Hi all, I went on a fire manager course last week which was really good. One discussion we had was doing fire evacuation drills. Not how often (governed by advice and risk assessment) but whether to announce the drills as we were told current guidance said surprise drills were not encouraged due to the risk of injury and that there has been some successful procesutions for injuries during surprise fire drills. I plan to do a half way house where we will annouce there will be a drill in a given weeks period but not what day or time so that people aren't logging off or getting their coats on ten minutes before which defeats the object of the drill. I've asked some very knowledgeable people on this too, a very esxperienced fire man who gave us some great advice, but I am wondering if anyone knows of any case law where these law suits have been successful as I can't find anything on the internet. I was told of a case in new york where a female worker fell during a surprise evacuation breaking her ankle and was successful in sueing her employer and I can't find any reference to it at all. If anyone has any details of any case law, it would be apprecaited so I can back up my plans with the rest of management and communicate it to my other sites. Thanks all. Angie

Ray, thanks. This is why I have gone for a half way house approach. I see this as we don't panic people, but they don't get an exact time, but to ensure that prior to any drill people are told they MUST cooroperate with the arrangements and treat this as a practice for the real thing and that never assume a fire alarm is a planned drill, it may be the real deal. I really want to get that part across because we get of lot of folks treat it as a coffee break or forget they have obligations under law to cooperate with instructions such as emergency arrangements but if we can get this really ingrained into our employees they will more likely take the drills seriously, and respond in a better way. Just can't find any case law about successful cases so I am guessing they are only in Amercia!

Working in a College, we decided that the first evacuation of the new academic year we would communicate to all staff when the drill was going to take place. I felt it was important for staff to be aware especially because many of the students were unfamiliar with the surroundings and we had recently changed the procedures. It had little impact of the evacuation and staff really appreciated the fact we had informed them so that they could plan their lessons and day around the drill. Informing staff before also allowed us the opportunity to communicate a reminder of the procedure that they should follow should they discover a fire.

I agree with the horses for courses approach, if it is the very first time people are asked to evacuate then give them the theory training then a walk through with the alarm operating. Then at a later date give them a proper drill with no notice, not forgetting to block off one of the exits of course. One important point is the alarm needs to be operated early in a fire situation and that allows people to walk not run, thus hopefully preventing any trips or falls. Final point, if employees do slip, trip or fall it is not the fault of the fire drill but is the employer'ss rsponsibility to provide a safe workplace.

I know businesses where they have equal challenge but do still evacuation tests and others where some safety critical staff don't evacuate until the flames are at the door and yet all this is ok'd by the local fire authorities. So it's all about risk management as it should be. I guess if the business does not test a full evacuation it will never really know how pillock people are going to look or else what other issues may arise. Regards