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#1 Posted : 03 July 2006 14:42:00(UTC)
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Posted By MARK M
SUGGESTIONS ON RECORDING OF DRILLS AND FREQUENCY, PLEASE
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#2 Posted : 03 July 2006 14:44:00(UTC)
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Posted By The toecap
As per risk assesment. Depends on the nature of the building and what it is used for, or every 6 months or as staed in your , soon to be out of date, fire cert
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#3 Posted : 03 July 2006 20:23:00(UTC)
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Posted By shaun mckeever
I suppose it depends on the nature of your business. Typically for a low risk office occupied during normal working hours the frequency of drills is twice per year. Twice per year allows for those who escaped the first one to be mopped up on the second one. Keep a record of who took part. I also recommend that one drill be announced and the next one unannounced. Trigger the evacuation by approaching a member of staff and say to them 'you have discovered a fire, please take the appropriate action' then start your stopwatch, you'll be surprised at how much time is lost. Observe what goes on and debrief immediately after the drill, follow up with a written report, warts and all. If someone stops to put their make-up on before they go out, report it. If you run the drill efficiently and the occupiers do the right thing then they should only be outside for five to ten minutes. It is important to get everyone back in as quickly as you reasonably can but make it clear to them that it is very much up to them.

Some businesses don't like to have everyone out in case they miss that all important phone call. It is acceptable to leave a skeleton crew behind. They can be made aware of the drill beforehand but they must take part in the next drill.

If your business is a 24 hour operation then carry out drills at night too.

Let your local fire brigade know that you will operating the fire alarm. It is up to them then if they send an attendance or not. Some brigades will charge you if you do not tell them and they send an attendance. I learned that one from bitter experience.

You should have a senior fire marshal to whom all the others must report. The senior marshal should be in a fixed position so that the others know exactly where to report. The senior fire marshal will liaise with the fire brigade on their arrival.

Disabled persons must also be safely evacuated without relying on the attendance of the fire brigade i.e. your procedures must not be to leave them in a refuge and wait for the brigade to get them out.

Last of all, make sure all staff have had basic fire training - you can't expect them to take the right action if you haven't trained them.
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#4 Posted : 03 July 2006 21:38:00(UTC)
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Posted By MARK M
thanks for that
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#5 Posted : 03 July 2006 23:06:00(UTC)
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Posted By Cathy Ricketts
Just to highlight the unexpected we have just had an incident on another unit on the site where one of our offices is based it involved complete evacuation of the industrial site and no access to normal evacuation assembly points. It was something we hadnt considered as part of our business continuity plan from the point of view of a distant evacuation where people had to drive away from the site under the instruction of the emergency services - the area is quite rural and the nearest assembly point was half a mile away (lessons learnt as they say)
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