Tag Archives: escape routes

General Safety Issues

SEPTEMBER IS CAMPUS FIRE SAFETY MONTH

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There is nothing more important to a parent than knowing that their children are going to live in a safe place when they go off to college.  Most  college students are currently in the process of moving into on-campus or off-campus housing.  The month of September is a good time to remind all of us of campus fire safety.  There are many things to know about fire safety, when it comes to relocating your student.   

In its’ seventh year, Campus Fire Safety Month reminds us that since January, 2000, 144 persons have died in campus-related fires, with four out of five of the fires occurring in off-campus housing.  Nationwide colleges and universities must make teaching their students about fire safety a high priority.  In a survey prepared by the Michael Minger Foundation in 2009, most schools showed a lack of a coordinated approach to fire safety.  Michael Minger was a college student who lost his life in a residence hall arson fire.   The survey showed that schools were inconsistent in how they educated their students on fire safety, and what would be done to ensure that students, faculty and staff, as well as disabled students were evacuated safely from campus buildings.  A number of fires on campus or in apartments started on porches where couches and other combustible furniture caught fire, either through carelessness, smoking materials, or impaired judgment from alcohol, which lead to ignition or inability to escape the fire. 

Parents need to ask these questions when helping their student choose where they will live: 

  •          Are there two ways out of the house?
  •          If they live on the upper floor, is there a way to escape, such as a working window?
  •          Do they have an escape ladder?  If not, purchase one.
  •          Ask the same question if it is a basement apartment: are there two ways out, and is there a window that works?
  •          Are there smoke alarms and do they work?
  •          Tell your student never to disable a smoke alarm!
  •          Are there automatic fire sprinklers?
  •          Find out about cooking safety rules, either in a dorm, or in an apartment. 

When it comes to fire safety on campus, there are three entities involved: (1) the school must ensure that the campus and building environment meets the applicable codes and requirements of state and local building codes.  Also that it meets the policies and procedure requirements regarding the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), relating to fire safety for all students, faculty, and staff.  (2) The local Fire Department should be familiar with the floor plans of the campus and conduct inspections and fire prevention and training.  (3) Each student should be responsible for himself by having a basic awareness of his/her surroundings, and what to do in case of fire or other emergency.  One of the most important lessons all college students must learn is fire safety.  This lesson will stay with them the rest of their lives.  

Source: campus-firewatch.com

Fall Safety, General Safety Issues

NATIONAL WINDOW SAFETY WEEK, APRIL 4 – 10

The Window Safety Task Force, under the National Safety Council’s Community Safety Division, works with the American Architectural Manufacturing Association, Window and Door Manufacturing Association, Screen Manufacturers Association, National Association of Home Builders and other organizations to educate North Americans on the importance of window safety.  This group has been presenting materials on this subject since 1997.  They know that the leading causes of injury and death in young children are fires and falls. 

Besides doors, windows are a secondary escape route in a fire or other emergency. They are designed as points of escape.  It is critical that the windows are placed in locations in both homes and businesses where they can provide a safe exit.  Families should have a fire escape plan.  Children should be taught to get out of a house that is on fire.  Hold a family fire drill often, and plan landscaping that can possibly prevent injury if anyone does have to jump or fall from a window. 

If you have bars, grills, or other types of security on your windows, they are useless in an emergency, unless they have a functioning release mechanism.  You might think you are keeping someone out, but you may be causing yourself to become trapped, and you can’t escape!  Never paint or nail windows shut. 

When there are young children living or visiting in your home, be sure the windows they may be playing around are locked.  If you need ventilation, open taller windows, and never have furniture close to an open window, where they might climb up and fall out.  Be sure to watch when they are playing on a patio or around sliding glass doors.  A fall through glass could cause serious injuries. 

Don’t count on insect screens to catch anything except the bugs!  Shortly after we moved into the home where we currently live, we left our sliding glass door open one evening, when our birddog, Lucy, heard something outside and ran through the screen!  That was the end of leaving that door open. 

We all must understand the importance of safety in the home, and be prepared to escape in the event of fire.  Years ago, a home on our block was totally destroyed by fire, resulting in the deaths of three persons.  A mother of a four-year old, broke a window in her bedroom to run for help – she couldn’t find her child.  Later, the body of the little girl was found under a bed, where she had crawled.  If we take the time to be prepared, hopefully, tragedies such as this, can be prevented. 

There is more excellent information on this subject at the National Safety Council website.  We are all asked to share this information with friends, family, co-workers, and communities, not only through the first week of April, and all of April, but all year long.