Often the first clue that a fire has started in a building is the sound of fire alarms or smoke detectors. These alarms give occupants precious minutes to get to safety before the danger of smoke inhalation, flashover or spreading fire become life threatening. Minutes matter in a fire emergency, and that is why it is important to have working fire alarms in all workplaces.
But what if the fire alarms are ignored? The only way fire alarms can save lives is if the alarms are taken seriously. If the fire alarms are dismissed, lives can be lost.
An interesting study performed by iHasco found that in a group setting, people are likely to ignore fire alarms unless someone specifically comes in and tells them to exit the building. In this study, participants did not know they were being studied to determine their reaction to a fire alarm; they thought the study was for something else.
While they were filling out paperwork, a fire alarm sounded and the group ignored the alarm, outside of a little chatter about the alarm. Below is a screenshot from the video by iHasco. The participants you see are hearing the fire alarm, but ignoring it.
(Click the video to view the clip.)
It is not until 2 minutes into the fire alarm that one of the participants gets up to find out what is happening.
In a real emergency, 2 minutes could mean the difference between life and death.
To create a safer work environment for your business, discuss this study with your employees, tenants, etc. Be sure they understand the importance of responding quickly to fire alarms. While there are many false alarms that happen, it is better to be inconvenienced by checking on an alarm that is false than waiting too late to respond to a fire alarm that is signaling a true emergency.
At Best Security Products, we can help you with all commercial and home fire security and safety needs. Give us a call at 1-800–988–2378 sales@bestsecurityproducts.com