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Fire Safety for Facilities Management Personnel – Human Behaviour – Part 275

October 21, 2024 11:02 am

Lawrence Webster Forrest (LWF) is a specialist fire engineering and fire risk management consultancy whose aim is to give information on best practice in fire safety for facilities management personnel through this blog series. In part 274, LWF talked about how real life fire situations have affected fire safety product design. In part 275, we continue to discuss human behaviour in fire situations and how this can impact the resulting evacuation process.

The first concentrated works on human behaviour in fire situations took place in the 1980s. A project was commissioned by the Building Research Establishment (BRE) on behalf of the Dept of Environment (as was). A model of human behaviour was developed by the Fire Research Unit at University of Surrey during the early 80s too.

Prior to this work, it was assumed that when people are involved in a fire that they ‘panic’, in the sense that they are inclined to think irrationally and carry out actions that were considered to be inappropriate to the situation.

The belief in panic as the main response was such that it formed the basis of most fire procedures and evacuation strategies and, to some extent, it continues to do so today. In some public premises there remains a reluctance to use the word fire in widespread warnings to occupants, or to use the word fire in evacuation messages, in case panic ensues.

UK research, supported by findings of further research in North America has led to an entirely different model, having implications on a practical level in various areas of fire safety and fire protection measures:

  • Fire education and fire safety training
  • Fire evacuation strategies
  • Organisational emergency structures
  • The nature of fire warning systems
  • Design of means of escape

The work undertaken for the model showed that the early behaviour of people in fire situations is frequently calm and sensible, especially given that the building occupants are rarely in full possession of the facts. Truly irrational behaviour was found to be very rare. There is a tendency for people in a building where a fire is occurring to have insufficient information at an early and critical stage and therefore to be unable to make adequate decisions.

In part 276 of this series, LWF will discuss in more detail how people make decisions at an early stage of the evacuation process due to fire. In the meantime, if you have any queries about your own facilities or wish to discuss this blog series, please contact LWF on freephone 0800 410 1130.

Lawrence Webster Forrest is a fire engineering consultancy based in Surrey with over 35 years’ experience, which provides a wide range of consultancy services to professionals involved in the design, development and construction and operation of buildings.

 

While care has been taken to ensure that information contained in LWF’s publications is true and correct at the time of publication, changes in circumstances after the time of publication may impact on the accuracy of this information.

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