S 6.17 Alert plan and fire drills

Initiation responsibility: Fire Safety Engineer, Top Management

Implementation responsibility: Fire Safety Engineer

It is necessary to create plans for the measures to take in case of a fire. The following must be specified in such a plan, for example:

• Which measures must be taken for which events?
• If any parts of the building need to be evacuated (of people and equipment), and if so, how?
• Who needs to be informed?
• Which emergency services need to be informed?

Codes of conduct can be added to the fire alarm plan, and all employees should be informed of these codes. See also module M 1.3 Business continuity management for more information.

The best alert plan is useless, though, if the measures stated in it have not been checked to ensure they are correct and feasible. For this reason, it is necessary to check and update the alarm plan regularly. Conducting fire drills is one method for checking the plan.

Example:

• A fire drill held in the fall of 2012 in a 21-story office building in Bonn demonstrated that many employees did not know where to find a fire extinguisher or the nearest staircase. In an emergency, this lack of knowledge can lead to a catastrophe. Some of the employees ignored the fire drill, and others did not leave their rooms because it was too inconvenient.

The proper response in case of a fire should be trained and practised in fire drills in order to save lives and avoid damage to the IT, among other reasons. Such exercises and drills must be approved in advance by the top management of the organisation.

Review questions:

• Is there a alert plan documented in writing?
• Were fire drills performed?