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Posted By nick beale
In a small company of 15 does one need to sign in and out of a firebook when several employees know where the "absentee" is?
Is there any legistation to back this up?
Your views/comments would be appreciated.
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Posted By Tony abc jprhdnMurphy
Its another one of those subjects that doesnt sit well with H&S Professionals. To imagine that signing in books make the world a safer place is daft but equally how bad would you look if you lost somebody in a fire?
My advice is use your Risk assessment. As long as the travel distance is low the risk is very minimal. I stopped our signing in procedure for exactly this reason. Our travel distance is twenty metres maximum. The chances of a person being trapped is as low to zero as you can possibly get so no need to sign in. there are of course other measures such as regular cleaning, switching off unused electrical items, RDC's in use, storage of flammable materials but it still comes down to Risk assessment
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Posted By Tabs
I agree, they tend to be used for other reasons, not all of them bad - but if your layout is simple then the value is questionable.
If however you have some feature which poses a complication (such as a theatre often has, such as long dark corridors and numerous little hidey-holes) then it is a different matter. There is great value.
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Posted By David Bannister
Hi Nick, agree with previous posters, providing that there is near-absolute certainty of being able to account for everyone who may be at risk from the emergency.
However, if your 15-employee company includes a couple of customer service engineers and a salesman, plus accounts personnel at the bank and receptionist buying the lunch butties, with a couple of customers who may or may not still be around, some form of robust personnel accounting regime is a must.
It really is your choice, based on how you have assessed the risk of "losing" someone at the time the alarm is sounded.
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Posted By nick beale
Thank you for your response.
I am a manager and have served a griviance proceedure against a memebr of staff and he states that there is no need to sign out when going out on lunch if other members of staff know where he is.
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Posted By Tony abc jprhdnMurphy
And he is right
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Posted By Merv Newman
There are two reasons for signing in/out that come immediately to mind.
1. to trace employee timekeeping and movements during the working day, perhaps for reasons of efficiency, perhaps for reasons of timekeeping discipline.
That can work if the reasons for it are clearly explained to and adhered to by employees. but that is not a H&S issue.
2. For "fire" reasons.
This one never works. The statistical probability of a fire and the need to clear the building is extremely low and not a high motivator. The dislike of being "spied upon" and the wish to "beat the system" are high motivators which lead to such sign in/out systems falling in to disuse. Or at least being less than 100% efficient. Which is the same as saying useless.
Forget it. I have never known a sign-in system to work in case of evacuation. Not even swipe-card actuated tourniquet gates or ID card transponders.
Spend your energy on training your staff on what to do in case of emergencies, including building sweeps who ensure that no-one has been left behind. As far as is reasonably practical.
Merv
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Posted By bill strachan1
RE above:
If the company has adopted a system based on a risk assessment which everyone is expected to comply with on safety grounds then he should also comply.
End of story
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Posted By Richard Beevers
I've recently had to explain to a client that their signing in and out book was a waste of time. He thought it was required for fire safety roll calls...
Building with 3 entrances, 450 on site staff, plus over 1500 staff whose security cards let them in and out to use hotdesks, a constant stream of visitors who didn't have to sign in, and only 1 signing in and out book.........
Needless to say the book has gone and we're going to sweep the building to ensure people are out in case of a fire.
It was one of the more pointless H&S documents I've seen. Bit like the risk assessments resting in their folders on the shelf....
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