For many students, spring break starts next week, which means there will be a lot of people traveling to spend time with their friends and families. Hotels, restaurants and tourist attractions will be busy with people coming and going through the next several weeks. And as a facility manager, your fire safety plan must take into account that a great number of people present during a fire will have little to no training on how to quickly and safely respond. So how can you make sure that your facility is prepared for a fire while allowing your guests a safe means of evacuation?
Answer: Photoluminescent Egress Path Markers and Exit Signs!
As a facility manager of a hotel, fire safety should be a high priority for your buildings over all safety plan, especially during a busy seasons like spring break. A lot of hotels have multiple floors full of rooms, which helps to bring in a lot of business. However, during a fire, this could potentially present a risk for those guest occupying the top floors. Smoke rises, and can quickly fill any room, hallway, and stairwell. In fact, smoke can travel up to 120 – 420 feet per minute under fire conditions. Not only does smoke spread quickly, but it can cause guests to become disorientated and cloud their vision. Trying to evacuate from a burning building while staying calm is difficult enough. Smoke masking their line of vision makes evacuation seem almost impossible. Therefore, providing your hotel with photoluminescent systems and exit signs are the best way to ensure the safety of your guest as well as the housekeeping staff.
Photoluminescent strips create an outline of steps, landings, handrails and any other obstacles that could potentially cause someone to have an accident, while exit signs mark the quickest way to evacuate. PL allows a building to have continuous visual support for up to 48 hours by producing sunlight or recycling existing electrical light. Not only does PL require no electricity, but it is made of quality material that is engineered to last the lifespan of your facility. More buildings today are being required by building codes to have photoluminescent egress path marking systems and exit signs installed, especially in high rise facilities. In fact, The International Building Code (IBC) and International Fire Code (IFC) requires that, “buildings having floors that occupy more than 75 feet above the lowest level of fire department vehicle must be provided with luminous egress path markings”.
