Evacuation Procedure from Complex Buildings - Literature review Example

The paper “Evacuation Procedure from Complex Buildings” is a thoughtful example of the literature review on management. Presently, office buildings and housing complexes have grown larger and even more multifaceted in order to accommodate the rising need for more space to accommodate not only increased activities and to perform varied functions but also to put up with the rising population rates, more so in urban areas. Safety provision in these facilities has gained prominence and increased focus in the recent past especially due to the increased safety risks to a large number of people in emergency situations. This is as witnessed in cases such as the terrorist attack on the US World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. In order to reduce casualties arising from emergency situations, safe evacuation procedures and protocols have become fundamental in any housing complex and in the design of any facility regardless of the number of occupants as noted by Yung (2009).

As discussed by Rasbash et al. (2004), safe evacuation of people from any given facility present its own challenges and obstacles and it becomes even more intricate when evacuating people in complex or high-rise building where more factors and elements come into play. Evacuation is primarily meant to ensure the efficient and effective exit of both casualties and the occupants, minimize confusion, which has the potential to enhance safety risks, reducing damage to property and help in response to the emergency situation as outlined by Proulx (2001).

This chapter is the Literature review, which seeks to analyze in-depth, the evacuation procedures from complex buildings. The chapter will highlight the required available time, detection and warning time, delay start time which consists of three event times, movement time, required evacuation time, occupants characterization, occupants number (density factor), and phased evacuation. In addition, the report will highlight issues pertaining to fire exits routes, use of stairs, type of alarm systems, human behavior and crowd management in modern complex buildings, and the effect of design on the escape in the event of a fire.