three lifts. I leave my office on the fifth floor and go to see someone three floors doown and four corridors away. Fire alarm goes, I leave with my colleague and go to the nearest assembly point. We carry on chatting, as is the way of these things, perhaps admiring the pretty patterns the flames make against the darkening sky etc. In the meantime, back at the assembly point I would normally use, some quarter of a mile away, someone calls the roll and finds I am missing. They tell the fire brigade, and several firefighters don BA to go into the building to search for me. How many times must it be said - fire marshalls/ wardens/ sweepers call them what you will, making a physical check are the safest option Laurie

Posted By Merv Newman A lot of good sense in previous postings. I've had the same experiences - an electronic card reader at the front gate with printout in the guardhouse was never 100%. 12 years of exercises and always something new to learn. My advice is to rely on your sweeps. use your electronic system during "announced" evacuation exercises. It will help to show where your problems are. You can always check the printout after "surprise" exercices. We used ours on the "anomalies" basis : employees "badged in" in the morning and "badged out" when the bells rang. Those who had not completed both actions were left in the system and the final printout of their names took no more than 30 seconds. Installing an extra printer just inside the main entrance might also cut down the delays.

Posted By Elvis Article published on the Continuity Central website that may be of interest: RE: Accounting for staff following an evacuation http://www.continuitycentral.com/feature0127.htm

Posted By Michael Hayward If you have fire wardens appointed you could get them to "sweep" their area on the way out and report to a controller vthat the area is clear. That way you do't need names

Posted By Martin Kingman A couple of friends of mine, who specialise in fire consultancy, have devised a system that can overcome problems with logging multiple floor buildings evacuation. It is a control board that works exactly the same way as a BA Entry control board for the Fire Brigade. The boards are manufactured by the same company that actually makes the control board for the brigades. The way they work is this: Each Fire Warden had a pack which contains a hi-viz jacket, and other useful items including a tally, which has details of where the Fire Warden is to check. When the warden has checked his/her area they evacuate to the RV point. The H&S manager or nominated person has the board at the RV point. The tallies slot into the board to show that the area has been searched and is clear. If there is any gaps then when the Brigade arrive they know exactly where they need to go, also because it looks like a BA ECB they can easily understand it. This is a simple but effective solution to a potentially difficult scenario. Please goto www.venturefire.co.uk they can also give advice on all aspects of fire safety etc as they have many years experience in the fire-fighting and fire prevention arena. I hope this assists. Kind regards Martin