The primary duty of a Fire Officer (/Marshal) at T&H is to ensure the fast and safe evacuation of Staff and Visitors from their designated area/floor of the building in the event of a fire or other emergency.
Although this essential role is to ensure the building is safely evacuated in an emergency, it is important that, whilst carrying out their duty, Fire Officers (/Marshals) do not put themselves at risk.
Responsibilities/Duties include:
- Fire Officers (/Marshals) must fully understand the evacuation procedures for the building;
- Know what action is required in the event of an alarm sounding;
- Acquire a detailed knowledge of their floor/designated area, including the various escape routes, stairwells, fire alarm points and fire extinguisher locations;
- At your desk you should always have your luminous jacket and an up to date print out of the Fire Officer List.
On hearing the fire alarm:
- Take your copy of the fire list and put on your luminous jacket;
- Fire Officers (/Marshals) should check all areas within their designated area/floor including ensuring that meeting rooms, toilets and store rooms are swept to insure evacuation is as thorough as possible;
- During the sweep and if safe to do so, turn off equipment and close doors/windows but critically do not delay your own escape;
- Encourage people to leave the building by the nearest available exit in an orderly manner and direct people to the appropriate assembly point.*
- The Fire Officer (/Marshal) should normally be the last person off the floor;
- If aware of somebody remaining in the building, inform the Fire Brigade on their arrival;
- Go to the assembly point and account for the employees in your section by ticking them off your fire list;
- Direct any guests/freelancers (anyone not on the fire list) to the Receptionist so that they can account for them in the Visitors Signing In book;
- Once complete, inform the Head of HR/HR Officer that everyone in your section is accounted for, or if anyone is missing.
(If you are not at your desk and it is too risky to return there – go straight to the assembly point. DO NOT return to your desk to pick up your fire list/luminous jacket. The Receptionist will have extra fire lists at the assembly point for those who need them).
Apart from carrying out their duties in the event of an emergency, Fire Officers (/Marshals) are expected to help the Head of Operations and Facility Manager maintain a safe environment by assisting day-to-day with:
- Helping ensure that all fire exits and escape routes remain unobstructed;
- That call points are visible and unobstructed;
- Fire extinguishers are not missing or obstructed;
- General housekeeping does not pose a fire risk e.g. storage of waste paper;
- During scheduled fire alarm tests check that the alarm can be heard in all rooms and all parts of their allocated area;
- Assist with the creation of personal emergency evacuation plans (PEEPs);
- Possibly assist with Fire Risk Assessments (FRA) if requested by the Head of Operations /Facilities Manager (FM);
- Following test evacuation or a real emergency attend a debriefing to identify any shortcomings in the evacuation procedures.
Wheelchair User Evacuation
For staff and visitors who require wheelchair evacuation an Evac Chair is kept in the second floor disabled toilet, which is a specially designed evacuation chair for use on stairs.
Currently three members of staff are trained to carry out an evacuation using an Evac chair (Neil Palfreyman, Paul Hammond and Lucas Dietrich), and a list of trained staff is shown on the current Fire Officer (/Marshal) list posted on the Intranet.
The HR department will ensure that all new employees are given, during induction, details of the fire escape routes, the name of their Fire Officer(/Marshal) – who they should report to once reaching the assembly point.
The Office Manager also updates the fire list with any newcomers and leavers, but if you notice someone is missing from your section or someone is still on the list who has since left, please inform the HR Officer. Upon any changes, a new Fire Officers list will be put onto the Intranet, and a copy emailed to you.
Last updated: 17/07/19
