On Tuesday, 15th October, we had a fire drill at the 53A/B building. The aim was to practice evacuation and effective information flow. The evacuation was not as quick as previously (4 minutes, April 10th, 2024, our record, so far) but still as desired, regarding time consumption: both buildings were emptied in 5 minutes. This is still a very good result, yet keep in mind that in case of a real fire, one minute could make a big difference for the fire progression.
The evacuated persons went to the assembly point at the propeller and stayed out of the way most of the time; the few people who initially stood next to the driveway moved themselves towards the sidewalk. It is very good that they did so. Remember that the fire brigade needs an empty driveway for coming close to the building. Therefore, during the next exercise, please stand on the gravel next to the propeller and remind students and colleagues to do the same.
It is important to stay outside the building as long as the alarm sound is on and wait with re-entering until a clear signal to do so is given, even if the situation is obviously an exercise. Please, talk about this with students and visiting researchers: we need to take exercises seriously to maintain a good level of preparedness. Moreover, behaving correctly during fire drills saves time: this time we managed to return to the tasks which we needed to interrupt because of the alarm within 10 minutes from its start. I think that 10 minutes is a worthy investment for your own and others’ safety.
We have some potential for improvement regarding information flow. The user representative (orange vest) is an information node that receives information from the site managers (yellow vest) and conveys it to the fire brigade. Therefore, it is crucial that the site managers not only check their assigned areas but also report their findings (hopefully none) to the user representative, who in turn can communicate with the fire personnel if the incident is real.
It is great that persons who originally were not pointed out as site managers took on the task of checking corridors and reporting to the user representative. I encourage more of you to do the same, even if doing so is far outside of your comfort zone. If you see a yellow vest still hanging on the hook during a fire alarm, it is never wrong to wear it and ensure that everyone is on their way out. This is one of the many ways of caring for your colleagues! 😊
With warmest regards,
Elzbieta, user representative