Monday, February 24, 2014

Emergency Exit Signs With Lights And More Safety Precautions

By Krystal Branch


Some buildings are more hazardous than others. However, regardless of the its location or purpose, any building needs to take precautions for safety. There are many different situations in which an apartment building, and office building, or any other type of building might need to be evacuated, such as a fire, a blackout, an intruder, or some type of chemical being released into the air. If a building has emergency exit signs with lights, it will be much easier to safely and quickly evacuate people.

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 a few more tips for emergency preparedness:

1. Be sure that all exits are available and accessible. Oftentimes, emergency exits are blocked by large garbage cans or storage shelves, because they are not used very often. Sometimes they are located in locked stairwells. This renders them completely useless, as no one has time to fumble with keys or move heavy equipment out of the way when trying to make a quick getaway. Make sure these exits are accessible at all times.

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. Educate the necessary people about that plan. Once or twice a year, have a meeting of the people in your building who have been designated to serve as leaders in evacuations and/or emergencies. Use this time to make sure these people are familiar with their duties, and to bring them up to date on any changes to the plan. Make sure someone on each floor of the building knows what is going on. If one of these designated leaders leaves or can no longer fill the position, put a new person in the position immediately.

4. Post written instructions on the walls of the building. It is great and necessary to have your designated evacuation leaders on every floor. However, there might come a time when things have gotten so chaotic that these people are unable to reach everyone and provide instructions. This is one of the reasons why it helps to have the instructions posted on the walls, with diagrams.

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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