Fire escape plans are one of the cornerstones of your building’s fire safety plan. It consists of a diagram of the building with simple instructions on how to find the nearest suitable exit in case of a fire. If your professional responsibilities include ensuring your building’s fire safety, you may benefit from learning the following tips for communicating fire escape plans to your employees and other building inhabitants.
The Ontario Fire Code requires fire safety plans for most commercial buildings. If yours requires one, make sure your fire evacuation plan is up to date and posted in locations with high visibility. If you need assistance, the fire safety experts at All Protect Systems, Inc. can help you develop your escape plan along with fire alarms, fire extinguishers and hoses, exit lighting, gas detection, and regular inspections.
Even after you have designed and produced an up-to-date fire evacuation plan, you still may still need some ideas for posting them. Effective placement of your fire escape plans can greatly increase their effectiveness. For best results, try some of the following suggestions:
1) Catch the eyes of your audience
Sometimes walls can get cluttered with all sorts of different messages. Artwork, for sale signs, lost dogs, and other signage can draw the interest of a passerby. Depending on your building’s policies, such postings may or may not be officially tolerated. Whatever the case, you may need still need to find a way for your fire escape plan to stand out from its surroundings.
You can probably catch the eyes of your intended audience by trying the following techniques:
- Use some red. The color red always attracts the eyes attention, so make sure your fire escape plan has red in it. Not only will it draw eyes, most fire safety devices are red, so it will click in the mind of the viewer that he’s looking at a fire escape plan.
- Insert it into a frame. People place photos and drawings into a frame to increase its importance to the viewer. In the case of a fire escape plan, you don’t want the frame to be ornate or disguise the fact that it’s instructional material. The frame could be a simple plexiglass holder that both protects it and signifies its importance.
- Post in well-lit area. While most of the building should have sufficient lighting, make sure that your fire escape plans has ample light to catch a passerby’s attention and also be read without difficulty.
2) Avoid areas close to an exit
Unfortunately, it’s quite common to find building escape plans in view of a fire exit. While this may be convenient, it’s not very helpful to someone trying to escape the building. Try to place fire escape plans in areas of the building where someone would have difficulty locating an exit during a fire. Interior lobbies and elevator waiting areas are excellent locations.
3) Post them on bulletin boards
Most types of commercial and residential buildings have bulletin boards for posting both frivolous and important information, and employees and tenants tend to visit them regularly. By posting a copy of your fire escape plan on the bulletin board, it receives a good deal of attention during a moment when people have some free time on their hands and are looking for information.
4) Choose high traffic areas
As a building manager, you probably know which doorways and hallways get the most use. Post your fire evacuation in one of these areas for the maximum amount of visibility. Don’t forget to always place a “You are here” dot on the map, so the reader can locate himself in relation to the exits.
Posting your fire escape plans in the right location may one day make the difference in someone finding their way to safety during a fire. If you would like some assistance with any of your building’s fire safety concerns, the experienced staff at All Protect Systems has been protecting Ontario area business since 1996. Call us today to find out more!