Page 30 - College Planning & Management, June 2019

RESIDENCE HALLS AND EMERGENCY EVACUATION
with elevator doors and in elevator shafts. Smoke evacuation has affected how elevator lobbies are designed.” He notes that smoke curtains use a combination of magnets, reinforced plastic motorized curtains, and alarm/smoke detectors in the elevator lobby to give designers multiple options for providing safe residence halls while also promoting community, in this case eliminating additional elevator lobby enclosures.
2. Door closers. It used to be that residence hall room doors could be opened and would remain open on their own. Students could open their room doors to signal that they were available to talk, thus promoting a sense of community through the corridor. Now, however, codes require that the corridors also serve as emergency egress corridors; therefore, they must provide a minimum level of smoke and fire protection during a building evacuation, from a half hour up to two or more hours of fire protection. Designers are outfitting fire-rated room doors with door closers that provide a positive door latching, ensuring
that room doors are always closed, which, unfortunately, limits community.
One device provides a door closer/holder with a multi-point hold-open function connected to an alarm system that acti- vates the closer in case of an emergency, automatically closing the door. This device is different from the traditional magnetic
door closer that only allows for a 90-degree angle.
“The multi-point hold-open function allows the students to
create their own ‘door language,’” says Esteban. “When the door is fully open, the student is open to visits; when the door is set at 45 degrees, the student may be studying, but still open to interaction. Now the corridor is re-gaining its important community activity, but in a safer way.”
This section would not be complete without a discussion of signage. In some jurisdictions, exit signage is required high on the wall and low on the wall. Here’s why: Imagine being in an area with high ceilings and smoke obscures the exit signs that are above door frames. Now imagine being in an area with low ceilings and needing to crawl through smoke. It is for these reasons that Esteban notes that signage must be thoroughly thought out from day one, espe- cially because “exiting in an emergency is a more visceral reaction than a logical one.” He favors combining signage with an address- able alarm system and a voice evacuation system that tells students where to go and how to act, which takes into consideration that they may not be searching for an exit in a logical manner.
The Emergency Evacuation Plan
Esteban indicates that studies show that, in an emergency, most people tend to try to exit a building in the same way that they entered, bypassing closer, safer, and more efficient routes to safety. Designers must put themselves in the shoes of a students who, perhaps panicked, are going to run to exit the building in an emer- gency, implementing design elements that help students find the closest route to safety and encourage organized exiting. Doing so reduces the potential of “confusion, injury, and property damage,” according to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA, www.osha.gov). OSHA is an arm of the U.S. Department of Labor that assures “safe and healthful working conditions for working men and women by setting and enforcing standards and by providing training, outreach, education, and assistance.”
As a result, emergency evacuation plans are a must. OSHA’s website is an ideal starting point for developing your own, as is asking colleagues at other colleges and universities to share theirs. Two that you may want to review are University of Colorado Boul- der (www.colorado.edu/firelifesafety/fire-drills/dormsresidence- halls-evacuation) and Pennsylvania State University (https:// policy.psu.edu/policies/sy28).
Once in place, plans need to be followed through, because it serves no one to have a plan that isn’t used. They also must be reviewed and updated on a regular basis, especially as existing residence halls are renovated and new buildings come on line.
Taking into account building code, products, and emergency evacuation plans when designing residence halls helps to protect the health, welfare, and safety of residence hall occupants when an emergency evacuation is necessary. CPM
AFTER EVACUATION
In the case of an emergency requiring evacuation of a facil-
ity, another important aspect to include in emergency plans is where occupants should go and gather in order to determine that everyone has safely left the building. To ensure the fastest, most accurate account- ability of building occupants, consider including these steps in your emergency action plan:
• Designate assembly areas or areas, both inside and outside of the building, where people should gather after evacuating. Assembly locations within the building are often referred to as “areas of refuge.” Make sure your assembly area has sufficient space to accommodate everyone. Exterior assembly areas, used when the building must be partially or completely evacuated, are typically located in parking lots or other open areas.
• Take a head count after the evacuation. Identify the names and last known locations of anyone not accounted for and pass them to the officials in charge. Accounting for all building occupants following an evacuation is critical. Confusion in the assembly areas can lead to delays in rescuing any- one trapped in the building or unnecessary search-and-rescue operations.
• Establish a method for accounting for individuals who may not be residents of the facility.
• Establish procedures for further evacuation in case the incident expands. This may consist of sending people off campus by normal means or providing them with transportation to an offsite location.
30 COLLEGE PLANNING & MANAGEMENT / JUNE 2019
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