This way to the egress

[delicolor]

I was a bit shocked to find a large trolley piled up with empty wine bottles obstructing the main fire exit to our Town Hall Concert Hall venue at the end of an event recently. The organisers also seemed to think that I wasn't able to go out that way because there wasn't a fire!

 

It is standard practice at that venue to open that exit at the end of shows as it also eases congestion in the main entrance. However, as it is a multi-purpose hall, there are times when this isn't appropriate.

 

I seem to remember back in the mists of time, you used to see wording in programmes saying that it was a license condition that the audience were able to vacate the building by all exits at the end of the performance. I suspect that this may have been regional rather than national and I have no idea if this is still the case. Does anyone know?

 

It was much clearer before the running man!

[paulears]

Whenever I see this kind of thing in a non-emergency situation, I must admit that I create an incident, and crash through the door, exactly as it is meant to be done. I've wrecked, on purpose, all sorts of things, and on more than one occasion, have evicted a beggar from a doorway! I know I should not do this, but it really gets to me when managements ignore blocked doors during the non-public hours, opening and checking just before the house opens. My own venue, on a pier - suffers from holiday makers having picnics on the external steps. Knocking their possessions all over the place, spilling their tea and having the car keys fall through the gaps in the deck onto the beach below are the hazards of perching in stupid places. KEEP DOORS CLEAR says the sign. I switch my acting on and apologise profusely, pointing out the fire ext signs, and showing them just how far the steps to the beach are from where they are sitting. Childish, I know, but I'd love somebody to tell me off for using a fire exit. Letting beggars 'live' in the escape recesses seems crazy to me, yet many city centre venues allow it to happen.

[Brian]

In England certainly, and probably elsewhere, nearly all Councils use the same wording for a venue's premises licence.

 

Under 'Emergency Exits' it says...

 

"and they shall be available and unobstructed at all times during the operation of this licence."

 

I reckon any venue tech working in multi-purpose venues, and even regular ones, ought to have a copy of the licence in their filing cabinet. So much easier to wave a piece of official paper and say 'sorry you can;t do that because it breaks the terms of our licence.'

[pritch]

Of course, there's also those inconvenient fire doors.

 

I took someone to task a few months back, because they'd propped open a fire door between a kitchen (fires never start in kitchens, do they?) and a public area. Their argument was that they were going to close it before the performance started - my counter-argument of "I don't think fires care whether the performance has started or not" got them to begrudgingly close the door again.

[bruce]

I have regularly seen statements to the effect that "interfering with firefighting equipment is a criminal offence, and may result in prosecution.". Not sure which law - I'm guessing HaSaW act.

 

However, I have on occasion misquoted this, suggesting it applies to fire doors (and in particular, to people taking "short cuts" via alarmed fire doors). Not sure whether it's actually true, but seems to have worked...

[Brian]

... Not sure which law ...

IIRC there is something to that effect in Scottish Law. ISTR though that it doesn't apply south of the border.

[kerry davies]

For the OP it isn't mandatory that fire exits must be available after performances for 'standard' audience egress routes, but Brian is right. Blocking fire exits during licensing/opening hours would be an automatic breach of the Licensing Act, HASWA, etc. and would probably reduce the quality of your insurance policy to Andrex levels.

If I need to use an emergency exit as backstage access during a show I insist the organisers supply security staff to manage access/egress. There is no way that they can 'ban' use of an emergency exit and they are risking a serious outburst by using wine trolleys to block one.

 

To add: Fire Safety Order 2005 makes it an offence punishable by up to two years prison and a 'maximum' fine to reduce/minimise/block access to any non-automatic fire fighting equipment. (13, 1, b.)

[Just Some Bloke]

There is a possible exception in a small number of cases.

 

The number of fire exits required is proportional to the number of people in a room. If you add up the number and sizes of the fire exits available and do the sums, that will give you the maximum number of people you can have in the room at a time. The minimum number of fire exits is 2 (including the main extrance, of course). Thus, a venue may have 2 exits rated at 200 people each plus another rated at 100 giving you a maximum audience of 500. If, during the day when there were only 20 people in setting up, you were to block one of the fire exits, that would still leave you sufficient for 300 people, way ahead of the 20 crew. However, if you were going to do this you wouold have to cover or remove all the signs pointing to the blocked fire exit so that, in an emergency, no-one would see the signs and head towards a blocked door.

 

As I say, it's only a small exception, but, as I understand it, it can sometimes be legal to block an exit which, at other times, might be considered as a fire exit.

[Ynot]

Extract from our terms of hire: (In fact it's the first item on the first page...)

Information in Programmes: This section is mandatory for all public performances.

 

The following information must be printed verbatim on the programme of any public performance in the theatre and foyer on the same page as the cast or other particulars of the entertainment.

 

In accordance with the requirements of the Warwickshire County Council:-

 

(I) The public may leave at the end of the performance or exhibition by all exit doors and such doors must at that time be open.

 

(ii) All gangways, corridors, staircases and external passageways intended for exit shall be kept entirely free from obstruction, whether temporary or permanent.

 

(iii) Persons must not be permitted to stand or sit in any of the gangways intersecting the seating or to sit in any of the gateways.

 

Notes – Section (ii) includes all access-ways and corridors to exits in the backstage/dressing room areas

The middle section is the compulsory bit from the county council.

 

[bruce]

... Not sure which law ...

IIRC there is something to that effect in Scottish Law. ISTR though that it doesn't apply south of the border.

 

Not convinced.

 

The HaSaW act (1974) (as amended) section 8 says:

 

Duty not to interfere with or misuse things provided pursuant to certain provisions.

 

No person shall intentionally or recklessly interfere with or misuse anything provided in the interests of health, safety or welfare in pursuance of any of the relevant statutory provisions.

 

but I am not lawyer...

[kerry davies]

Very nearly, JSB.

If, and only if, you remove all signage, have adequate exit capacity (allowing for the largest exit's removal from the calculations) and do not exceed travel distances then you can remove an exit from service as long as your fire-fighting equipment provision is not compromised.

The conditions for doing so make it very rare indeed that it would be worth doing but, as you rightly say, it is possible and I have done it but only in tents when reducing capacity.

 

It may be a requirement under Warks CC's T's and C's, Tony, but in some venues emergency exits are unsuitable for normal egress and it isn't a mandatory statute. (I should have been more accurate.) If it were then all audiences would be free to wander around backstage if they wished and use the exits there, which could pose other H&S risks as well as security issues.

 

Bruce is right for instances of deliberate or reckless interference with equipment and the FSO covers incidental blocking of access to equipment as well.

 

One solution for all these 'blockage' arguments is that in public buildings emergency exits are supposed at all times to be available as access for the emergency services. So anyone finding a blocked exit and a negative response could ask whether the fire/police/ambulance have been informed that the exit is out of service. Might work!

[paulears]

In panto, last year - the pass door from FOH, protected by a coded entry lock was auto opened while the public were in to 'comply' with just that fact - the public could then use the direct passage to stage door and get out there. However, this new interpretation went a little astray when the thieves turned over the dressing rooms and hid in the children only WC where the kids bumped into them. When the Police were asking everyone if they saw anyone dodgy - two of the kids piped up with "oh, yes. we saw a man with a hoody in our toilet" To which the chaperones, normally intensely protective, had a panic attack! Next day, this extra exot route vanished again. Keeping it locked when no public are in the building and unlocking it for show times was a bit daft!

[delicolor]

In panto, last year - the pass door from FOH, protected by a coded entry lock was auto opened while the public were in to 'comply' with just that fact - the public could then use the direct passage to stage door and get out there. However, this new interpretation went a little astray when the thieves turned over the dressing rooms and hid in the children only WC where the kids bumped into them. When the Police were asking everyone if they saw anyone dodgy - two of the kids piped up with "oh, yes. we saw a man with a hoody in our toilet" To which the chaperones, normally intensely protective, had a panic attack! Next day, this extra exot route vanished again. Keeping it locked when no public are in the building and unlocking it for show times was a bit daft!

 

ON a recent ABTT visit to Hull New Theatre, I noticed a pass door/fire exit from the OP Box which went through to the backstage dressing room stairwell. They had circumvented the problem by making it a break glass to open the door. It was latched open from backstage as the theatre was dark at the time.

 

Something I have noticed recently are exit routes in buildings which are only shown to be for fire exit use only once you reach the final exit doors. Common sense suggests that signage at the start of the route should make this clear. Two offenders that spring to mind are West Yorkshire Playhouse and Manchester Bridgewater Hall.

 

(The Quarry Theatre have now mitigated this by placing dissuasion staff at the doors at the end of the show. I've still felt a strong inclination to argue with them though!)

 

The Leeds City Varieties have an exit stairwell that leads down to crash doors onto the old front entrance in the Headrow. However they used to position staff to stop people exiting that way, despite there not being any signage preventing this (from memory).

 

As I said in my first post, it was much more straight-forward when the signs said EXIT or EMERGENCY EXIT, now the running man does not differentiate.

[Andrew Edwards]

I seem to remember back in the mists of time, you used to see wording in programmes saying that it was a license condition that the audience were able to vacate the building by all exits at the end of the performance. I suspect that this may have been regional rather than national and I have no idea if this is still the case. Does anyone know?

 

In accordance with the requirements of the Warwickshire County Council:-

 

(I) The public may leave at the end of the performance or exhibition by all exit doors and such doors must at that time be open.

 

(ii) All gangways, corridors, staircases and external passageways intended for exit shall be kept entirely free from obstruction, whether temporary or permanent.

 

(iii) Persons must not be permitted to stand or sit in any of the gangways intersecting the seating or to sit in any of the gateways.

 

It was my understanding that this was part of The Theatre Act 1968 which stipulated that it must be printed in the programme. I had a paper copy but I can't find it. The version on OPSI only shows chapter 54 which concentrates on the repeal of the censorship in theatre which was part of the previous 1843 act. Whether or not this has been superceded by 'The Licence', I'm not 100% sure but I see no reason not to continue this practice. We still do at our venue and our FoH staff do complete walks of all exit routes before we open the house. If there is anything else going on in and around the campus we sometimes check in the interval too. Many of our long running societies and groups continue to put the above rules in their programmes.

 

I'm a little confused by your 'main' fire exit? Technically, there is no such thing unless of course there is only one (unlikely with a 640 seat venue). Of course there is always an exit towards which most people will head for and this is usually the way they came in due to familiarity. Clearly this blocked exit is not your primary entrance so you should be aware that your audience will not necessarily head towards what you think is your main fire exit.

This is where your FoH team come in, marshalling the crowd to their nearest exit.

Whilst our 340 seat venue has 4 exits, the vast majority of patrons initially enter through the door nearest the bar area. This is known to us as the main door but is by no means a main fire exit. Indeed it is likely that this would be the first exit to be taken out by a non-theatre fire as it is closest to our refectory kitchens.

 

The speed and comfort of the normal exit at the end of an event procedure is somewhat irrelevant.

Ultimately fire exits/means of escape are there for a reason and I find it unlikely in such an old building for any of them to be able to be deliberately taken out of service. Indeed deliberately taking fire exits out of service for something as trivial as waste storage is morally reprehensible. Perhaps the organisers should be shown footage of the station night club fire. Sadly this isn't the only example caught on film either.

 

Even if your other exits still mathematically served your anticipated audience this 'extra' exit is likely to be your buffer anyway. What if you ended up getting a major walk up on the night tipping you over into the next bracket? Any of the other exits could be blocked by the fire itself...and so on.

 

The Wetherspoons opposite our venue had a major fire last week. When I left work at around 10pm there was a bit of smoke but no flames. I went home as watching a building burn is far from a novelty for me (father has been a fire fighter, investigator and consultant but now retired). It also looked under control and 'routine'. The next morning it became apparent that it took 8 hours and 50 crew to put it out and whilst not completely gutted will need a total refurb and new roof. This is the 5th major fire in Melton Mowbray in 2 years. We have lost our council building, had fires at several shops and warehouses and apparently leaving businesses to look after there own fire prevention arrangements is seen to be a good idea. Pah!

 

Andrew.

 

PS. There is nothing to differentiate. The running man means emergency exit. If a green running man sign is above a door that then does not lead to a final exit then it simply should NOT be there. Also worded signs are only straight forward to English speakers.

 

Edit : added PS.

[delicolor]

Andrew, thanks for that info re the Theatre act 1968, I'll do some digging.

 

Re your PS, it is very annoying to follow a running man exit route only to be eventually presented with a door that says something to the effect of "only to be used in the event of an emergency". By this time, some of the audience have generally followed me and we all have to backtrack.When the sign said "Emergency Exit" rather than "Exit" this was less likely to happen, although I was always bolshy enough to point out the word "all" in the programme if challenged.

 

Back to fire safety in general, having stayed in many hotels around the world, I always make it my business to walk the fire exit route after I have unpacked. I've never been in a hotel fire but did witness one in an adjoining hotel, the Sequoia Lodge at Disneyland Paris. (We were staying in the Newport Bay at the time). I've only encountered one obstructed final exit in all that time, some assorted detritus from decorators. I can't for the life of me remember where it was now.

 

I am partially responsible for starting a small venue fire many years ago, where some downlighter sunfloods were moved out of the way for some bridle drops, then subsequently turned on while face down on the wooden catwalks. I can't remember whether I had moved them or subsequently turned them on but fortunately there was an ex LAFD fireman in the visiting crew who spotted it and dealt with it. (He also risked killing himself in the process, leaving a foot shaped hole in the coving plasterwork!)

 

Needless to say, the handyman was in the following morning with many sheets of white asbestos!