Queensland - evacuation coordination instructions

1. Evacuation
Coordination
Instructions

2. WELCOME
• Welcome to the Evacuation Coordination
Instructions training course. This course focuses
on the roles and responsibilities of the
Evacuation Coordinator, and provides you with
the information you need to fulfil your duties.
• At the conclusion of the course, you will have the
knowledge you need to effectively conduct an
evacuation in accordance with the Emergency
Management Plan for your building.

3. Course Coverage
• During the course, we'll be covering:
– Identifying, reporting and analysing
emergencies and hazards;
– Prevention of and preparation for
emergencies;
– The roles and responsibilities of people during
emergencies;
– Fire and evacuation procedures; Fire safety
systems; and
– Responding to alarms and warnings.

4. Learning Objectives
• At the completion of the course, you will:
– Analyse hazards and be able to report an
emergency in your building;
– Understand and be able to undertake the
responsibilities of the Evacuation Coordinator;
– Know how to respond safely to an emergency
and assist other occupants;
– Understand and undertake initial and post initial
emergency response activities; and
– Be able to provide feedback to assist in
continuous improvement of the Emergency
Management Plan.

5. Target Audience
• The course has been designed to provide
training for Evacuation Coordinators in strata
buildings. The Evacuation Co-ordinator is the
person (an occupant and/or employee) who
is responsible for coordinating the evacuation
of the building in an emergency.
• So, if you are the Evacuation Co-ordinator in
your building, this course will provide you with
the information you need to respond safely
and quickly to a fire or emergency.

6. Emergencies and
Hazards
An Overview

7. Identifying Emergencies and
Hazards
• Buildings can be hazardous and dangerous places.
• Different buildings will have different hazards.
• For example, a building containing a car workshop may be more
hazardous than a residential apartment building.
• There are hazards in all buildings, however, and emergencies can
occur at any place or time.
• To get a better understanding of emergencies, in this section we'll
look at:
– Legislation and The Australian Standard around emergencies and
evacuations
– The authority of the Evacuation Co-ordinator
– What a hazard is
– What risk is
– The hierarchy of control and
– Prevention and preparation

8. Legislation
• In Queensland, the governing legislation is the
Fire and Emergency Services Act 1990 (the
‘Act’) and the Building Fire Safety Regulation
2008, in conjunction with the Australian
Standards.
• Under s104E of the Act the occupier of a
building must maintain at all times a plan of
action to be taken by persons within the building
in the event of a fire.
• Under r24, a building must have a fire safety
management procedure, in accordance with the
Australian Standards.

9. Australian Standard
• To make sure that the risks of injury, illness and death
in workplaces are controlled as much as possible,
Australian Standard 3745-2010 (Planning for
Emergencies in Facilities) has been created.
• Another Australian Standard that regulates workplace
emergency evacuation is AS 1851 :2012, specifically,
section 14 of the standard which is entitled
maintenance of fire protection systems and equipment
(emergency evacuation procedures).
• The legislation in Queensland is based on and draws
heavily upon these Standards.

10. Evacuation Co-ordinator's Authority
During Emergencies
• As the Evacuation Co-ordinator, you need to be aware
that, in an emergency situation, the normal lines of
authority in your building or workplace (if any) no
longer apply.
• The Australian Standard 3745:2010 states that the
Emergency Planning Committee shall ensure that,
during emergencies, instructions given by ECO
personnel shall overrule normal management
structure. Wardens have the authority to marshal all
staff and any visitors.
• The purpose of these powers is to ensure that during
an emergency situation, life safety takes precedence
over asset protection and/or productivity concerns.

11. What is an Emergency?
• When people think of emergency evacuations,
they will usually think of fire and fire evacuations.
• While fire presents an obvious risk to most
workplaces, the definition of what an emergency is
takes in a much wider range of possible situations.
• The standard defines an emergency as 'any event
that arises internally or from an external source,
which may affect persons or the community in
general, and which requires an immediate
response.

12. Emergency Types
• The types of emergencies that could
happen in your building are generally
determined by its use or uses.
• For example, if your building has a
restaurant on the ground floor, it is more
likely that a fire will occur than if you live in
a block of six units.

13. Common Emergencies
• Some of the more common emergencies include:
– Animal or livestock emergencies Biohazard Bomb threat
– Building invasion
– Armed invasion
– Chemical, biological and radiological
– incidents
– Civil disorder Criminal acts Cyclones, including storm surge Deliberate self-harm Earthquake Failure of
utilities
– Fire
– Flood
– Hazardous substances incidents
– Hostage situations
– Industrial accident
– Letter bomb
– Medical emergency
– Severe weather and storm damage
– Structural instability
– Terrorism
– Transport accident
– Toxic emission
– Veterinary emergencies
– Wildfire
• The standards require the Evacuation Co-ordinator to prepare for fire and hazardous substance
emergencies, and so this training package will focus on these areas from here on in.

14. The Emergency Management
Plan
• Every building is required to have an Emergency
Management Plan.
• The Emergency Management Plan provides guidelines
developed to help preserve people's safety during an
emergency evacuation.
• They assist in the response to emergencies, and in the
controlled movement of people from the emergency
within a building to a place of safety.
• It is important that you are familiar with the Emergency
Management Plan for your workplace.

15. Human Behaviour in
Emergencies
How people act under stress
How to manage people under stress

16. Managing Responses
• As a Evacuation Co-ordinator, you are responsible
for the possible evacuation and movement of
people during an emergency.
• Depending on the size of your building, and when
the emergency takes place, you may or may not
have additional, trained people assisting you.
• This can be a time of great stress and uncertainty
for everyone, so it is extremely important to
understand how people can react when they
encounter an emergency, and to then know how to
respond to and manage those reactions to ensure
that people are kept safe.

17. Human Behaviour
• Human behaviour in a stressful situation, such as
when reacting to an emergency, can be quite
varied. The broad reactions encountered include:
– Orderly behaviour
– Panic reactions
– Freezing
– Taking the initiative to help even though it is unwanted
or not needed and
– Individuals (such as managers in a workplace) taking
charge despite not being trained in the Evacuation
Procedures.

18. Tendencies In Emergencies
• Surveys and observations made on human behaviour in
emergencies reveal that:
– People tend to enter and leave buildings using familiar exits.
– Emergency exits are often perceived as unsafe, unfriendly and
unknown.
– Panic is very rare. People may panic when trapped, but during a normal
evacuation, they are usually (relatively) calm and collected.
– Most people will stop and help another person, even in dangerous
situations.
– Even in the presence of clear evacuation messages or alarm systems,
most people keep doing what they were doing.
– Some people will search for better information from an "Expert" or
"Official", such as the Evacuation Co-ordinator or Emergency Services
Officer.
– People take cues from others to understand the situation. If everyone
else is evacuating, most people will tend to follow, like sheep.

19. What's Going On?
• It is important to understand what may be
happening inside someone when
confronted with a stressful emergency
situation as it will help deal with their
response and assist them during the
emergency.

20. The General Adaptation
Syndrome
• An emergency can be a stressful situation.
• Our bodies react to stress -like the stress of being
ill -with a recognisable pattern of responses.
• These responses are called the general
adaptation syndrome.
• There can be up to three phases that our
resistance levels go through when we are exposed
to a stressor. The three phases are:
– Alarm;
– Resistance; and
– Exhaustion.

21. Alarm Phase
• During the alarm phase, the body's
resistance to physical damage drops for a
short-time. This is because our bodies are
preparing to cope with the stressor by
using up all available energy and normally
protective stress hormones.
• The increased awareness and physical
capabilities provide us with the choice of
'fight' or 'flight'.

22. Resistance Phase
• If the stressor persists, and we can't fight or flee from it
or are unable to apply counteracting psychosocial
resources, our level of resistance increases beyond
normal, relaxed levels.
• Our bodies start to run in higher gear. High levels of
stress hormones continue to help us cope with the
stressor. This is appropriately called the resistance
phase.
• During this phase, the person may freeze because the
brain is so consumed by controlling the physiological
changes that it cannot coordinate any physical action
or movement. Hence, when asked or told to evacuate,
the person seemingly ignores the request.

23. Exhaustion Phase
• If there is no relief, the body can continue for
minutes, hours, days, weeks, even years. The
resistance phase can continue on until either the
stressor is suddenly removed, or because it is very
energy-consuming, our body collapses, often with
dangerous and extreme physical reactions.
• It is here in this third phase, known as the
exhaustion phase, that our health suffers, and, in
extreme cases, even death can occur.
• The exhaustion phase is characterised by feelings
of lethargy -meaning an absence of energy and
bodily resources to cope.

24. Responding to this Behaviour
• As a result of the physical and emotional
changes that can occur in a person in the face of
an emergency, it may appear that you have
been ignored when you ask a building occupant
to evacuate.
• This could be due to freezing or overwhelming
feelings of lethargy, so it is necessary to ask an
occupant to evacuate twice if it appears that
your first request is ignored.

25. Methods of Fear Reduction
• The methods available to you to overcome or reduce
the fear response in the majority of cases are:
– Put on your helmet, hat or Evacuation Co-ordinator
identification symbol, as this is a sign of authority and
knowledge of procedures;
– Remain calm and composed;
– Use short, clear sentences and speak with authority;
Practice your procedures;
– Ensure that the occupants of your building have
knowledge of the Emergency Management Plan and
equipment; and
– Act as part of a team.

26. Refusal to Evacuate
• Given your knowledge of the stress that a
person can experience in an emergency
and the likely physical response, it is
important that you know what actions that
you need to carry out when an occupant
refuses to evacuate.
• It is also important that you understand
what you are not allowed to do in the role
of a Evacuation Co-ordinator.

27. Refusal to Evacuate (cont'd)
• NO PHYSICAL FORCE
– At no time is the Evacuation Co-ordinator or
other occupants, security or persons other
than Emergency Services personnel to use
physical force to remove someone who
refuses to evacuate.
– Touching, poking or slapping a person who
seems to be in a state of extreme fear or
shock may cause a violent reaction, and is
considered to be assault.

28. Refusal to Evacuate (cont'd)
• What to do...
• If you ask a person to evacuate and they either refuse or
ignore your request, you should ask them again and try to
gently, calmly and quickly persuade them to evacuate.
• If they still refuse, then you should continue with your duties
and, when finished, report the location of the person who
refused to the Emergency Services.
• Similarly, if it is reported to you that a person is refusing to
leave the building, you should take the details of that person's
location, and pass them to the Emergency Services.
• No one other then Emergency Services shall re-enter the
building or cleared area to retrieve the person or people who
refused to leave.

29. Roles and
Responsibilities
The Evacuation Co-ordinator
Other People with Responsibilities

30. It's an emergency!
• OK, now we know that buildings are really dangerous
places and there are lots of really terrible things that can
happen in them.
• Fortunately, as we covered earlier, there are legal
requirements on every building to have an Emergency
Management Plan in place, and a Evacuation Co-
ordinator and, depending on the size of the building,
other responsible people to implement it.
• Next, we will cover the major roles of the Evacuation Co-
ordinator and other responsible people, and then have a
look at the Emergency Management Plan itself.

31. Small Buildings
• For a small building, such as a six-pack of
residential units or a single shop, the Evacuation
Co-ordinator may be the only person who needs to
have specific responsibilities under the Emergency
Management Plan.
• This person would take on the responsibilities of
the Area Warden, Wardens and Communications
Officer.
• The trade-off, of course, is that for a small
building, each of these responsibilities can
generally be discharged quite quickly.

32. Large Buildings
• For larger buildings, such as a shopping centre or a mid/high-
rise apartment block, it will be necessary to appoint a number
of extra people to take responsibility under the Emergency
Management Plan.
• These people may include a Deputy Evacuation Co-ordinator,
a Communications Officer, Area or Floor Wardens, Wardens,
First Aid Officers and other people.
• Each of these people will have responsibility for different parts
of the building and/or different duties.
• All of these people report to the Evacuation Co-ordinator in an
emergency.
• The number of people required is determined following a risk
assessment of the building and its use.

33. Responsible Person
• Ideally, the Responsible Person would be
someone that lives and works in the
building to which they have been
appointed.
• The QFES has stated that in cases where
there are no suitable or available onsite
candidates for the role, an offsite
Responsible Person may be appointed.

34. The Role of the Responsible Person
• The main role of the Responsible Person is to
assist in the event of a fire and to carry out
important functions under the buildings fire and
evacuation plan.
• This means that in an emergency, their role is to
make sure that people are safe, rather than trying
to save the building and objects within it.
• They also play a vital role in getting things back to
normal in the building when an emergency is over.

35. Responsibilities of Responsible
Person
• Ensuring they are familiar with the Fire
and Evacuation plans and coordination
instructions in the plans.
• Run an evacuation practice annually
• Ensuring they are trained yearly and have
documentation to prove this has been
completed.

36. How the Roles Work
• To fulfil these functions, the roles of the
Responsible persons are reflected in their
responsibilities, duties and authority.
• Responsible Persons should all have identification
in the form of a helmet, hat or vest in accordance
with the Emergency Management Plan and
Australian Standard 3745:2010.
• As a Responsible Person, you need to know the
roles and responsibilities for each person, as this
will allow you to better inform and communicate
actions to your occupants during an emergency.

37. Identifying the Responsible Persons
• During an emergency, people who are
implementing the Emergency Management Plan
can be identified by the colour of their vest or hat.
This could be a helmet, a baseball cap or vest.
– White colours indicate a Evacuation Co-ordinator,
Deputy Evacuation Co-ordinator and Communications
Officer;
– Yellow indicates an Area Warden; and
– Red indicates a Warden;
• In the event of an emergency, each member of
this group has a number of responsibilities.

38. Deputies and Assistants
• Before discussing the specific roles and duties, we
should mention the roles of deputies and
assistants.
• For every person with responsibilities, there needs
to be a deputy or assistant appointed. This makes
sure that if any member of the team is absent,
there will still be someone who can take their role
in the event of an emergency.
• Deputies are fully trained in the role they assist,
and are prepared to take on that role at any time.

39. General Responsibilities
• When there are no emergencies, responsible persons
should be partaking in:
– Active participation in reviewing the Emergency Management
Plan;
– The coordination of emergency planning, training, exercising and
assessment activities for the building (preparation measures);
– Liaison with emergency services (where necessary); and
– Liaison with specialist WH&S and Fire Safety personnel in the
analysis and rectification of hazards (preventive measures).

40. Responsible Persons - Role in
Emergencies
• On becoming aware of an emergency, the
Responsible Person needs to take these actions:
– Proceed to a central control point (such as the Fire
Indicator Panel, Emergency Warning and
Intercommunication System or front door);
– Ascertain the nature of the emergency and determine
the appropriate action;
– Ensure that the appropriate emergency service or
services have been notified; and
– Ensure that the floor or area wardens (in larger
buildings) or occupants (in smaller buildings) are
advised of the situation.

41. Responsible Person- Evacuation
• If there is a need to evacuate the area, the
Responsible Person initiates the evacuation and
controls entry to the affected areas.
• From that point, they:
– Make sure the progress of the evacuation and any
action taken is recorded in an incident log.
– Inform the emergency services personnel upon arrival
of the:
o Type, scope and location of the emergency
o The status of the evacuation
• Once emergency services have arrived, the responsible person then
acts on the senior officer's instructions.

42. Communications Officer - Role
• On becoming aware of an emergency, the
communications officer needs to take the following
actions:
– Find out the nature and location of the emergency
– Confirm that the relevant emergency service has been
notified
– Notify the appropriate people (such as Wardens), either by
Emergency Warning and Intercommunication System or by
other means
– Transmit and record instructions and information between
the Evacuation Co-ordinator, area wardens and occupants
– Maintain a log of the events
– Act as directed by the Evacuation Co-ordinator

43. Area Warden -Role
• When there are no emergencies the
Floor/Area warden is involved in:
– Active participation in reviewing the Emergency
Management Plan;
– Emergency response training, exercises and
assessments; and
– Preventative measures including hazard
identification and rectification, monitoring good
'house-keeping' practices and monitoring of Fire
Safety Installations.

44. Area Wardens -Role in
Emergency
• On becoming aware of an emergency, the area warden needs
to take the following actions:
– Implement the Emergency Procedures for their floor or area;
– Make sure that the relevant emergency service has been
notified;
– Direct wardens to check the area for any abnormal situation;
– Communicate with the Evacuation Co-ordinator by whatever
means available and act on instructions;
– Advise the Evacuation Co-ordinator as soon as possible of the
circumstances and action taken; and
– Confirm that the activities of wardens have been completed and
report this to the Evacuation Co-ordinator.

45. Area Warden -Evacuation
• The AREA warden is responsible
situations arising in their area. The AREA
warden is responsible for any required
evacuation and is responsible for
commencing and initiating that evacuation.
• If any warden requires assistance during
an emergency, the area warden can enlist
the services of anyone as necessary.

46. Wardens -Roles
• When there are no emergencies the Warden
is involved in:
– Active participation in reviewing the Emergency
Management Plan;
– Emergency response training, exercises and
assessments; and
– Preventative measures including hazard
identification and rectification, monitoring good
'house-keeping' practices and monitoring of life
safety systems.

47. Wardens -Role in Emergency
• People who act as Wardens can be
required to carry a range of activities,
including:
– Acting as Floor or Area Wardens if necessary;
– Ensuring that the appropriate emergency
service or services have been notified; and
– Operating the intercommunication system.

48. Wardens -Role in Evacuation
• In the event of an evacuation, a Warden may need to:
– Ensure an orderly flow of persons into protected areas, such as
stairwells;
– Search the floor or area to ensure all persons have been
evacuated;
– Check to ensure fire and smoke doors are properly closed;
Assist persons with disabilities;
– Act as leaders of groups moving to nominated assembly areas;
– Report to the floor or area warden on completion of required
activities; and
– Prevent re-entry of all personnel.

49. Searching for People
• If, as part of your role, you do need to search
a floor or area for building occupants, you
need to make sure that you:
– Use the back of your hand to check closed doors
before entering (only for fires);
– Enter offices and rooms -do not just call out
unless doors are locked; and
– Check toilets, store rooms, meeting rooms, tea
rooms and where ever people could realistically
be.

50. Other Responsible People
• In addition to the roles outlined, there are
a number of specialist members who can
be involved in an emergency response.
These include:
– First aiders
– Organisational Emergency Response Teams
– Emergency Services Organisations

51. First Aiders
• A number of people within each building
may have received training and be
certified in providing first aid.
• These people are identified as first aid
providers, and can play an important role
in providing the first treatment of any
injuries that occur during an emergency.

52. Specialist Emergency Response
Teams
• Large buildings, complexes, and organisations that work with
very hazardous materials will sometimes appoint and train a
Specialist Emergency Response Team.
• Specialist Emergency Response Teams will usually have
specialist training to respond to the particular emergency
types.
• This training is decided by the type of work being carried out,
and the kind of emergency that is most likely because of this
work.
• Specialist Emergency Response Teams generally aren't
closely related to the other people with responsibilities, but will
usually be under the direction of the Responsible Person.

53. Emergency Services
Organisations
• Depending on the scale of the emergency, there
may be a need to use the services of an external
emergency services organisation.
• This could be fire, ambulance, police and other
emergency services organisations.
• In Queensland these include the Queensland
Fire and Rescue Service, Rural Fire Service,
and Queensland Ambulance.

54. Your Workplace Structure
• The team structure for your building is
provided to you in your Emergency
Management Plan.
• It is important that you know who is a part
of your team.
• As the Responsible Person, you
particularly need to know who your Deputy
Evacuation Co-ordinator is, as well as any
Area Wardens and Deputy Area Wardens.

55. The Emergency
Management Plan
Options in an emergency
Evacuations under the Emergency
Management Plan

56. Options in an Emergency
• An emergency does not automatically mean
that the occupants evacuate the building, and
there are a number of options which the
Responsible Person can use to respond.
• These options are:
– Evacuation;
– Lock-down;
– Shelter-in-place; or
– Do nothing.

57. Emergency Response -
Evacuation
• An evacuation would be ordered by the Responsible Person
when it was determined that life is threatened if the occupants
were to remain in the building.
• An evacuation could be ordered for the following emergency
types:
– Fire;
– Bomb threat (an alternative Assembly Area should be used for
this emergency type);
– Biological or radiological threat;
– Hazardous materials spills;
– Air-conditioning contamination;
– Power failure or black-out (in a large building); and
– Building damage.

58. Emergency Response -Lock
Down
• A lock-down is designed to protect occupants from an
imminent internal or external threat, such as armed intrusion,
by excluding or isolating that threat.
• This is particularly relevant for civil disturbances and some
types of building damage.
• Wardens may be used to lock entrance and exit routes to
deter admission to the building.
• A lock-down is communicated by the Responsible Person or
by any mean available other than the evacuation alarms.
• If the evacuation alarms are used, then the occupants will
follow emergency procedures and begin to evacuate, thereby
moving into the area affected by the emergency.

59. Lock Down -Role
• In a lock down, the Responsible Person and
Wardens may be required to perform the
following:
– Alert occupants and brief them on the emergency and
scope of lock-down;
– Secure exterior doors, windows or areas as
instructed;
– Eliminate the movement of people to the outside; and
– Direct occupants to seek protective cover if
necessary.

60. Emergency Response - Shelter in
Place
• Shelter-in-place protects occupants within the
building they currently occupy without locking
them.
• This option is employed when there is no
immediate threat to the structure of the workplace
and its occupants.
• If the Responsible Person decides that the best
course of action is to shelter-in-place, then this is
communicated by appropriate means relevant to
the area affected by the emergency or threat.

61. Shelter in Place
• As with a lock down, shelter-in-place will
usually be chosen if an attempt to evacuate
occupants from the building is likely to
expose them to more danger than they would
face by remaining in place.
• Some examples of emergencies that require
a shelter in place response are:
– Fire in an adjacent property or workplace;
– Flood; or
– Hazardous spill in an adjacent property or
workplace.

62. Shelter in Place -Role
• The Evacuation Co-ordinator and Wardens
may be required to perform the following if
the occupants of your building are required
to shelter in place:
– Alert occupants and brief them on the
emergency and scope of the shelter-in-place;
– Isolate occupants from the external
environment; and
– Close all doors and windows.

63. Emergency Response -Do
Nothing
• This option means that there may be an
emergency, but there is no risk to occupants,
and therefore no need to take any action
apart from monitoring the emergency
situation to make sure that the situation
doesn't change.
• The Responsible Person and Wardens may
be required to alert staff and brief them on
the emergency and the possible actions.

64. What Does an Emergency
Management Plan involve?
• Every building is different, and so there will be different factors to take into
account for each work environment.
• The following is a guide to what you can expect to be covered in an
Emergency Management Plan,
– Evacuation routes
– Persons with disabilities
– Lifts and escalators
– Accounting for people in an evacuation
– The role of the switchboard operator or receptionist
– Floor or area marshalling
– Restrictions on vehicle movements
– Control and coordination
– Communication First aid personnel
– Emergency response equipment
– Life safety systems
– Security guards and specialist staff

65. Implementing the Emergency
Management Plan
• An essential part of an effective Emergency
Management Plan is making sure it is
properly implemented.
• The Emergency Management Plan has no
value if it is not accepted by all occupants of
a building.
• As a result, it is vital that these procedures,
when implemented, have the acceptance and
participation of all building occupants.

66. Maintaining and Practicing
Procedures
• Maintaining and practicing procedures is just as
important as effective implementation, because
there is no point having emergency procedures if
no one knows what they are.
• Maintenance and practice of procedures is
achieved by regularly running (depending on the
size of the building):
– Full evacuation exercises
– Floor or area specific exercises
– Regular training
– Continuous exchange of information between
employees and the Responsible Person.

67. Reporting Emergencies
• One of the procedures developed around emergencies
will be the procedure for reporting emergencies.
• If a person in the building discovers or becomes aware
of an emergency, the first thing they need to do is report
the location and type of emergency, and whether there
are any people injured or in danger.
• This should ideally be reported to you, the Responsible
Person, but, at the very least, occupants should report it
to an Area Warden or Warden.

68. Warning Others
• Once the alarm has been raised, you next
need to warn and assist those people who
may be in immediate danger if it is safe to do
so.
• This can be done with verbal warnings or, if
there is a fire, by activating a manual call
point.
• You should also make sure that the relevant
emergency services organisation has been
notified.

69. Communication
• To report an emergency and raise the alarm, you
should use any means of communication available.
• This could include one or more of the following
methods:
– Verbal;
– Visual signals such as flashing lights, using coloured lights
or turning off the overhead working lights;
– Telephone, either land line or mobile;
– Two-way radio;
– PA systems;
– Computer, using email or an administrator message alert;
or
– Any other means available to you at the time and place.

70. R.A.C.E.
• An acronym that can help you to
remember the steps that need to be taken
in the event of finding an emergency is
R.A.C.E., which stands for:
– Remove people in direct danger
– Alert personnel (call 000)
– Contain the emergency
– Evacuate via the nearest safe exit or
extinguish if trained and if safe to do so

71. Keep Yourself Safe
• It is important to note that the first two steps
(remove people from danger and alert
personnel) should happen at the same time.
This means that you should alert people of the
danger and have someone contact emergency
services as you move to assist people.
• You should only attempt to assist people in
direct danger if it is safe for you to do so.

72. Evacuation Considerations
• Once the alarm has been raised and people in
your immediate area are safe, you need to
consider whether and how to evacuate the
building.
• In the event of an emergency, there are a number
of things you need to take into account as a
Responsible Person. These include:
– Order of evacuation
– Unconscious occupants
– Locked areas or rooms and
– Unsearchable areas or rooms

73. Order of Evacuating Personnel
• When an evacuation is ordered, the order of evacuation for
occupants is:
– Ambulant people (people who can walk unaided);
– Semi-ambulant people (people who can walk with assistance);
– Non-ambulant people (people who cannot walk).
• It is suggested that non-ambulant people are assisted to a safe
place, such as fire-rated emergency stair wells, by other able
occupants.
• The occupants identified to assist the mobility impaired or special
needs people could be pre-designated under the Emergency
Management Plan, although care should be taken during the
emergency to make sure that the pre-designated people are
available to assist.
• This will increase the safety of semi-and non-ambulant occupants,
and allow easier rescue by the Emergency Services.

74. Unconscious Persons
• If you encounter or are informed of someone who
is unconscious during an evacuation, you need to
make sure they are removed from any immediate
danger where it is safe to do so and, if possible,
ensure they are given first aid.
• Wardens and occupants of the building should be
reporting any unconscious person to you during
the evacuation. Once these actions have been
carried out, or it is not safe to carry out these
actions, their medical state and location needs to
be reported to the Emergency Services

75. Assisting Others
• The responsibility to assist people with
disabilities and those who are unconscious
or injured is delegated to the Wardens.

76. Locked Area or Room
• For locked or unsearchable areas or rooms, all
attempts should be made to determine if any person is
inside the locked area or room.
• Feel the door with the back of your hand to determine
if there is a fire on the other side. If there is no warmth
and it is safe to do so, try to open the door by using
the handle. If it is locked, then knock loudly and shout
in order to determine if anyone is inside.
• If there is no response, or if you are informed of a
room for which no response was given, inform the
Emergency Services that the area or room was
locked, and if you could determine with certainty
whether there was anyone inside.

77. Unsearchable Area or Room
• Unsearchable areas (such as smoke filled
rooms) should be reported to you by
occupants and Wardens.
• They should be recorded and reported to
the Emergency Services.
• Wardens should not attempt to search
areas that are deemed unsafe.

78. Assembly Area
• Once the evacuation has begun and the closest
and safest evacuation route has been chosen, it is
suggested that Warden's have the general
occupants use the 'buddy' system.
• The 'buddy' system means getting occupants to
pair up with another, so that when they reach the
Assembly Area, the system aids in the head count
process.
• The system provides another level of security in
the evacuation process, as buddies can be
responsible for looking out for each other.

79. At the Assembly Area
• As the Responsible Person, you have overall
responsibility for the Assembly Area.
• You can delegate some control to Wardens or other
people to assist in organising the area, for example by:
– Grouping occupants together by floor, area or location;
– Conducting head counts, roll call or survey;
– Collating any reports of missing people before providing them to
you; and
– Ensuring that all occupants that have evacuated to the Assembly
Area remain there until the approval to leave is given by the
yourself or the Emergency Services.

80. Don't Leave the Area
• You are in control of the Assembly Area.
Once you are in the Assembly Area, you
should not leave until the 'all clear' is
given.
• If you need to leave the Area for any
reason, consider whether you can have
someone else leave the Area to take care
of the matter for you.

81. After the Emergency
• Once the emergency is over and the
Emergency Services have given the 'all
clear', you should communicate this to the
Wardens and occupants.
• Once the 'all clear' is given, further actions
after the emergency can involve things such
as:
– Completing an incident report; and
– Ensuring any used or damaged equipment is
replaced or repaired.

82. Different Locations
• If you regularly need to visit other areas of
the building that you do not usually visit, you
need to be aware of the evacuation routes for
those areas.
• If required, you should also participate in an
evacuation exercise in those areas.
• If you are visiting another area and there is a
need to evacuate, then you "belong" to that
area, and should not go back to your normal
area before evacuating.

83. Wardens in Different Locations
• If a Warden is in a different location when an
emergency evacuation is ordered, they will not
be available to carry out their duties in their
usual area.
• As the Responsible Person, you need to be
aware of the Evacuation Procedures for different
parts of the building, as you may need to provide
advice to an area which is short on Wardens.

84. After Hours Procedures
• If any emergency alarm sounds after hours, then all occupants are
to evacuate immediately. Any occupant should also call the
Emergency Services on 000. The suggested procedure is:
– Shutdown any computers and/or machinery, if safe;
– Inform the Emergency Services (call 000);
– Use the 'buddy' system to evacuate if appropriate;
– Leave via the nearest safe exit; and
– Proceed to the Assembly Area.
• For different buildings, 'after hours' will mean different things. For
example:
– After hours in an office may be any time other than normal working
hours.
– After hours in a residential building may be between 9am and 5pm, and
after 1Opm, when few occupants will be in the building, or few
occupants will be awake.

85. Emergency Response Procedures
Summary
• That brings us to the end of this topic. In this
section, we've covered:
– How emergency response procedures are developed;
– What emergency response procedures usually cover;
– Different types of emergency response;
– Implementation and maintenance of emergency
– response procedures;
– What you need to do if you discover or become aware
of an emergency; and
– Considerations in the event of an emergency.

86. Fire Safety
Installations
Building design and safety

87. Fire Safety Installations
• Part of developing emergency response
procedures is identifying the Fire Safety
Installations that are available or required.
• These systems are vital to:
– Detect and alert building occupants of an emergency
situation;
– Assist in suppressing or slowing the spread of an
emergency, such as a fire; and
– Assist workplace occupants to evacuate.
• Your Emergency Management Plan contains a list
of all Fire Safety Installations for your building.

88. Building Requirements
• The Building Code of Australia, which has been
incorporated into the laws and regulations of
Queensland, specifies the requirements for
buildings and structures.
• This code outlines specific requirements for
sanitation, light, air and systems to:
– Allow building occupants time to evacuate safely; and
– Allow for Fire and Emergency Services intervention.
• The code states that each building (dependent on the
type) is required to have certain alarms and Fire Safety
Installations.

89. Supporting Systems
• The types, number and locations of Fire Safety Installations in
your building are listed in your Emergency Management Plan,
which is necessary to provide you with the equipment and
tools to safely and quickly respond to an emergency.
• Fire Safety Installations can be, broadly, as:
– Alarm systems;
– Detection and activation systems;
– Suppression and control systems; and
– Life safety and exiting systems.
• The tools and equipment required in an emergency are the
foundation of a successful emergency response, so it's
important that you are familiar with your building's profile.

90. Alarms
• An alarm can be anything that is used to notify
building occupants of an emergency.
• Alarms can be automatically or manually
activated, depending on how they integrate with
the wider emergency system in the building.
• Automatically activated alarms will generally be
integrated into wider systems, such as fire
detection systems.
• There are a number of different types of alarms
that can be used during an emergency.

91. Alarm Types
• An alarm can be any means or system that makes you aware that there is a
potentially life threatening occurrence.
• Examples of some alarms that may be used are:
– Fire Indicator Panel (FIP)
– Bells Portable machines
– Manual hooters
– Whistles
– Verbal
– Visual, such as lights and flags
– Communications systems, such as Warden Intercommunication Phone, Emergency
Warning System and the Emergency Warning Intercommunication System
– Public Address (PA) systems
• These alarms are normally part of a Single Stage or Two Tone system which is explained
later. Your Emergency Management Plan will detail the emergency alarm type used in your
building and the actions expected when they sound.

92. Detection and Activation
Systems
• Detection systems are designed to detect
particular emergency types, and can be
automatically or manually activated.
• Detection activation systems can also
automatically activate alarm and
suppression systems.

93. Detection and Activation Units
• Some examples of detection and activation units include smoke
detectors, thermal detectors and manual call points.
• Smoke detectors are activated by small particles normally found in
smoke, although dust can activate these units.
• Thermal detectors are activated by heat or a rapid rise in
temperature. These units are usually set at 68 degrees.
• Manual call points provide a way for any building occupant to
activate the emergency alarm. When a call point is activated, the
warden or area warden needs to be informed why.
• Manual call points are normally red and connected to the fire alarm
systems.

94. Suppression Systems
• Suppression systems are designed to
inhibit or slow the spread of an
emergency, and particularly, the spread of
fires. Suppression systems can be
automatically or manually activated.
• Sprinklers are activated by a heat source,
and will generally activate the alarm.
Sprinklers can be water, foam or other
specialised extinguisher systems.

95. Life Safety and Exiting Systems
• Life safety systems are specialists systems that are
linked into the wider system for detection, suppression
and alerting about emergencies.
• Life safety systems will generally include some or all of
the following:
– Emergency lighting
– Fire rated emergency stairwells, which mayor may not be
pressurised
– Fire doors and compartmentalisation Devices that may
shut down other systems, such as air conditioning
– Devices for automatically notifying external emergency
services

96. Fire Extinguishers

97. Fire Extinguisher Basics

98. Know your Fire Safety
Installations
• The most important thing is for you to
identify the life safety systems that are in
place in your building, and to be familiar
with the actions required at each step in
your building's Emergency Management
Plan.

99. Fire Safety Installations
• Many safety systems are specifically designed
for emergencies involving fire and smoke.
• This is because the most likely emergency to
occur in the majority of workplaces is fire.
• Two fire safety systems that require more
explanation are fire stairs and
compartmentalisation.

100. Fire Stairs
• During an evacuation (and particularly in a fire
situation) lifts are not to be used, and the fire stairs
must be used instead.
• Fire stairs will usually have a hand railing to the
centre. This is to keep those evacuating a building to
the centre of the stairwell because:
– When the rail stops, the final exit has been reached
– Doors to the stairs open into the stairwell, so staying in the
centre reduce the chance of being hit by an opening door
– Staying in the centre allows emergency personnel to move
in the opposite direction on the outside of the stairwell

101. Compartmentalisation
• Compartmentalisation is an integral building safety system designed
to contain fire and smoke within a compartment for a specific time
period. Queensland building regulations state when and where
compartmentalisation is required.
• Specially constructed walls, floors, ceilings and doors are linked to
form each compartment.
• This is particularly common in residential buildings, where the
apartments or units are almost always separated from one another
by fire rated walls, floors and ceilings, and may have fire rated doors
leading to corridors and evacuation routes.
• Compartmentalisation is only as strong as its weakest link. If a fire
door is left open, smoke and fire can spread rapidly without
restriction, bypassing other controls.
• It is extremely important that people close doors behind them when
evacuating buildings, and that doors are not propped or wedged
open.

102. Emergency Warnings
• Your response to emergency warnings will be
specific to the emergency systems in your
building, and it is important that you are
familiar with what your building's procedure
is.
• The first part of an emergency will generally
be an audible alert or visual cue.
• These can range from a whistle or verbal
shout to two different and distinct tones and
public address systems.

103. Single or Two Stage or Tone
Systems
• There are two basic systems of audible tone
or sound alerts:
– Single Stage or Tone systems involve the use of
ONE tone or sound only which is usually
repeated loudly and consistently.
– Two Stage or Tone systems involve the use of
two separate and distinct tones or sounds.
Usually the alert tone (beep, beep) and the
Evacuation tone (whoop, whoop).
– You must know which system is used in your
building.

104. Single or Two Stage or Tone
Systems
• If you don't already know, find out what
sort of system is used in your workplace
from the evacuation sign or Emergency
Management Plan, you should make
enquiries immediately.

105. Verbal Alarms
• While knowing your alarm system is
important, you should also be prepared to
act on verbal alarms.
• This can be because of system failures, or
because you are in an area of the building
where there are no alarm systems.

106. Before an
Emergency
Prevention
Preparation
Practice

107. Preventing Emergencies
• The best response to an emergency is to prevent it
happening in the first place. ln the event that an
emergency does occur, then proactive measures that
reduce impact are also extremely important.
• In this section, we'll look at:
– Measures to reduce the chances of emergencies occurring
– How to identify and control hazards that could contribute to or
cause an emergency and
– Proactive steps to make sure that a building is prepared to
respond to an emergency if one occurs

108. Proactive Steps
• Activities that can help to prevent and minimise the
impact of emergencies include:
– Inspection of property and buildings for fire hazards,
compliance with fire standards and levels of safe fire
practices;
– Preparation of risk assessment and Emergency
Management Plans;
– Categorising hazards for workplace information
campaigns;
– Workplace information campaigns to promote safe
practices.
– Education and training in the building using the Emergency
Management Plan

109. Hazard Management
• The majority of the responsibility for hazard
management in Queensland belongs to the owner,
occupier and managing entity for a building (for
example, the Body Corporate of a strata scheme).
• As the Responsible Person, you are responsible
for the safe evacuation of the building, which is
dependant on good hazard management.
• If you observe or become aware of a hazard, you
should inform the building owner or manager to
have it rectified.

110. Preparedness
• In addition to reducing hazards to reduce
the risk of emergencies occurring, you
also need to make sure that you are ready
if an emergency does occur.
• This is described as an building's level of
preparedness.

111. Preparation
• In relation to being prepared for an emergency, your responsibilities as a
general occupant apply but, as the Responsible Person, you have additional
responsibilities in the preparation for an emergency.
• As the Responsible Person, your actions in relation to emergency
preparedness are focused on making sure your occupants are aware of:
– The emergency procedures that they will need to follow;
– Knowing the emergency equipment in their area; and
– Participating actively in emergency evacuation exercises.
• You also need to focus on making sure that you and your Wardens are:
– Familiar with the emergency procedures that they will need to follow;
– Familiar with the emergency equipment in the building;
– Aware of any mobility impaired persons in the building; and
– Aware of the level of maintenance of Fire Safety Installations throughout the building.
• This can be achieved by conducting regular meetings, organising regular
training sessions, conducting regular evacuation exercises and distributing
training material

112. Practice
• Practicing emergency response
procedures is an important part of being
prepared for an emergency.
• Practicing with simulated emergencies not
only tests everyone's response, it also
tests the effectiveness and
appropriateness of the procedures
themselves.

113. Practice Makes Perfect
• Training exercises allow you and other
people with responsibilities to become
thoroughly familiar with the emergency
procedures.
• This means that in the high pressure
situation of an emergency, you should
instinctively know what to do, allowing you
to keep yourself safe.

114. Conclusion
• That brings us to the end of the course.
• During the course we've covered:
– What emergencies are;
– Roles and duties of people in an emergency;
– Emergency response procedures and
reporting emergencies;
– Fire Safety Installations; and
– Prevention and preparation.

115. Key Points
• Some of the key things that you need to
remember from the course are that:
– Your primary responsibility as the Evacuation Co-
ordinator is putting life safety before asset protection
and/or productivity;
– Making sure you keep yourself safe, and only take
actions if you are sure you will be safe doing so; and
– Becoming very familiar with the Fire Safety
Installations and Emergency Management Plan in
your building is one of the surest way of keeping safe
in an emergency.

116. Key Points -Prevention and
Preparation
• In being prepared for an emergency, the key thing
to remember is that the easiest way to prevent
incidents and emergencies is to stop them
happening in the first place.
• Reporting hazards and making sure controls are
put in place significantly reduce the chances of
your organisation experiencing an emergency
situation, and will increase the chances of a
successful outcome if an emergency occurs.
• Finally, providing training and practicing your
procedures will make sure that you are ready to
respond to an emergency should one occur.