How to correctly draw up and where to hang an evacuation plan

There are certain requirements for evacuation plans, detailed in GOST under the number 12.2.143.2009, as well as 12.4.026-2001. If the plan is drawn up with violations or is absent, then the fire inspector has the right to impose an administrative fine.

The meaning of the plan

The evacuation plan should hang in a conspicuous place so that everyone can freely study and remember it, and in an emergency, quickly find a way out of the room with its help. The plan schematically shows the path of movement in the event of a fire or other disaster, describes the procedure for action, indicates the location of equipment for primary fire extinguishing and devices for informing about an emergency.

The plan helps you to orient yourself in a timely and correct way, to independently leave even an unfamiliar building in which a person finds himself for the first time. An evacuation plan in the event of a fire or accident regulates the flow of people in public places, tells you which phone numbers to call the rescue service. This is an important information document for which its requirements have been developed.

When you need to hang out

The plan is designed so that it is intuitive for everyone, not just the fire inspector. It is fixed on a wall or column in a corridor or room in exact accordance with the place indicated on the plan. It should be well lit so that small details are visible, and the photoluminescent film (if present) absorbs maximum rays and glows in the dark for as long as possible.

If more than 10 people work on the floor, then the evacuation scheme must be posted without fail. Schemes are supplied to educational institutions, shopping centers, hospitals, hotels, motels and other places where a large number of people stay at the same time. It is not necessary to hang them on the floors of residential buildings.

If the facility employs 50 or more people, then in addition to the plan, instructions for the maintenance personnel are developed. It describes how to proceed to organize a safe and fast evacuation. According to the instructions, training is carried out 2 times a year.

Structure

The preparation of an evacuation plan begins with its development based on BTI documents or construction documentation. You can draw a diagram yourself by measuring the premises and observing the scale. A drawing for printing is made using a special program or any graphic editor.

Walls and doorways are designated first, then windows, stairwells and all existing exits. Solid green lines with arrows indicate the route to the main exits. Dotted lines indicate movement in the direction of emergency and emergency exits. From toilets and closets, the path can be omitted from the diagram.

The drawing also marks the locations of fire extinguishers, fire cabinets, telephones for calling rescuers, panic buttons and other tools and warning devices that contribute to extinguishing a fire. External staircases and staircases of smoke-free type shall be indicated. The location of the plan itself is also indicated. Below, under the diagram, the decoding of the designations, the procedure for actions in case of fire and accidents, emergency telephone numbers are placed.

• For local premises, the size of the evacuation plan must be at least 400x300 mm (A3);
• For floors and sections, the plan is made in a format of 600x400 mm (A2) or more.

There should be as many plans as there are fire exits in the building.

In corridors more than 60 m long, an additional plan is hung up. The printed diagram must be signed by authorized persons.

What should be the signs, symbols, letters

Signs on the plan should not be conjectured and invented on their own. They must strictly comply with GOST 12.4.026, the standards of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) and industry standards. They can be supplemented with letters and numbers, specific designations for fire fighting equipment can be applied (according to standard 28130-89).

All symbols in the drawing must be legible and of the same scale. Their height can be from 0.8 to 1.5 cm. If some inscription does not fit, then the size of the plan is increased.

The fire evacuation plan in accordance with GOST consists of the text and directly the diagram with icons. In the text, they give explanations of each sign, remind the order of actions. At the top they write the name of the document. In the graphic part, a diagram is placed, signs, indicate the floor number, if the plan is storey or sectional.

The background is made white or slightly yellowish, and the inscriptions and outlines of the walls are black. For the plan on paper, choose an exclusively white background color. Lines and arrows showing travel paths are shown in green. It is unacceptable to use arbitrary colors and enter your own invented signs and symbols.

Manufacturing material

The plan can be done on plain paper or using photoluminescent media. The method of execution is chosen by the owner or manager of the facility subject to fire protection. If the choice fell on photoluminescent film, then the design must comply with GOST 2009.

What are photoluminescent materials? Under the influence of light rays, they themselves become a source of light, are clearly visible in the dark due to the glow, and in emergency conditions they attract attention. According to the regulations, the afterglow of the photoluminescent material should be white or greenish-yellow.

Transparent photoluminescent paper, plastic or film is used, laminating a drawing printed on paper with it. Alternatively, direct print transparencies are used. The material must be of high quality, have a certificate of conformity, and meet the requirements of fire safety standards. They say that 10 minutes after the illumination of the plan has disappeared, its brightness should be 200 mcd / sq. m. And after an hour, the brightness should be at least 25 mcd / sq. m. Compliance with the requirements is checked by a sample or using special devices.

The film for evacuation plans is made on the basis of PVC. Its front side accumulates the energy of any part of the light spectrum, and begins to glow. In dark rooms with an emergency power outage, this is clearly visible. This film is used for most photoluminescent evacuation systems (fs). On its basis, prohibition signs, instructions, warnings, markings, plans are made. The afterglow time should be 24 hours.

Sometimes, for convenience and aesthetic reasons, the plan is placed in an aluminum frame. You cannot use a frame made of ordinary combustible plastic. It is also impossible to cover photoluminescent plans with glass and laminate them, as this reduces the degree of light perception, creates glare.

Varieties of plans

Plans are made for buildings, vehicles, structures and other objects in which people may be. They are:

• local (hotel room, hostel, hospital room, office, cabin, etc.);
• storey;
• sectional (within each floor);
• consolidated.

In buildings with 2 or more floors, evacuation schemes are drawn up for each floor. If the floor area is more than 1000 sq. m, then it is divided into sections and an evacuation plan for each section is made. Division into sections also occurs if there are several emergency exits on the floor, and they are separated by a high partition (wall), turnstiles, sliding or lowering doors are installed between them. With an intricate long escape route, it is also advisable to divide the floor into sections and make several plans.

On the basis of storey, sectional and local, a master plan is made. It is kept together with the second copies of all plans at the person on duty (administrator) and must be given to the head of the rescue team that arrived at the scene at the first request.

The scheme is changed if the building was rebuilt, the layout, the purpose of the rooms changed. The change of photoluminescent plans is expected every 5 years after, since the material degrades over time. Although some manufacturers claim a service life of 20-25 years.