FACTORS AFFECTING THE EFFECTIVENESS OF FIRE EVACUATION DRILL

Abstract

Fire is a worldwide phenomenon that has been occurring in all countries. The outbreak of fire in a building is unpredictable. Such causes can be associated with the improper handling of hazardous materials or negligence in carrying out fire provoking activities.

In Singapore, buildings are required to comply with the fire regulations set by the Singapore Civil Defence Force. Despite these fire precautions in place, casualties and deaths still occur as a result of fire outbreaks. For instances, before the fire outbreak incident at 911 world trade center, PANYNJ introduced a fire safety structure and training plan for the fire safety team to increase building occupant’s knowledge of the building following the aftermath of the 1993 world trade center bombing. It is therefore pivotal to raise the awareness of the importance of evacuation, to equip and prepare both the public and occupants to evacuate the building efficiently and effectively in the events of fire breakouts. This can be achieved by conducting fire evacuation drills to equip them with the knowledge and experience in response during such emergency times.

The aim of this research is to identify the impact each factor has on effectiveness of the fire evacuation drill. This research will be discussing on the results of the fire evacuation drills that had been conducted in various buildings. These records were obtained from real life fire evacuation drill exercise and past documentation, to determine if certain factors, such as the physical characteristics of a building and behavioural aspects of the occupants affect the timing of the fire drill timing registered. The identification of these factors will be accomplished through analysing the literature reviews, conducting case studies, interviews, surveys and developing a relationship network.

Lastly, proposed solutions will be recommended to minimise the fire losses. On the other hand, these will serve as a reference to implement various fire safety measures or improvement to the fire evacuation drills in all types of building in all countries. This enables the fire safety team or the relevant authorities to adopt as the basic building characteristics and behavioural patterns of occupants are looked into in the report.