Safety first

On 13th May, at 10.30, all the people working at ZM Postęp heard a fire alarm. According to the scenario, a stand at welding shop was on fire. But the employees were not aware that the evacuation they were taking part in was only an exercise. Only key people and the management were informed about the planned action beforehand.

Before that, 100% of the staff had been trained. Thanks to the training, the coordinators of the action knew what their tasks were. The Fire Safety Procedures developed for the plant and the current fire safety regulations had been provided to the employees during the training. They had received the information on how to behave in case of fire and how to use the fire-fighting equipment. Operational persons had been appointed for a hazardous situation.

Thanks to the involvement of the evacuation leaders – production masters and the management – everything went very smooth. Full evacuation of 146 persons from the building took only 4 minutes and 30 seconds. It is a very good result.

The action was controlled by Agnieszka Farasiewicz, an experienced OHS and fire safety specialist, whose priority is to improve work place safety by involving employees in building wider awareness. The correctness of the action was also ensured by the State Fire Service from Gliwice. Thank you very much for your involvement and for the essential guidelines in terms of behaviour in case of fire hazard.

To sum up, the simulation has been recognised as a very good practice. All the participants passed a very eye-opening test on the safety principles in case of fire hazard situation.