Emergency Evacuation System

[mikebelcher]

Hi all,

 

Just been asked to look into some sort of evacuation system for a small festival (around 3000 punters), we're doing later in the year.

 

The system will be in place in case the main PA fails and we are unable to announce the situation.

 

I was wondering if we are legally required to have such a system, or whether it's just to keep the H&S people happy.

 

I've been looking at a 100V line system as solution should we need to get one, that's my best idea so far, suggestions welcome.

 

Cheers,

 

Mike

[Dodgecaliber]

I have such a system that gets used at festivals.

 

It's basicly a voice alarm able to broadcast over a fair distance. Can be used via a PA system or horns.

 

Similar to this kind of thing (Just smaller and not as powerfull!)

 

I've also dealt with evac, traffic management and vehicle safety and a million festivals so I might be able to sort you out with something.

 

PM me and I'll try sort you out with a system

[Roderick]

I was wondering if we are legally required to have such a system, or whether it's just to keep the H&S people happy.

As always, it comes down to your risk assessment.

The question you have to ask yourself is: How do I get people to safety should something happen and there is no power.

A proper Emergency System with battery back-up would be the preferred option but, as we are talking about a fairly small number of people, loud-hailers may do the job equally fine.

What I normally find more important is to have a good Emergency Plan in place. By that I mean a plan that everyone has read and is familiar with. Absolutely no point in having a comprehensive 300 page Emergency Plan that sits on a shelf and is only there to impress "H&S".

Apply the KISS principle and make sure that everyone knows who does what, when and where, should a problem arise.

That way you will safe peoples' lives, paper won't and equipment without a 'when to use' plan won't either.

[Simon Lewis]

Voice alarm tends to have a specific meaning (i.e. as defined in BS5839 Part 8 and EN60849). Furthermore, there are specific requirements in terms of

system design, fault monitoring, redundancy and speech intelligibility.

 

However, a Voice Alarm system to this specification would probably be overkill and not necessary (and does not appear to fit in with the

usual criteria of 'exit from an enclosed space'), whereas a means of independently addressing the crowd would be appropriate.

 

Loudhailers or separate horn loaded speakers able to be run from a separate power source would seem to meet the requirement quite satisfactorily.

 

Simon

[mikebelcher]

Thanks for the input guys. I think having 5 or 6 designated people with loud hailers (we've got loads of them anyway!) seems to be the best option, easy to incorporate into our security plan as well. Cheers!

[Tom]

I was wondering if we are legally required to have such a system, or whether it's just to keep the H&S people happy.

 

I think you'll find that keeping the H+S people happy is a legal requirement and the H+S Executive will be more than happy to prove that to you in court should it all go horribly wrong

[Jivemaster]

The terms of the licence will start to specify things like this. You need to comply with all the terms and conditions, and have paper trail to prove compliance. The Risk assessments should cover crowd safety, and emergency evacuation should be one of the possibilities when should you evacuate, how should you tell the punters, and where should you send them. If you have officially appointed police representatives then they will help you to understand and they will be the ones to order evacuation.

 

One of the possible causes of needing to evacuate is power failure, so in independent solution may be better. With a 100v line system you can get amps that run off 12/24v but all places get the same message. with the independent loud hailer someone has to control which operators give what message but you have greater diversity. Having an independent system allows you to use much less power as the system eq can be set bass free for maximum speech clarity, also this sounds different to the punters so they may understand that there is a reason for something different.

 

MOST important is to make sure that site communications is available as needed and supported through periods of stress. Assume that at the first sign of a problem all the crowd will use their mobiles and you will not get a cell for emergency calls.

 

Consider also that an emergency exit should be made in some form of light, so emergency lighting may be needed.

[Dodgecaliber]

Couldn't have said it any better.

 

Voice alarms are better used because no one will know what to do when they hear a giant sounder screaming.

 

Voice alarms are clear and instruct you exactly what to do.

 

The last festival I worked at, we used a small PA with battery backup connected to a box with all the messages at the press of a button. H&S and the police were happy enough with this.

 

We were able to control it remotely via laptop however they opted for the buttons at the side of the stage instead.

 

In terms of emergency exits, giant signs hung from fences and trees did the trick.

 

Think of football stadiums, train stations, airports, racetracks, shopping centers - All of them high occupancy places and all with voice alarms.

 

I would 100% go for a voice alarm system. Loudhailers do not do the job and that is coming from experience. A very bad experience.

[Jivemaster]

An event with 3K punters will definitely have police interest, how much interest only thay can decide, according to their risk appreciation. Do have some serious thoughts to offer then consult your local police representitive see what they want you to do. If your proposals are up to standard they will simply OK them, they might wish for improvements, if you have nothing to offer they will wonder about your capability to run the whole event and may get heavy handed with you.

 

If you intend to have messages red out real time you really MUST ensure that they are read well and accurately.

 

I was on a boat where they hammed up the safety announcement regularly then when they did have an on-board fire no-one had taken notice of the announcement and there was pandemonium which did not go down well at the enquiry.

[mikebelcher]

Firstly, thanks for all the advice it's been really helpful, I'll be sure to pass the key details on to the necessary parties.

 

Just to clear things up: I forgot to mention the event is being run within the campus of Aston University, the police have little, if no involvement due to the nature of the University Security Department. The emergency system will be handled by them. I am just looking for the best option I can give them that they can incorporate into their assessments and evacuation procedures/plans.

 

We have run this same event over the last few years (number of punters increasing each year), and have the evidence for the majority of it, except it seems this. As the organisers change each year, we can only speculate this information has been lost, or it wasn't deemed necessary to have such a system in previous years due to the size of the event. However things change, and this year, quite rightly, we are having to take this into account.

[Dodgecaliber]

The police will have an envolvement - A large one at that. Whether its on private property or not.Thats coming from a friend who is a senior officer.

 

What happens if a riot breaks loose?

Where will you evacuate 3000 people to?

How will you physically alert them if you do not incorporate some kind of broadcast system?

What happens if drink/drugs appear?

 

The police won't like people spilling out into the street so they will probably want to attend. It's also a great opportunity to do stop searches and show a presence in public.

 

I worked at a small festival in the north east last year - With only 1000 people on private property - they had police vehicles and even a mobile control room working along side security.

 

No matter how many or how beefy your campus security are you will need to give the police their oppertunity to come along. And if your risk assessments deem so, you will need an electronic evacuation system.

 

As my PM has said, I can get plenty of places to supply you with one. And believe me, if something does happen - You will not regret the use of it. I was in the wrong place at the wrong time when an event had to be evacuated, as they didn't have an evacuation system in place the public stood back and watched - and prevented the emergency services from helping. So at any gig where I have a planning role, I always ensure I have some sort of system.

[Jivemaster]

During my time at Aston, there was a beat sergent attatched to the Uni. He provided a police presence, and a point of contact. He also kept his finger on the pulse and was very wise about things that did and might go on there. He also was the first line liason with the security staff, and probably had a tea mug in their kitchen! Keeping him onside smoothed things for us then. He had all the contacts you could possibly need. IS there still an attatched officer?

[mikebelcher]

yeah there still is an attached officer.

 

However I believe this topic has king of spiralled away from what I was asked in the first place, most of the security and evacuation procedures are being decided by people above me, who I'm sure, know exactly what they are doing as they have dealt with this sort of thing countless times before. I have simply been asked to suggest some system options, at the end of the day it is them who will decide what is best as they will be the ones working with it.

[Jivemaster]

Yes the security is right at the top, and affects the licence for the event and could if it went wrong impinge on the licence for the Uni (great hall etc) or the Union.

 

Several options here would help the situation. The possibility of a battery backed up 100v line crowd management PA should be a likely choice.

 

Be careful NOT to call it a Voice Alarm system because those specific words have a specific meaning and a specific BS which would be hard and expensive to comply with for an occasional event.

 

Have some thought about what should be said and in what language, for every possible situation. Think where all 3000 people will go and where the fire trucks will want to be. If the threat is a terror threat then everyone usually holds onto their own possessions so that there is NO unattended luggage, If the incident is fire the people shoulld leave everything behind and make for the exits. If the fire is AT the main entrance then the system must tell all people tm make their way to the side exits.

 

Think how you will make stewards aware thet there is a first warning level the second then full evac. Code words come in here I think Mr Sands has been paged more times than any other name though in a Catholic establishment I once worksed in the fire code was "Sister Frances"

 

You may need to have input but unless you are the Vice Chancellor or the site manager you will not have the true responsibility for the situation.

[adam2]

As others post a suitable battery backed PA system is likely to be the best approach.

 

To this I would add, consider carefully the potential emergency situations that would require use of the equipment, and do your best to ensure that it will still be available during the emergency.

 

For example if the event is in a tent or marquee, dont place the emergency PA or its power source in the tent. A regretably common emergency is the actual or threatened collapse of the tent.

 

Likewise dont place it under or close behind the stage, in case any collapse occurs.

 

If the event is in a building, then dont place the emergency PA near windows, in case of terrorist bomb explosion, nor near the bar in case of crowd trouble, nor too far from an exit, since in case of fire the operator should be able to make announcements without danger to themselves until the building is cleared.

 

Indoors or out, the emergency PA and its power source and operator, should be well away from generators, dimmer racks, electrical intakes, large power distros and the like. Remember that a sudden failure of such could be the emergency that requires use of the emergency PA.

 

Pre-programmed messages can be very useful, but an operator will still be required.

They should be used to public speaking, and not liable to panic or over-excitment.

A reliable means must be available for the person in charge to communicate with the emergency PA operator, internal telephones probably require electricity, and as posted above cellphone networks are liable to congestion.

Field telephones or VHF radios are probably the best bet, hand signals or a signalling handlamp better than nothing.