Eaton has launched a series of white papers on evacuation planning for commercial buildings. The five papers are deigned to guide owners and managers of buildings through the legal, moral and commercial imperatives for the safety of occupants in an emergency, as well as protecting assets and business continuity.
The product company says that commercial property owners and managers are obliged to take multiple risk scenarios into account and respond by planning and training. Eaton contends that too many businesses take safety for granted and is seeking to raise awareness. The new whitepapers can be downloaded at eatonworksafe.com.
John Robb, commercial buildings segment leader at Eaton, said: “In our experience, most businesses occupying or managing a building are aware of their legal obligation to ensure the safety of people in the building, which also includes the safe evacuation of any person within that building in the event of an emergency. Despite this, too many businesses still take their safety for granted. At a time when the breadth and severity of risks are expanding, along with the legal, financial and reputational consequences of failure, we feel duty bound as an industry leader to help professionals understand and navigate this complicated landscape.”
According to the trade body the Association of British Insurers (ABI), the cost of commercial fire damage in the UK was around £1.7m per day in 2012. At the same time, it is estimated that over a third of businesses never resume operations after a major fire. Urbanisation, proliferation of warehouse buildings, an ageing population, reputational sensitivity and contemporary threats such as civil unrest, terrorism and extreme weather are all cited as reasons for evacuation planning.
The white papers, available to download at eatonworksafe.com, cover five topics:
Trends In Commercial Commercial Property and The Future of Safe Evacuation
Protecting Your People – Regulations and Legal Obligations
The Impact of Fire and Other Emergencies
Minimising Risks
Business Continuity and Reputation
The papers include statistics on fire and other evacuation triggers; details of local and international regulations, the changing nature and psychology of risk, advice on selecting and installing equipment, how to conduct formal risk assessments and a look ahead to the safety systems of the future; and case studies from the UK and the rest of Europe and the US.
