A study of evacuation from large retail stores

This paper presents the results obtained from unannounced evacuations of four Marks and Spencer retail stores. By unannounced it is meant that the public and staff had no prior knowledge of the evacuations and were not informed during the evacuations by voice communication systems. The four retail stores participating in the study were chosen to represent three-storey city centre stores and single-storey out-of-town stores in different locations in the United Kingdom. The evacuations were video taped using in-house closed-circuit television cameras (CCTV) orientated to cover pre-determined fields of view and additional portable cameras which were positioned and concealed when the stores were closed for business on the evenings before the evacuations. The evacuating customers were asked to complete a questionnaire by teams of researchers positioned outside, but not impeding, each emergency exit. Data sufficient for occupant characterisation and occupancy profiling for Marks and Spencer stores were obtained. Analysis of the video tapes also yielded information on total evacuation times and pre-movement times for each store. This research provided useful information, which informs the discussion in this paper of many issues relevant to the development of performance based codes, the profession and practice of fire safety engineering.

[1]  G. Moser,et al.  Visual Access Configurations: Spatial Analysis and Occupant Response Inputs to Architectural Design and Fire Engineering , 1998 .

[2]  P. Brennan,et al.  Timing Human Response In Real Fires , 1997 .

[3]  T. J. Shields,et al.  A Management Strategy to Establish Life Safety Equivalency for Historic Buildings , 1991 .

[4]  Jake L. Pauls,et al.  A personal perspective on research, consulting and codes/standards development in fire-related human behaviour, 1969–1999, with an emphasis on space and time factors , 1999 .

[5]  T. J. Shields,et al.  Fire and Disabled People in Buildings , 1994, Journal of the Royal Society of Health.

[6]  G. W. H. Silcock,et al.  The Impact of a Wheelchair Bound Evacuee on the Speed and Flow of Evacuees in a Stairway During an Uncontrolled Unannounced Evacuation , 1997 .

[7]  T. Shields,et al.  A Disability Profile of Users of a Belfast Leisure Centre , 1988, Journal of the Royal Society of Health.

[8]  雄二 長谷見.  Fire safety science : proceedings of the Fifth international symposium , 1997 .

[9]  R L. Paulsen.  Human Behavior and Fire Emergencies: An Annotated Bibliography. | NIST , 1981 .

[10]  G. Proulx,et al.  To Prevent 'Panic' In An Underground Emergency: Why Not Tell People The Truth? , 1991 .

[11]  John L. Bryan,et al.  Human behaviour in fire: The development and maturity of a scholarly study area , 1999 .

[12]  G. Proulx,et al.  The Time Delay To Start Evacuation: Review Of Five Case Studies , 1997 .

[13]  P. G. Wood.  THE BEHAVIOUR OF PEOPLE IN FIRES , 1972 .

[14]  G. Proulx,et al.  The Science Of Human Behaviour: Past Research Endeavours, Current Developments And Fashioning A Research Agenda , 2000 .

[15]  Guylène Proulx,et al.  A stress model for people facing a fire , 1993 .