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

---

Google News Updated : Sat, 05 Jul 2008 06:54:27 GMT Red Sox 6, Yankees 4 Yankees’ Surge Lasts an Inning as Red Sox ... - New York Times National Post Red Sox 6, Yankees 4 Yankees’ Surge Lasts an Inning as Red Sox ... New York Times - 7 hours ago By TYLER KEPNER The first inning could not have gone better for the Yankees on Friday. The Boston Red Sox loaded the bases with one out, but Darrell Rasner survived with a pop out and a line out. Shoulder injury against Sox KO's Johnny Damon indefinitely New York Daily News A real off-the-wall play Boston Herald The Canadian Press - Times Herald-Record - The Associated Press - Sports Network all 438 news articles Publ.Date : Fri, 04 Jul 2008 23:34:48 GMT Free speech alive, well as protesters interrupt Bush - Houston Chronicle Washington Post Free speech alive, well as protesters interrupt Bush Houston Chronicle - 1 hour ago By PETE YOST AP CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA. - People lined up to be sworn in as new US citizens were unwitting witnesses Friday to a constitutional object lesson at President Bush's expense on the grounds of Thomas Jefferson's home, Monticello. Video: Bush Invokes Jefferson on July 4 AssociatedPress Bush Welcomes 72 New US Citizens New York Times Austin American-Statesman - Los Angeles Times - CNN - Charlottesville Daily Progress all 832 news articles Publ.Date : Sat, 05 Jul 2008 05:37:30 GMT Flights of affinity - Xinhua WELT ONLINE Flights of affinity Xinhua - 3 hours ago BEIJING, July 5 -- Friday is a historic day for cross-Straits relations. It saw weekend chartered planes and the first batch of tourist groups from the Chinese mainland to its Taiwan island inaugurate. RPT-China, Taiwan airlines to see lift from new flights Reuters China-Taiwan direct: Readers react BBC News International Herald Tribune - AFP - guardian.co.uk - United Press International all 865 news articles Publ.Date : Sat, 05 Jul 2008 03:33:23 GMT Jalapeños Probed in Outbreak - Wall Street Journal Canada.com Jalapeños Probed in Outbreak Wall Street Journal - 50 minutes ago By JANE ZHANG and JANET ADAMY WASHINGTON -- Officials investigating the salmonella outbreak now are looking at jalapeño peppers as a leading suspect for spreading the bacteria that has sickened hundreds across the US over the past three months, ... Inspectors to halt import of some food from Mexico CNN Farmers say salmonella scare has hurt tomato sales The Associated Press Baltimore Sun - WUSF - News 10 Now - Nashua Telegraph all 390 news articles Publ.Date : Sat, 05 Jul 2008 06:04:01 GMT The Senate Stalls on Medicare - New York Times ChattahBox The Senate Stalls on Medicare New York Times - 1 hour ago Before leaving town for the Fourth of July recess, Senate Republicans thwarted a vote on a sensible Medicare bill that would benefit doctors and patients at the expense of overpaid private health plans. Some Medicare benefits might fall, co-pays rise Pittsburgh Post Gazette Tennessee: Senators' votes anger doctors Chattanooga Times Free Press Washington Post - Sarasota Herald-Tribune - Rapid City Journal - CNNMoney.com all 551 news articles Publ.Date : Sat, 05 Jul 2008 05:04:31 GMT Estrich on Obama, Iraq, Experience and Race - FOXNews GulfNews Estrich on Obama, Iraq, Experience and Race FOXNews - 6 hours ago by Major Garrett The Bourbon Room had a long talk today with Susan Estrich, the campaign manager for Michael Dukakis’ 1988 presidential campaign. Video: AP Campaign Stories AssociatedPress Poll: Some Clinton supporters still not embracing Obama CNN Huffington Post - Newsweek - Chicago Tribune - CBS News all 2,146 news articles Publ.Date : Sat, 05 Jul 2008 00:14:13 GMT How Jesse Helms Made a Difference - Wall Street Journal ABC News How Jesse Helms Made a Difference Wall Street Journal - 50 minutes ago By JOHN FUND If Ronald Reagan was the sunny and optimistic face of modern conservatism, the uncompromisingly defiant exemplar of it was Jesse Helms, who died yesterday at age 86. Video: A Look Back At Jesse Helms CBS NC Senator's Hard-Line Conservatism Helped Craft Republican Social ... Washington Post Houston Chronicle - Kansas City Star - DetNews.com - Austin American-Statesman all 1,886 news articles Publ.Date : Sat, 05 Jul 2008 06:04:04 GMT RSS Feed Reader Increase Website Traffic

PARLOT::Ebooks, Scripts, Websites, and more...

Adsense websites

Business Innovation ? the Value of Role Play

Creativity can be defined as problem identification and idea generation... Read More

Set Yourself Up for Success!

Set Yourself Up For Success!... Read More

Business Innovation ? Real Self versus the Trained Self

Creativity can be defined as problem identification and idea generation... Read More

Why Do We Suppress Higher Thought?

Throughout History we have imprisoned our brightest stars and thinkers.... Read More

Opportunity: Could You Be Colour-blind?

Do you consider your vision perfect? You may never have... Read More

Mindfulness and Beliefs: Irrationally Yours

I can't help it--I am a confirmed neuroscience geek.So I... Read More

6 Steps to Super Mindpower

Ever hear "You can't teach an old dog a new... Read More

Life ? The Teacher

You've probably heard the phrase "repetition is the mother of... Read More

The Subtle Secret Of Transformation

Great men and women succeed moment by moment, step by... Read More

Take Your Good Idea One Step Further

Whether you're an executive, manager, professional, or entrepreneur, you need... Read More

Imagination

Imagination is the unreal, real state of mind, where all... Read More

Business Innovation ? Masks and Trance

Creativity can be defined as problem identification and idea generation... Read More

What is NLP?

NLP Explained.....NLP is the study of how people organise their... Read More

Business Innovation ? the Creative Process

Creativity can be defined as problem identification and idea generation... Read More

Befriend Your Budget, This Yuletide and Always

It is that time of year again. Yuletide?Christmas in the... Read More

Knowledge Gains in Innovation

Creativity can be defined as problem identification and idea generation... Read More

The Pendulum Swings Right - A Major Shift is Happening Inside Our Brains

The world is now changing again, it appears. The logical... Read More

Thousands of Failures, but Thousands of Patents

Thomas Edison failed thousands of times before he revolutionized the... Read More

Creativity and Innovation Management - Good Ideas Part 2

The relative ease of i) generating good ideas and ii)... Read More

Creativity Management and Good Ideas

Some ideas occur in the office and others occur away... Read More

Become an Idea Collector

Have you ever gotten a really great idea ? one... Read More

Solve Problems With A Word List

To creatively solve problems you need to get your mind... Read More

Fire Evacuation Drill with a Difference

I had been given the task to organize a fire... Read More

Innovation Management ? The Harsh Facts Of Life For All Innovators

Creativity can be defined as problem identification and idea generation... Read More

Innovation Management ? predicting winners

Creativity can be defined as problem identification and idea generation... Read More