Wednesday, February 19, 2014

Emergency Exit Signs With Lights And More Safety Precautions

By Krystal Branch


If you are in charge of a building, whether it is an office building, an apartment building, or any other type, it is your responsibility to have emergency procedures and safety precautions in place. There are all kinds of situations where these things might be necessary: an intruder, a fire, a power loss, or any other situation where the building might need to be evacuated. Emergency exit signs with lights, for instance, are a wonderful thing to have in place to increase safety in the even of an evacuation.

When we think of emergencies, one of the first things we think of is a fire. However, a blackout can also be very dangerous, especially in a large building. When a blackout occurs, people have a difficult time finding their way around and reaching the exits. This is a time when lighted signs would be particularly useful.

Here are some other tips for preparing your building for emergencies:

1. Make sure access to the exit doors is not blocked. Perhaps the exit doors are located in stairwells that are sometimes locked, or perhaps someone has placed a large storage shelf in front of one of the doors. You need to look for these obstacles routinely, in order to remove them. An emergency exit is no good if it is inaccessible when the time comes to use it.

2. Have a plan in place. The last things you want is to have people are running around in a chaotic fashion during an already dangerous time. There needs to be an organized plan in place for evacuating your building, and specific people should be designated to oversee different aspects of the procedure.

3. Make sure everyone is informed about the plan. Everyone who lives and/or works in the building should know the procedure for evacuation. The people who will lead different aspect of the evacuation should be particularly well versed. It is a good idea to call a meeting of all of these people every six months or so, to review procedures and make sure that everyone is on the same page. You can use this time to inform them of any changes to the plan, and to fill any vacancies, such as a person on the team who has quit or moved out.

4. Post written and illustrated instructions. In a true disaster, there may be people who are unable to hear the verbal instructions or who are too panicked to focus. Having written instructions will help to increase the likelihood that they will follow the plan. These instructions can supplement the ones given aloud by the designated leaders. This decreases the chance of dangerous chaos erupting.

We always hope that emergencies will not occur, and that evacuation plans will be unnecessary, never actually being put to use. However, having a plan in place, and taking safety precautions such as installing emergency exits with lights, will help provide you and the other people in your building with peace of mind. It helps to know that an organized plan exists when and if it is ever needed.




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