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Fire safety engineering
Published in John Purkiss, Fire Safety Engineering Design of Structures, 2007
There will also be requirements on the total number of fire-escapes and the dimensions of escape routes which are normally functions of the building type, the number of people expected within the building at any one time and the potential mobility of such persons. The escape routes are sized to give complete evacuation from the fire compartment into either a protected area or the outside of the structure in some 2,5 min with a basic travel velocity on staircases of approximately 150 persons per minute per metre width of escape route. It should however be recognized that staircases are built in discrete widths and that doubling the staircase width will not double the throughput as an individual person requires finite space, and that minimum widths also need to be specified. The above design figures are for able-bodied persons and need modification when there is a likelihood of disabled persons being part of the building occupancy (Shields, 1993).
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Published in Les Goring, Residential Surveying Matters and Building Terminology, 2023
Fire-escape routes (including windows): The Building Regulations, Approved Document B1 (with amendments) covers Fire Safety in Dwelling Houses, where there is reference to an upgrading of smoke alarms in new dwelling houses – and, in Section B2, there is reference to providing Means of escape via emergency egress from ground-level and upper-floor-level windows (or doors).
Influence of design and installation of emergency exit signs on evacuation speed
Published in Journal of Asian Architecture and Building Engineering, 2019
Gyu-Yeob Jeon, Wook-Jeong Na, Won-Hwa Hong, Jin-Kook Lee
The main problems leading to a failure of fire escape, as identified in previous studies of fire incidents, are smoke-induced poor visibility and irritation caused by difficulties in wayfinding (Jeon and Hong 2009a; Jin 2002). Modern buildings have various fire escape routes, which affect occupant egress during a fire. Long and complex escape routes of a building coupled with poor visibility due to smoke and flames place the building occupants at great risk of failure in self-evacuating the building. To reduce the failure rate in emergency evacuation during a fire, all buildings are equipped with emergency egress facilities complying with the fire safety requirements of the respective country. Egress facilities help evacuees rapidly escape fire by following the fastest and safest escape routes immediately after the detection of fire. Many field studies proved the importance of emergency egress facilities in ensuring fire safety of a building (Benthorn and Frantzich 1999; Horasan 1999). However, evacuation efficiency can greatly vary according to the type of egress facilities and environmental factors within the building.