Fire Evacuation Drill with a Difference

I had been given the task to organize a fire evacuation drill specifically for only a certain area in a building.

As ridiculous as it may seem, there was a very good reason for doing this.

Firstly, this is a high technology manufacturing facility that manufactures products under extremely clean and dust-free conditions. With clean room facilities standard that goes down to class 10, it is very, very clean indeed. As such it is very important that dust do not enter into the clean room under manufacturing conditions. So in the past, all evacuation drills were done just before we had a planned plant shutdown for maintenance.

Secondly, during the past few years, whenever an evacuation drill was organized, the administration offices were usually closed, and all the workers will be making use of the opportunity to take their vacation. Practically nobody will be around. Even the production workers will be taking their vacation when they have stopped all their machines and handed over the plant for shutdown maintenance.

So when the office workers say that they do not know what to do in a fire situation, we can fully understand why. They had not been taking part in any fire evacuation drill before. It is not enough just to describe what will happen in an evacuation to them - somehow, we have to organize an actual evacuation drill for the office workers themselves. The challenge is to do it while the manufacturing production is still operating.

Any mistake that will cause people from the manufacturing clean rooms to evacuate will be disastrous to the company. The stakes are high.

The fire protection alarm system in our building is wired in such a way that any triggering of the alarm by activating a break glass, smoke detector, heat detector or sprinkler flow switch will eventually trigger the general alarm for the whole building if it is not acknowledged and reset back within 3 minutes. This is a safety feature to ensure that somebody actually goes and check the situation whenever there is an alarm.

In our fire evacuation plan, all the occupants had been trained to open the doors of the nearest exit point and escape from the building whenever it is confirmed that a real fire or emergency has occurred. This will ensure that nobody is left inside the building if there is a real emergency.

However, as far as our manufacturing clean room is concerned, this will be disastrous. All the products, rooms, machinery and clean room environment will be destroyed once the doors were opened to the atmosphere. It will take hours to recover back to the original condition. The losses will be enormous.

Although normal communications through supervisors and public address systems can be done, still there is too much at stake to take that risk.

That was our first option. Relying on human communications leaves too much on uncertainty. We have to make it completely idiot-proof. This option is not fool proof. Somebody might claim that they did not get the message.

Our second option was to re-program the fire alarm system to exclude all the areas in the clean rooms. This option was a bit tricky as there were some uncertainty as to how the alarm bells were wired up. We had to admit that although everything was drawn on paper on the as-built drawings, we were not 100% sure whether the re-programming will cover all the alarm bells inside the clean rooms or not. Moreover, there had been some renovation done on the existing building and nobody had taken the trouble to test the alarm bells then. So this option was also shelved.

Our third option was to re-wire the existing bells specifically only for the offices, so that we can trigger only the office areas. This seems a pretty good option, except that the preparation re-wiring work will have to be done at the installation itself. During the re-wiring period, the office itself would not be protected by the fire alarm system. In addition, the original wires would need to be disturbed and re-looped - something engineering people would not be keen to do - as it might give rise to other unexpected problems.

Our fourth option - to fabricate and install addition bells with triggering switches and fix them just beside the existing bells seemed to be the best option. By using additional bells, batteries, switches and getting them wired up at a portable stand in a workshop, they could be tested, carried along and put in place within a very short time. The best feature of this option is that the original fire alarm wiring need not be disturbed at all.

Choosing the fourth option, we fabricated three sets of alarm bell triggering units and placed them at the appropriate places at the offices. When the time for triggering the alarm bells came, an order was issued through the walkie-talkie and the bells were triggered by the technicians at those stations.

So, we managed to organize the fire evacuation drill for the offices only. Nobody evacuated from the manufacturing clean rooms because the bells were not sounded there. All the office workers had their evacuation drill and everything went on smoothly.

A potentially huge manufacturing loss was avoided by adopting a simple idea. A workable idea born out of necessity.

"For Busy People Luxury Furnishing Impress Customers"
Your Office Furnishing Represents Your Business! Beautiful Rugs Make Customers Responsive to Your Sales Pitch. Impress Your Customers and Become Successful!

Many years of working experience in Marine, Facilities, Construction has given the author material for writing e-books and articles related to engineering, and management. Subscribe to facworld ezine

More information at Marine Engineer and M & E Engineer

---

Business Innovation ? Small Changes, Big Effects

Creativity can be defined as problem identification and idea generation whilst innovation can be defined as idea selection, development and commercialisation.There are other useful definitions in this field, for example, creativity can be... Read More

Creating Opportunity

An enterprising person is one who comes across a pile of scrap metal and sees the making of a wonderful sculpture. An enterprising person is one who drives through an old decrepit part... Read More

Prevention is Better Than Cure... Says Who?

You've likely heard this before... "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure."Says who? I mean come on. If prevention was so popular why would we see so many "cures" being... Read More

Mindfulness and Beliefs: Irrationally Yours

I can't help it--I am a confirmed neuroscience geek.So I was very excited to attend the fifth brain lecture in a series (yes, I bought season tickets!) sponsored by Oregon Health Sciences University.... Read More

The Subtle Secret Of Transformation

Great men and women succeed moment by moment, step by step, lifted up by one small victory after another, until they reach a lofty and impressive pinnacle of success and influence.Similarly, a group... Read More

Innovation Management ? predicting winners

Creativity can be defined as problem identification and idea generation whilst innovation can be defined as idea selection, development and commercialisation.There are distinct processes that enhance problem identification and idea generation and, similarly,... Read More

Innovation Management ? moving past the wall

Creativity can be defined as problem identification and idea generation whilst innovation can be defined as idea selection, development and commercialisation.There are distinct processes that enhance problem identification and idea generation and, similarly,... Read More

Managing Creativity and Innovation, Part 2 of 2

Leaders, consultants and managers must be competent in at least thirteen domains to even begin effectively managing creativity and innovation. Part 2 of Managing Creativity and Innovation covers the last six of these... Read More

Going Seamless: Dissolving the Brain Divide

Are you a right-brainer or a left-brainer?The greatest thinkers are at a loss when it comes to answering that question.Just as we admire athletes who are able to hit a tennis ball or... Read More

Change Is a Skill Development Learning Process

Change, like almost every other life experience, is a learning process. With each new idea or situation comes the need to learn about it?what is it? How does it work? How do I... Read More

Set Yourself Up for Success!

Set Yourself Up For Success!~ By Fran Briggs Here's a great way to program and set yourself up for success in advance. It is one of many... Read More

Innovation Management ? Developing Ideas Within A Framework

Creativity can be defined as problem identification and idea generation whilst innovation can be defined as idea selection, development and commercialisation.There are other useful definitions in this field, for example, creativity can be... Read More

Business Innovation ? Blocking: Saying YES or NO

Creativity can be defined as problem identification and idea generation whilst innovation can be defined as idea selection, development and commercialisation.There are other useful definitions in this field, for example, creativity can be... Read More

Improve Your Business Dealings with Improvisation

"Nothing is accidental ... use everything." -- Keith JohnstoneEven the best-laid plans, the proverb goes, go oft astray. And by learning how to improvise like actors or jazz musicians, corporate types can better... Read More

Owning Your Power

Owning your power, your power to be real, to be who you really are, is really about owning your freedom. Consider how your reasons for not being yourself may have been to get... Read More

Harness the Power of Skill Sets and Mindsets

When you have a problem, sometimes you need a new skill or skill set to deal with it. That was an epiphany generated from listening to a speaker the other day. Everything seemed... Read More

Creativity and Innovation Management ? Joy and Sustainability

Creativity can be defined as problem identification and idea generation whilst innovation can be defined as idea selection, development and commercialisation.There are other useful definitions in this field, for example, creativity can be... Read More

What Dreams Will Come!

As the pioneers of aviation took to the air (not skies), in their human powered mechanical contraptions, what must have been said and thought?Complicated pulleys and chain systems enclosing a lunatic, perhaps!Or overly... Read More

Become an Idea Collector

Have you ever gotten a really great idea ? one that you knew would solve a problem, but when you went to apply it, you couldn't remember the idea? Have you ever read... Read More

Accelerate Your Learning

Although you may not currently be a student, learning is a life long process. Perhaps you need to learn something new for your job, or you would like to learn a new language... Read More

Creativity, Innovation, and the Importance of Spontaneity

Spontaneity occurs when ideas or behaviours are expressed without evaluation. This lack of evaluation is the key to good idea generation. Some of the links include:a) Large, quality idea pools are built up... Read More

Innovation Management ? Famous Failures!

Creativity can be defined as problem identification and idea generation whilst innovation can be defined as idea selection, development and commercialisation.There are distinct processes that enhance problem identification and idea generation and, similarly,... Read More

Success Tip From Yachting - Try To Fix The Problem Yourself

At 28, Ellen MacArthur is a world record holder. In 2005, she broke the speed record for sailing solo non stop around the world.As a reward and to recognize her great achievement, she... Read More

Creativity and Innovation Management - Good Ideas Part 1

The constant search for Good Ideas has resulted in many techniques for generating them. Part 1 of Good Ideas will briefly discuss Franklin's (2003) research into the types of ideas that are most... Read More

Cumulative Gains in Innovation

Creativity can be defined as problem identification and idea generation whilst innovation can be defined as idea selection, development and commercialisation.There are other useful definitions in this field, for example, creativity can be... Read More

12 Tips for Taking Smart, Calculated Risks

Most of us know we should take more risks. But the "no-guarantee" component of risk-taking makes it a scary proposition in many instances.Try these 12 smart and simple ideas to identify the risks... Read More

Why It?s Important to Make Your Idea Real

Say you have an idea for something new and exciting in your life.This may be something as simple as a new arrangement for the garden or as far-reaching as a career change.You get... Read More

Discontinuous Innovation

Creativity can be defined as problem identification and idea generation whilst innovation can be defined as idea selection, development and commercialisation.There are other useful definitions in this field, for example, creativity can be... Read More

How An Idea Can Lift You

What determines your destiny? What predisposes your choices?It is your intention.When you hunt for your dreams, you become a magician. When what is out there emerges from what is in here, you experience... Read More