How to conduct a fire evacuation drill in Kenya

Author Reference

Benard, L. (2015): “How to conduct a fire evacuation drill in Kenya”. Intel Fire Group of Companies Blog. Nairobi, Kenya.

A company is occupying the 8^th floor of a lucrative building located at the pick of business and many operations including government, NGOs and INGOs, and the major worry is how to conduct a fire evacuation drill without affecting the operations of others. Many businesses and organizations in Kenya grapple with this question more than often and especially when the issue of conducting a fire drill comes up. Section 23 of the fire risks reduction rules legal notice number 59 which is a subsidiary legislation of the Occupational Health and Safety Act 2007 requires every workplace to conduct fire drill annually and keep the records for inspection. The Kenya Flower Council (KFC) which is the regulating body of flower companies in Kenya has made it mandatory through their flowers-ornamentals-sustainability-standard that every flower company does not only conduct a fire drill but also train their employees by a competent body. This scenario cuts across the entire regulating authorities when it comes to standards and compliance with occupational safety, health, security and environment.

Types of fire drill

Even though there is little public familiarity with fire drill types, chronological studies in Kenya indicates that there are two types of fire drills conducted by various organizations: (1) In-house; and (2) All-house fire drill. An in-house fire drill is one that is conducted by a company or an organization internally involving only its employee members, their service providers, and any other visitors present at the time. Its organization and execution is purely an internal affair and the company involved prepares the drill report for inspection by the various inspecting authorities. This type of drill is majorly conducted by organizations and companies who are occupying their own premises in a segregated location (but not always) or a company occupying part of a building and using the major exit points as the initial assembling points. All-house fire drill on the other hand is one initiated by one company or organization but involves all others that are likely to be affected by the drill and includes all the stakeholders. This type of fire drill is usually complex and requires candid planning and sufficient time to allow all the major players to agree to the fire drill model being floated by the selected organizing team.

A flower firm in Naivasha has organized a fire drill that involves all the employees and the farm’s fire service providers. On the other standard newspaper of 6^th August 2015 reported that the Kenya National Disaster Management Unit (NDMU) had organized a fire drill at the famous Uchumi house along Aga khan walk in Nairobi and involved all the stakeholders and various companies occupying the building. These two are some of the examples that clearly depict the fire drills conducted in the country and from above elaborations one can easily identify the type of fire drill each was.

Conducting an In-House Fire Evacuation Drill

As the definition earlier states this kind of a drill involves only one company or employees in one specific building agreeing to conduct an internal fire evacuation drill. A company that occupies a building and does not share it with another company would only require its fire team to organize the evacuation drill in a pre-described order and utilize their normal designated fire assembly points. On the other hand if a company is sharing a workplace building with other companies then there is need to have an internal alarm system that do not affect the other businesses and presumable the fire alarm system should be a two-stage. In this kind of scenario, if the company is say occupying the second floor only, then the major exits and the emergency exits will act as the initial fire assembly points to be utilized during the drill process.

In both the two cases the procedure for the fire evacuation will take the following procedure:

1. The fire team sets a meeting to decide on the drill date and confirm preliminary requirements which must include: training of the fire team; fire clearance compliance from respective county government; employees’ awareness on fire evacuation process; and a fire safety audit conducted giving favorable recommendations.
2. The fire team leader informs the top management of the planned drill.
3. The fire team allocates their duties during the drill which should include members to: initiate alarm system; undertake a sweep in all the rooms and offices; man the assembly points; and finally, the time monitor.
4. The company appoints an external assessor for the drill to provide an independent reporting on the drill performance (Though NOT mandatory for this type of drill).
5. The team conducts the drill and gives a report to the management.

The above procedures are based on chronological fire evacuation drill activities conducted by the author in various organizations in Kenya and beyond.

All-House Fire Evacuation Drill Procedure

By now as a die-hard reader you are aware that this is that type of drill that is associated with the bad outcomes. Most companies in Kenya out of fear of the fire evacuation drill failing do not attempt to even organize the simplest of the drill discussed above. This is the most complex of all the drills and its complexity depends on the drill organizers who in most cases do not consider all the stakeholders leading to poor management of the drill process. This type of drill can either be initiated by one of the companies occupying a shared workplace building or the proponent. Either way, the procedure for an all-house fire evacuation drill can be summarized as follows: 

1. The fire team sets a meeting to decide on the drill date and confirm preliminary requirements which must include: training of the fire team; fire clearance compliance from respective county government; employees’ awareness on fire evacuation conducted; and a fire safety audit conducted giving favorable recommendations.
2. The fire team leader informs the management of the intended drill date which should be favorable period to allow for liaison.
3. The management under the leadership of the health and safety officer mobilizes a team from the other occupants and preferably the fire team members once both agree on modalities of their cooperation.
4. The health and safety officer in-charge seeks and acquire approvals from the respective county government, the area police station, the area public safety officer, and finally any other relevant agency in the jurisdiction of the workplace occupancy. The county fire department in particular will be notified to respond to the drill to also gauge the response standards and send observers who will provide written reports on variability of the drill.
5. The now expanded team schedule meeting to come up with a model of the fire evacuation drill. This model will largely depend on what the various companies and stakeholders represented intend to achieve during the process.
6. A final drill date is then agreed with all the parties involved.
7. The drill is conducted and a report submitted by the observers to the county government and the proponent of the building.

Again this fire evacuation drill procedure is compiled from a set of activities the author has participated in while conducting a total fire evacuation drill in Kenya and beyond. This type of drill is not commonly practiced in Kenya and where it has been tried the outcome has been below the international standards (Read public expectations)

Fire evacuation drill in Kenya is a legal requirement and it has the main objective of testing the various systems in place. With the recent fire incidences in Kenya it is only important that fire evacuation drill be conducted competently and as candidly as possible. Fire evacuation drill prepares all the employees for fire eventualities and next time your company conducts one, remember the steps above. “REMEMBER EVEN ROCKET SCIENTISTS WERE UNSUCCESSFUL THE FIRST TIME”

The writer is a PhD Generalist in Public Safety Service Delivery

Contact: benard@intelfiregroup.com