Pre-Movement Behaviour and Times
In Health Sector Building
Evacuations
Catriona MacCallum
Pre-Movement Behaviour and Time
•Pre-Movement Behaviour encompasses all actions taken
between the initial recognition of a fire cue and actual escape
movement.
• Pre-Movement Time is the time taken between initial
response to a fire cue and the decision to move towards an
escape route.
ASET/RSET
• Within a Performance Based Design the ASET/RSET concept is
practiced to determine whether a design is safe and provides
adequate escape time or not.
• ASET – Available Safe Egress Time.
• RSET – Required Safe Egress Time.
• When ASET>RSET, the design is considered safe.
• The ASET/RSET concept is considered by some to be
flawed as:
– Takes no account of variations in capabilities & physical
condition of an individual.
– It assumes that a person will move robotically to the best
exit.
– It also ignores the wide variety of fire scenarios which can
drastically change both RSET and ASET within the same
building.
• A Comparable Margin of Safety between two different
strategies has been suggested.
Health Sector Evacuations
• Individuals in the health sector are often dependant on the
actions and instructions of staff.
• It is difficult to predict which injuries/capabilities will present
the greatest difficulty to staff during an evacuation.
Evaluation Process
• Questionnaires
– to evaluate and analyze the difference in behaviour and emotions
between Evacuation Drills and an Actual Evacuations.
• Interviews with staff
– compile a schedule of methods used to evacuate during a fire and
compare these with best practice;
– to evaluate recommendations from staff members with regards to what
they feel works during an actual evacuation.
• Using historical research
– to evaluate the effects of smoke, CO & HCN on movement and evaluate
the effects of different quantities produced from different burning matter
under flaming and smoldering conditions.
• Using a test site
– to analyze the fire scenario, actual
evacuation data, drill data and time
scales to evaluate how they compare
with published material.
• Using raw data
– To evaluate whether ASET/RSET or
Comparative Margin of Safety would
have provided a more effective
evacuation for staff and patients alike.
Progress & Future Work
• Progress
– This work has been under-investigation for approximately 2 months;
– The initial questionnaires have been created & reviewed.
– Negotiations are on-going with target hospitals and the HSE.
• To be completed
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Final questionnaire(s) to be distributed;
Evacuations to be carried out and or historical evacuations analysed;
Interviews to be scheduled;
Data to be analyzed and conclusions drawn.
Thank you for your time.
Questions?
Catriona MacCallum
Pre-Movement Behaviour and Times In
Health Sector Building Evacuations