How to Run an Effective Fire Drill at Work, School and Home

The fire alarm goes off at 3 in the morning. The corridor is filling with smoke and you cannot see the exit sign. Do you know which way to turn? Most people only find out in that moment. A fire drill is how you find out beforehand, on a calm day, when a wrong turn costs nothing.

Below is why drills matter, what makes a good one, and how to run them in an office, a school, a housing society and a public building.

Why fire drills matter

Drills are not just something you do to keep the fire officer or the auditor happy. They are the only way to check whether people actually know what to do.

• People get used to being ready. When drills are a normal part of the year, everyone takes the alarm seriously and knows they are expected to move.
• Practice gives confidence. People who have walked the route before know where to go, even when they are frightened.
• Drills show you what is broken. A locked gate, a silent alarm, a warden on leave or a PA system nobody can hear. Better to find it in a drill than in a fire.
• You can time it. A drill tells you how long it takes your staff, students or residents to get out, and you can use that to improve the plan.
• People learn the building. Regular drills teach everyone where all the exits are, not just the one they use every day.

What a good drill does for people

• Less panic. When people have done it before, they are calmer in a real emergency and think more clearly.
• Better teamwork. Everyone learns their job, who sounds the alarm, who checks the toilets, who takes the headcount, and they talk to each other better.
• Extinguisher practice. A drill is a good time to show people how an extinguisher works. Use one only on a small fire, only if you are trained and only with the exit behind you.
• Confident wardens. Floor wardens and safety officers get real practice at leading people out.
• Everyone is answerable. People see that what they do, or fail to do, affects the safety of others too.

How to run a drill that actually works

1. Change the scenario. One time, the main staircase is “blocked”. Another time, the fire is in the pantry, or it is a night-shift drill. If every drill uses the same exit, people get stuck when that exit is the one on fire.
2. Put people under real time pressure. Time the drill from the alarm to the last headcount. Do not tell everyone the date a week in advance, or they will be waiting at the door with their bags.
3. Include everyone. Senior staff, kitchen staff, security, visitors and the night shift take part too. Plan in advance for children, elderly people and anyone with a disability: who helps them, and by which route.
4. Ask for feedback and fix things. After each drill, ask people what went wrong. Write it down, give each fix to a named person and check it before the next drill.
5. Keep doing it. One drill a year that everyone forgets is not enough. Fix a calendar and keep to it, so people remember what to do.

Fire drills in different places

• Offices and factories. Employees should know their route, their assembly point and their warden. Regular drills cut the time it takes to get everyone out.
• Schools and colleges. Teachers need to know how to move a class quickly and count every child at the assembly point. Children learn fast and often teach their parents.
• Housing societies and flats. Residents should know both staircases, where the assembly point is and that the lift is not a way out. A society drill is also a good time to check that fire doors are shut and stairs are not full of junk.
• Malls, cinema halls and other public places. Staff must be drilled to guide visitors out, because visitors do not know the building.

Want the sheets ready? Our fire drill kit prints a plan, roles, an assembly point sheet, attendance and a report for your kind of place.

Start this week

Ask your office administrator, school principal or society secretary one question: when was our last fire drill? If nobody remembers, offer to help plan the next one. At home, take five minutes tonight to walk your family through two ways out of your flat and agree where you will meet outside. Save 101 and 112 in every phone.