EMERGENCY EVACUATION DRILL

The purpose of this emergency evacuation drill is to conduct a practice evacuation of the employer's work premises, as if the evacuation were the real thing, under observation, in order to determine its effectiveness and assist in resolving any concerns that may arise out of the evacuation of the premises.

WHO NEEDS TO USE THIS?

This emergency evacuation drill is intended for all companies who have not conducted an evacuation drill in the last calendar year or who have never conducted an evacuation drill of their work premises or who wish to have an evacuation drill observed in order to resolve any concerns and improve their evacuation procedures.

WHY IS THIS EMERGENCY EVACUATION DRILL IMPORTANT?

This emergency evacuation drill is important because legislation requires the employer to be able to evacuate the workplace quickly in the event of a fire or other type of emergency. This emergency preparedness of the workplace includes building aspects, such as planned safe escape routes, escape route signage, assembly areas, etc and people aspects, such as the availability of trained emergency personnel and the training and awareness of employees and other interested parties evacuating.

The conduction of an evacuation drill forms an important part of testing the evacuation plan, the building's suitability for quick evacuation and employees' ability to evacuate quickly and correctly. Through it, any building concerns or employee concerns can be identified and actions taken to resolve and improve these so they are effective in the event of a real emergency. 

Evacuation of the workplace is of paramount importance to ensuring a safe workplace and an evacuation drill should be conducted at least once a year in order to ensure it remains suitable and effective and allow new employees to be made aware of the process and to refresh existing employees of the process. Each drill should be documented and kept on record for reference and improvement purposes. These details provide evidence to an inspector that the organisation is acting pro-actively in the interests of health and safety and is complying with relevant safety legislation.

BENEFITS OF THIS EMERGENCY EVACUATION DRILL

By conducting this emergency evacuation drill an organisation is able to gain the following benefits:

Provide evidence of its compliance with current health and safety legislation.

Obtain an understanding of the suitability of its current evacuation plan, including the suitability of responsible persons, emergency procedures, communication processes, etc.

Obtain an understanding of any building concerns that may affect a speedy evacuation, including evacuation routes, potential bottleneck effects, signage, etc.

Obtain an understanding of any personnel concerns, including employee competency and awareness, employee apathy, etc.

Comprehensive feedback on any emergency evacuation concerns and suggestions for their resolution.