Hi mssy,

I am unsure if this will be possible but when faced with a similar problem I delivered a fire training session which featured a video and information from the "station night club" in Rhode Island in which 100 people died many of whom got trapped trying to leave the way they came in. It is a very powerful video which will help open people's eyes to the risks of being caught unaware or unfamiliar with your surroundings. It has got me to always check fire exits/routes when in new places. All the information is available online. I know this may not be a workable solution due to numbers etc, but if even just the fire marshals and managers/supervisors receive a briefing on the above I am sure it will help. If I can help please pm me.
Good luck, John

Have you tried blocking egress towards the 'normal route' and/or access to some staircases during drills? Scenario is that the incident is in that area or on their route to 'normal' exit.
It does help people to think outside their normal response to leaving the building as well as highlighting optional routes to them. I have had some good success with this approach albeit that in a real emergency I expect many would still go unthinking towards their normal way out.

p48

I'm with pete48 on this one - block their normal exit route with a board or such like with a picture of a fire on it - either that or stand there and tell them they are all dead now from smoke inhalation :-)

messy some of the problems associated with fire exits are because staff are told they are fire exits and not a general staircase for normal use.

Some fire exits look like a door in a wall whereas the accommodation stairs are much prettier and "want" to be used.

Staff do not normally use the fire exits when entering the premises and going to their workplace.

There may be more but I'm sure you will agree.

It is human nature to do the things we feel comfortable with and no matter how hard you try there will always be people wanting to use their favourite staircase.

Just make sure if you have Fire Marshals that they are well up to dealing with people during a real fire/evacuation and can direct everyone away from the danger of a staircase on fire. You could concentrate their fire training to ensure this happens.

This shouldn't happen by the way, why do we think the fire will involve a staircase when it should always be clear of combustibles and the doors should be self closing?

An evacuation may not be because of a fire, think bomb alert, and then all staircase need to be used, as long as the threat is not to a staircase of course.

DOUGHNUTS!!!

Stand at the bottom of one of the unused stairwells with a tray of doughnuts to reward those who exhibit the behaviour you want to reinforce...

Word will spread quickly enough (but you'll need to do a different stairwell each drill so people don't all rush for the one stair where they know there were doughnuts last time!)

Steve

I think blocking a route is a good approach.

At my primary school every fire drill featured a simulated fire at some location (it was actually a devilish papier-mache guy / dummy with horns on his head, wearing an academic gown, clutching a pitchfork and sitting on a chair decorated with crepe-paper flames). The dummy was where the fire was, you weren't allowed to pass the dummy, so if you came across the dummy you had to find another route.

I've always thought this a much more effective approach to a fire-drill than any at any other place I've been in the 40 years since.

grumpyb

Block may be the wrong word.

The exit should never be "blocked" with anything that can't be easily removed.

A Fire Warden or similar soul could stand at the exit and "block" it. People will immediatly see it is a drill and there will be no panic.

The cardboard with a picture of the fire is good idea providing it does not really block the exit and people are informaed to expect such hi-jinks during drills.

Pretty much every place in any building is on the route to a fire exit. In my building we allow combustible items between a person and their nearest fire exit. It's hard to imagine anywhere prohibits it.

When you asked the people who obviously didn't use the nearest exit route, what did they give as a reason ?

I only ask because we ( on a much smaller scale) had the same issue. It turned out that they knew it was a drill and didn't want to break the glass on the break glass door lock !!. So we took them to the door and smashed one for the hell of it, and show there was no problem.

Curious to what your people gave as a reason.