Posted By shaun mckeever There is no requirement to carry out a roll call and I don't agree that without a roll call the evacuation would be a shambles. There must be a means for safely evacuating the building. What the fire service do want to know is if there is anyone left in the building particualrly if they are trapped, or if there are areas that have not been checked particularly if they are close to the seat of the fire.

Posted By Jim Walker How about considering the safety of the firefighters? They risk their lives for trapped people but assume would let an empty building burn. No roll call, in my opinion, is just being damn selfish!

Posted By Jim Walker Holmezy, Get the FB to visit: tell em your story, explain you want to protect them. They might then send you boss a letter saying impliment an effective roll call or else! I seem to remember a FB sueing a building owner for breach of duty of care over something similar ??? Can anyone verify ?

Posted By Jane Blunt There is more than one solution to your problem. Yes, you need to be able to tell the Fire Brigade whether there is anyone trapped - this can be done either by a roll call (which only works if everyone has signed in) or by having fire wardens just check out their bit of the building on their way out, so they can assure you that it is empty. Have you thought of an electronic signing in system? We have a web page for signing in. the page has two main areas; a box displaying who is 'in' and a list below it of all the people registered on the system. Each person adds their details (room number etc). To register yourself as 'in' you click on your own name and your name then appears in the window listing who is 'in'. There is provision for removing yourself. This page updates itself about twice a minute. So each person can sign in from their own desk, and we have additional terminals at the exits so that if people forget to sign out before turning off their computer they can do so. There is provision for printing off the list of names in the event of a fire alarm. Jane

Posted By peter gotch Hi Holmezy. We do not do roll calls in most of our offices, since even with electronic signing in and out operational at some of them, we know that some will slip through e.g. if they pop out for a few minutes, or a couple of hours, and decide not to sign out and then back in. This means that if they are not identified in any roll call, we are going to send Fire personnel into a probably unnecessary risk situation. Instead, we rely on fire marshalls doing detailed sweep through each of our floors, to check that everyone is out. It also gives a quicker confirmation that the building has been evacuated than if we try to do roll call for about 600 staff in my own office. Regards, Peter

Posted By Merv Newman Yeah, I reckon the reference to knickers got it pulled. In an emergency evacuation you must have your knickers up. Tripping hazard. 16.35 let's see how long this one lasts. and "count down" is on now Merv

Posted By Tabs Holmezy, consideration of risk to firefighters works both ways... Scenario: Tabs sneaks out for a cup of water (escaping the training room - see other thread), but forgetting to sign out and decides a pint at the pub is an even better option. Naughty, but it may have happened. Meanwhile, fire starts, brigade arrives and no Tabs to be seen ... "In we go lads!" ... Trained wardens checking rooms, corridors, and toilets are empty is a better way of minimising risks, in my opinion.

Posted By Merv Newman Coming back, politely, to this one. Fire wardens or "sweeps", properly trained, are, in my opinion, the only way to go. Roll calls are only useful in that they keep managers busy until the FB arrives. Merv off to watch the wombles at wimbledon.