The need among business owners to secure their investments and protect their people is strong. They will install a security system and do many things to protect their businesses. However, they can often forget one thing; an escape plan if the security alarm system goes off. Do the employees know the protocol when the alarm goes off and do they have an escape route? The security alarm may serve its purpose by alerting you and your employees of impending danger, but without an escape plan, you risk getting hurt. Hence the need to have a realistic escape plan.

How to design your escape route

Plan your easily accessible escape routes

Your escape routes should be in places where you and your employees spend most of your working hours. This ensures that they are easily accessible when calamity strikes. Escape routes can be doors, windows or any accessible wide opening. Based on the number of employees and customers your store or commercial premise holds at a time, it is important to have multiple escape routes. Since you may not always be where your employees are, it is important to involve them when designating escape routes. Your employees may be in a better position to determine the routes that would be easily accessible to them.

Practice using the escape routes with your employees

When an emergency strikes, people are likely to be caught off guard and possibly panic. For this reason, it is advisable to practice emergency plans and escape routes with all employees. You could carry out the exercise just like you would for a fire or tornado drill. Hold a staff meeting to explain the escape routes and give them guidelines about how to access them and how to react. For the escape plan and routes to work effectively, they should be practiced. Practice once a month to ensure that any new employees are well sensitized.

Clear escape pathways to prevent accidents

After planning and practicing your escape plans and routes, you do not want to encounter unexpected accidents during an emergency. Therefore, ensure that you clear the escape pathways. They should stay clear always because you never know when an emergency will strike. Make clearing of escape pathways a daily duty and ensure that your employees understand the importance of keeping the areas clear.

Installing a high-end commercial security alarm system should be supplemented with the plans. You need to ensure that the people working with you are safe. For effectiveness, you and your employees must know how to react to different emergency situations that may occur. Also, ensure that you designate an emergency assembly point outside the business building and in a safe area.