A Business Continuity Perspective on the Subject of Fire Drills

By Jim Burtles, CLJ, MMLJ, FBCI

From a business continuity perspective, I believe we can improve the effectiveness of fire drills and, perhaps, extract additional value from them. By taking a fresh look at the objectives and outcomes we can enhance the existing evacuation procedures.

I should also like to introduce the entirely new concept of carrying out a ‘Fire Exposure Analysis’, or FEA, which is a logical extension of the familiar activities of business impact analyses and fire drills. The FEA is a powerful tool in expounding the need for sound contingency plans.

The Standard Fire Drill

Regular fire drills are an established activity in every business that carries a Fire Certificate. However, they are expensive exercises which bear little fruit. Yes, we do establish that everybody can hear the alarm and get safely out of the building. But surely, there is an opportunity for us to learn a lot more without significantly increasing the cost and inconvenience. I would also suggest a forward thinking approach to the evacuation procedure itself.

On The Way Out

It makes sense to advise all of your staff to ensure they pick up and take their personal possessions such as keys, jackets and handbags PROVIDING they are at or near their desks. Then people will be less inclined to rush or panic and they will be better prepared for what comes next. That could be ‘return to work’, ‘stand around’ or ‘go home’. Standing around without a jacket can be unpleasant if it is cold, wet or windy. Going home without any keys or money will be difficult.

The central theme is to consider how the scenario might develop once the people are clear of the building. There are a number of possibilities and they all have to be taken into account. In other words we need to ensure our people are prepared to receive and carry out whatever instructions are appropriate at the time.

Whilst They Are Out

Ask managers to deliver a message or instruction to their staff once they reach the assembly point. This is precisely the sort of thing that might be called for in a real emergency. Perhaps the message could be to get everybody from each group or department to do something in particular before they return to work. Ideally, all managers would be able to direct every one of their staff to carry out a simple task. However, I suspect many would fail.

Consideration should be given to the question of relaying messages and instructions when selecting assembly areas and muster points. The ability to communicate with our staff will partly depend on the quality of the procedures, how well they understand them and whether they are inclined to adhere to them. This is where training and practise help to achieve a reliably effective response to a fire alarm.

It is also worth thinking about those occasions when it may be necessary to evacuate the premises for other types of threat to health and safety. This may require the consideration of alternative signals, exit routes and exit points as well as alternative assembly areas.

Fire Drills and Exposures

When the people return to work, get them to make a fire exposure list, i.e. what would have been lost in a fire. Combine all of the lists from a section or department, to get an idea of your vulnerability. It might highlight the need for better protection or more precaution.

A Fire Exposure Analysis might start with a regular fire drill to set the scene before entering into the data collection and analysis stage. These two phases can be conducted quite independently. They are described here as two phases of the same procedure.

Phase 1 – Regular Fire Drill

Step One – Sound the Fire Alarm

This establishes that the alarm system works, everybody can hear it and they recognise what it is. We can demonstrate its effectiveness.

Step Two – Evacuate the Premises

This simply demonstrates that everybody knows what to do and they are able to escape in the event of a fire. We can monitor the evacuation to ensure everybody gets out, no-one gets lost and the escape route is a practical means of reaching safety in the event of a fire.

Step Three – Roll Call

This is how we check that everybody is safe and accounted for. At the same time we can make sure the assembly point is suitable and known to everybody. To make sure we are able to carry out an effective roll call and communicate successfully with our evacuees, it is a good idea to arrange a proper muster point at each one of the alternative assembly areas. This is where our marshals would act as a source of information and reassurance. High visibility vests would help everybody to spot them. The ideal muster point would be sheltered with a raised platform where the marshal can see and be seen. This could be a flight of steps, a bench or the base of a statue for example.

Step Four – Return to Work

Once we are sure that everybody is safe and accounted for, we normally allow them to return to their place of work and carry on as normal.

We might time the evacuation to check how long it takes to clear the building. We might also check how much actual working time is lost in such an adventure. It is likely to be some considerable time before the complete working routine is fully re-established.

For a simple fire drill this is the end of the exercise. However we are suggesting there should be a second phase devoted to an exposure analysis based on the fire scenario.

Phase 2 – Fire Exposure Analysis

This phase is designed to put a realistic value on the losses that might accrue in the event of an office fire. The principal irretrievable losses would be those associated with missing paperwork which was in use at the time of the fire.

Step One – Work Status Records

Everybody should be provided with a check sheet to record their work status at the time of the Fire Alarm. We want them to note what they were doing at the time and which documents they would have been working with. The point is to establish what would have been lost in the event of a real fire. Work in hand is likely to remain incomplete until the building can be re-occupied and loose documents are likely to have been lost forever. This means a loss of potential work, using those documents as reference material. For the purpose of the exercise, assume the building will remain out of bounds for 3 weeks or more. If it were a serious fire it could take many weeks before the building is returned to service. We should also allow a further week to deal with the inevitable backlog of work and re-establish normal operations.

The format of a simple work status record might look like this:

Work Status Record For recording exposed working documents at the time of a Fire Alert for use in a full Fire Exposure Analysis. A cryptic description of the exposed materials is all that is required. Don’t try to capture the full details of all the files, documents and loose papers. We are concerned here with whether and how they were being used and the gross value of any current and future work they are, or may be, associated with.
Exposed Documents Which files or documents were exposed to fire? I.e. not in a fireproof safe (Exclude those where retrievable copies exist in another location)	Immediate Usefulness How were these files or documents being used? I.e. the jobs, contracts or procedures which they contributed to	Long Term Usefulness How might these files or documents be used in the future? I.e. jobs, contracts or procedures which they may contribute to	Full Commercial or Working Value What is their potential working value? I.e. the long term value of using these materials (Use market values rather than cost prices)
1.
2.
3.
4.
5. etc.

Step Two – Collate Work Losses

Within each business unit someone should be tasked with collating the individual Work Status Records to determine the full loss potential or exposure at the local level. Wherever possible the cost of loss should be expressed in terms of the ultimate gross value i.e. the final market value of the outcome of each piece of work. The output from this exercise will be a realistic estimate of the amount of actual and potential work lost within a business unit over the first 4 weeks after a fire.

Step Three – Compile a Total Cost

Once the Work Losses have been collated within each business unit, we can start to build the full picture. By combining the losses across the various business units it is now possible to compile a total cost estimate. This will give an indication of the true cost of a major fire at that location.

However this is only taking a relatively short term view covering a period of only a few weeks; whereas many business relationships, processes and projects are measured in terms of months or years.

Step Four – Consider the Full Impact

In the longer term, future business may well be affected by the interruption to normal operations. How many customers will go elsewhere? They may lose faith and seek alternative suppliers or simply decide not to proceed now their key supplier is in trouble. Rumours and competitors will doubtlessly use the opportunity to tarnish your image.

Obviously, insurance will be seen as some form of countermeasure but it is hardly likely to cover the full impact on future business. In fact, it may not cover more than a fraction of the immediate losses.

The importance of timing

When embarking on this type of adventure we must avoid imposing additional risk or strain on the normal working operations of the business. Try to choose a relatively quiet season of the year so everyone can afford to spend time on what is after all a peripheral activity for most of them. If you were to attempt this type of exercise at a peak period you may generate resentment and fail to get the level of support you were hoping for.

Bear in mind that any bid for additional business continuity budget is not likely to release an immediate burst of funds. Usually it takes several months, if not a year or so, to obtain full support and funding for any project where there is no obvious or immediate return on the investment. Perhaps a Cost Benefit Analysis or a Fire Exposure Analysis will help your argument.

All I, or anyone else, can offer is a handful of hints and tips. The rest is down to your own persistence, wisdom and persuasiveness.

Article for Disaster Resource GUIDE 2005
By Jim Burtles, CLJ, MMLJ, FBCI
Total Continuity Management