Here are some commonly asked questions about fire evacuation drills and why they are important. Benfield Fire Safety organises and runs fire evacuation drills for all kinds of businesses, helping to ensure they are better prepared in the event of a fire emergency.
What is a fire drill?
A fire drill is a structured and rehearsed exercise that aims to ensure your staff can undertake an efficient and safe evacuation without injury or loss of life.
Are fire evacuation drills required by law?
The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 states that Responsible Persons, such as business owners, have a legal duty to keep people safe on their premises. This requires regular, documented, and evaluated fire evacuation drills. Failure to comply with the rules can result in severe penalties. Fire drills MUST be carried out annually, but guidance recommends every six months.
Why does a fire evacuation drill need to happen?
Fire evacuation drills are important because….
- It is essential to be prepared and allow practice of your emergency procedures to minimise panic and mistakes during fire emergencies.
- Regularly rehearsing fire drills educates staff on fire safety measures and the fire regulations that need to be adhered to.
- It tests your procedures, namely your FEEP (Fire Emergency Evacuation Plan), for some premises your GEEP (General Fire Emergency Evacuation Plan) and any PEEPs (Personal Emergency Evacuation Plan). Fire drills allow you to evaluate the effectiveness of your procedures and identify opportunities for refinement.
- Fire drills also test your fire alarm, sounders, call points and provide fire wardens with experience of using the control panel and other emergency systems.
- Practicing fire drills challenges your staff and enables an evaluation of their response time and understanding of emergency procedures and fire assembly points. It identifies whether further learning or fire safety training is required.
- Fire drills can help to evaluate whether you have enough staff to accommodate for those less able-bodied people to be evacuated in-line with your evacuation strategy.
- The drill can familiarise staff with the use of fire safety assets such as the use of walkie talkies and evacuation chairs or other evacuation aids when a lift is not able to be used.
- Carrying out fire evacuation drills enables you to fulfil the legal requirement. It helps ensure that should your fire safety evacuation procedures ever be called into question; you have documented evidence that you held regular evacuation drills and evaluated the performance.
In summary:
Ultimately, fire evacuation drills save lives. They test your emergency equipment and procedures, prepare your staff for a real fire situation, and ensure compliance with the law.
Why choose Benfield Fire Safety for your fire evacuation drills?
Benfield Fire Safety has over 25 years’ experience of running fire evacuation drills, so you can rely on us to give you a candid and detailed evaluation against your FEEPs. For your documentation, we provide a clear action plan and written report to allow for the follow-up on shortfalls observed on the day of the drill.
Find out more about Benfield Fire Safety’s facilitated fire evacuation drills and contact Benfield Fire Safety by emailing Customerservice@benfieldfs.co.uk or calling 0300 303 3277 to book.
