Special considerations should be taken during evacuation after an emergency has occurred for a child care facility that is located in an office building. The main objective of this is to minimize the chances of the children, the facility personnel along with the visitors from being harmed. For the evacuation to be carried out as expected, it is important for workers in this premise to familiarize with all the possible routes that can be followed in case of an emergency. This can be done through ensuring that workers are able to locate all the stairways, emergency exits and also the most convenient duress alarms together with the fire alarms pull stations’ manual as well as their operations.
Evacuation diagrams should also be placed in notice boards for each classroom indicating the following elements:
- Primary together with secondary routes.
- Locations relating to the assembly areas.
- Fire alarms pull stations’ manual.
- Fire extinguishers.
- Fire detection as well as suppression devices.
All the personnel working in the child care center should have undergone training in relations to appropriate fire protection as well as evaluation practices. Evacuation supplies belonging to the center should also be positioned at a place that can be accessed with ease. It is also preferable that the fire drills be done regularly such as on a monthly basis.
Inspections in relations to the fire prevention should be carried out on a monthly basis by a trained staff member of a senior rank. After the inspection results are compiled by this senior staff member who conducted it, an updated copy of the report is then posted in eye-catching areas within the center for child care. The staff members are also expected to carry out emergency engross as well as relocation drills on a monthly basis when the child center is on session. During severe weather conditions, the chances of deferring the drills are high. Atleast four drills should be conducted before applying for a deferral.
Daily inspections should also be conducted by the site administrators as well as their staff. This inspection should focus on:
- Ensuring that all the exit doors are not locked and are accessible to the Center occupants.
- Exit release doors in that they should be clear and not obstructed neither by snow nor ice. This is only considered in areas that are prone to poor weather conditions.
- Emergency lighting in that they should be functioning properly.
- Ensuring that all the corridors that are connected to the exits are clear.
- Removing any decorations that may be hanging on the devices relating to the fire alarm as well as the sprinkler heads.
- Ensuring that the sprinkler heads and the devices for the fire alarm are unobstructed.
In case of the occurrence of an emergency situation, those in the child care center should immediately vacate the building on hearing the fire alarm, or on notification by the security personnel, or by orders given by the director of this facility or his or her designee. Every classroom is expected to have a bag for emergency together with a folder for emergency information during the time of evacuation.
A thorough search into the rooms should also be conducted at the center while locking all the doors behind them as they leave. The director together with any other assigned personnel are mandated to conduct a thorough search to all areas in the child care centre with the aim of ensuring that all the occupants are safely evacuated. Caution should also be taken in that one should not allow anyone to offer assistance, especially if such a person had not been earlier on identified as one of the support personnel. This exempts the police service personnel specialized in federal protection and the emergency personnel.
At the designated assembly area, a total head count relating to each classroom cohort should be done immediately by the faculty. This will ensure that everyone is accounted for and also present. The director or his or her designee should then receive the last head count from the headteacher. The names of any missing persons should then be compiled and taken to the organization’s command center.
The faculty should ignore securing or rather recovering any property or clothing items after the sounding of an alarm. It is also important to establish a communication channel to occupants after their evacuation. This may serve the purpose of informing the survivors on whether it is safe to re-enter the building or if it will remain closed. The method applicable in recalling the occupants will depend on whether they are assembled or not.
At the end of an emergency situation, “all clear” should be provided, the damage should be assessed as well as a decision made on the extent of various aspects of re-occupancy. Incase occupancy is completely allowed, the occupants should do this through the use of the normal entrance while applying the existing procedures for access control.
A joint consultation between the centre’s directors with the command center will decide on whether the parents should be alerted or asked to come for their children depending on the time taken out of the child care center or the type of emergency. No parent should be allowed to pick up their children from the center’s custody during evacuation. Parents can only be allowed to do so only if all children are accounted for.
