Carl F. Baldassarra: Fire Safety

Part 1: Technology Brings Positive Change To Fire Safety

Part 2: The Most Common Fire Safety Misperception

Part 3: How Sustainability Affects Fire Safety

Part 4: The Dangers of Fire Alarm System Non-compliance

The Dangers of Fire Alarm System Non-compliance

October 2011 - Fire Safety

How dangerous are the non-compliers during fire alarm testing? Is there a critical percentage needed to ensure a facilities population will behave appropriately in a fire?

We should be aiming for near to 100 percent compliance, and one way to accomplish that is to employ the use of fire wardens in a building on each floor, where the fire wardens assist people in evacuating in the drill. And if they evacuate in drills over and over again, they will likely evacuate in the event of a real emergency.

We should aim into the high 90s percentage compliance range at least, and even for entire compliance. I think you'll find that in federal government buildings, they will get the near 100 percent compliance. The reason they do drills is to make the procedure a non-thinking routine. The drills definitely lead to better performance and better safety in the event a building really needs to be evacuated.

Fortunately, fires in commercial buildings that cause fatalities are very rare today. Fires that cause fatalities in commercial high rise buildings are almost zero. The same is true for most other commercial occupancies as the buildings, training and enforcement have gotten better and better.