Rank: New forum user 
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Hi folks,
Would anyone, in their fire evacuation procedures, ever encourage persons to take personal belongings with them, say in a drill or real situation? Accordingly, the same for back up tapes, laptops, shutting down process machinery etc.
My view is never, although I suppose this would depend on your risk assessment and if items were to hand or if collection/action could be carried out without causing a significant delay in the evacuation process.
I would be grateful for your thoughts.
Many thanks.
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Rank: Forum user
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No,I agree with your view, the standard procedure is to leave by the nearest emergency exit, not stopping to collect personal items etc nor back up tapes
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Rank: Super forum user 
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I had this discussion with our local fire & rescue service engineer. He said that, depending on the weather and the location of coats, it would be appropraite to grab a coat en route to the Assembly Point. He would rather not have the ambulance service dealing with an office load of hyperthermics whilst he tries to put out a fire. I sure common sense would prevail. As for back up tapes; surely the IT team would have the previous nights tapes somewhere offsite so only a day would be lost?
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Rank: Super forum user 
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Surely there's no need to tell people to get their coat - if it's cold they will think of this for themselves and do it automatically. Won't they?
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Rank: Super forum user 
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Norton19342 wrote:Hi folks,
1)
Would anyone, in their fire evacuation procedures, ever encourage persons to take personal belongings with them, say in a drill or real situation? Accordingly, the same for back up tapes, laptops,
2)
shutting down process machinery etc.
My view is never, although I suppose this would depend on your risk assessment and if items were to hand or if collection/action could be carried out without causing a significant delay in the evacuation process.
I would be grateful for your thoughts.
Many thanks. 1) = NO, (however as it's Friday I would sacrifice myself to save my phone or bike :) ) 2) It depends on what it is! If there is a situation where equipment needs to be made safe to prevent a bigger hazard then yes, if this takes time then automatic safety systems should probably be built in anyway... My experience is on large chemcial plants, not pressing the dump everything to flare might = very bad if fire impinged on reactor :) You also mention drill, on fire one instruction on our site is to stop the process, this destroys a batch and costs a fortune. On drills procedures are inplace to ensure this does not occur.
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Rank: Super forum user 
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To fail to plan is to plan to fail - or when the alarm sounds is not the time to consider your back ups.
As m rightly says you should back up at the end of the day and store away from danger then you only lose one day.
I suppose if you use a memory stick to save onto then it's only a quick remove and then exit, or if a laptop why not take it with you?
Coats will probably be on the way out, or even on the back of the chair, should not be a problem.
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Rank: Forum user 
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In a fire evacuation whether it is a drill or the real event a definite No to pausing to collect PERSONAL items, if you work in facility that houses sensitive materials or equipment which are not contained in safe areas or fireproof containers tailored to there specific composition, then a risk assessment must be carried out and a realistic procedure put in place to safeguard or evacuate those materials, which is presented to involved employees in regular training sessions and frequently practiced. Those of you who are ex forces may recognize the phrase regarding Hardened Aircraft Shelter fires where certain items had to be removed from the area of the fire "At All Costs" I miss the cold war, things were so simple then.
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Rank: Forum user
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We ask people to, if possible, close doors and windows on hearing the alarm but to leave the building without delay. I wouldn't object to staff taking personal items like coats, bags, laptops etc. with them - someone has to have at least a set of keys so we can be sure we can get back in, and if staff arrive outside unprotected against the elements, they are likely to wander off to find shelter, subverting the roll-call process. We would not consider messing with PCs, back-up tapes, cash, confidential documents or anything else: it's all replaceable.
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Rank: Forum user 
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I'd say take your coat, and I wouldn't complain about handbags, wallets etc, as long as the individual wasn't going back to their desk against the flow of pedestrians in order to fetch them.
Because we're a government department dealing with sensitive info, we have a standing instruction (audited and enforced by the security team) that you lock your screen when you walk away from it, so that would've been done anyway.
We're currently formulating our policy for what to do with some classes of sensitive material if they're out of the safe when the bells go down -technically they shouldn't be taken out of the building, but since all access doors revert to insecure on the alarm triggering, it's probably safest for the holder to keep them on him.
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Rank: Super forum user
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The answer to this is quite simple really, when you plan your office set up you should consider such things as emergency evacuation and people getting thier coats. There are many cupboards on the market for storing peoples coats and you site them correctly between the workstation and the emergency exit. It takes only a few seconds to grab your coat and then leave via the emergency exit. Material left in ones desk should be left there but womens handbags are often kept very close to the women so to grab ones bag is automatic. So by thinking about where employees coats etc are kept is a very important part of the evacuation process. If one is away from ones desk you face different problems but some forthought can overcome these challenges quite easily.
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Rank: Forum user
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Its all subjective on where you work and what you do within that workplace but the general rule I put out is, Get out by quickest means, without delay without pausing to collect personal items. I do work in a secure facility and we do have sensitive things on site which must be protected (My passport if nothing else)
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