“Keep
watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you
overseers.” (Acts
20:28)
As I’m sure you’ve heard me say many times, I
love the local church body. Because of
this my goal has always been to provide you with the tools to build, train, and
maintain a safety and security team in your church. This is accomplished through choosing
appropriate past experiences and applying any lessons learned, consulting
experts in the field, and researching nationally recognized publications to
make sure all information provided is useful and up to date.
In elementary school I remember practicing
fire drills at least every couple months. As I grew older, due to some tragic
events in our community and at least once in my parent’s home, I came to
understand the importance of those years of fire drills. Fire drills save lives!
That is why churches should also have
them. Fire drills help people know what
to do in case of a fire emergency. When
your people have practiced these drills many times when there was no emergency,
then they are less likely to panic when the real thing happens. They will know where to find the nearest
exits and will accomplish evacuation calmly and quickly.
Churches have special challenges such as
people with disabilities or an unusually large number of the elderly. Some older churches do not have up to date
fire safety alarms or building wide public address systems. Holding fire drills allows churches to assess
their fire safety situation and consider the best way to evacuate everyone
safely and as quickly as possible.
It’s important to work closely with church
leaders. You need their support as you
begin to plan and set dates for the fire drills. The ideal time would be immediately after the
worship service when there is still a large number of people in the
building. In the couple of weeks leading
up to the fire drill begin announcing your plans each Sunday and lay out what
is expected of the congregation. They
need to understand why these drills are necessary and what their part is in the
drill. This would include a review of
where all the exits are in the building, the destination of the evacuees, and
where they are to be united with their family members. If possible, pass out floor plans with all
exits marked and typed out fire drill instructions.
If your church does have a safety or security
team, have them practice in advance so they will know what to do. Their job includes guiding members to the
exits, assisting the elderly and handicap, and helping evacuate the children
from the nursery and children’s areas. Also, make sure everyone is out of offices,
bathrooms, and classrooms. Occasionally,
you may need non-safety team members to help with the evacuation.
Previous to holding the fire drill make sure
the authorities have been notified of the date and time of the drill, and that
the drill is actually just a “drill.”
Sometimes you might want to have the local fire department help with the
planning and carrying out of the drill.
They probably will have information and resources that will hope make
the drill be a success. They might even
be willing to bring over a fire truck and some men to participate for the
children to meet.
Prior to holding the fire drill work out some
signals for communication and how the drill will be announced. Once the drill is in progress begin directing
the congregation to the nearest exits.
Encourage people to move quickly, without running, and calmly. People should be guided to the pre-designated
assembly area that is well-away from the building, and that leaves streets accessible
to the building. If you have an
exceptionally large building you may want to have a unification area designated
for family members who may be in other parts of the building. Some members may be elderly or handicapped who
cannot move quickly and will likely need special assistance by trained
members.
Depending on the size of the building, assign
several two-man teams the task of searching the building for stragglers. These teams should check all bathrooms,
offices, classrooms, remote areas of the building (basement area, pastor’s
study, etc.) to be certain that everyone has been evacuated safely. Meanwhile, verify that everyone in the
Assembly area and Unification area have been accounted for by all family
members.
If your building has a fire alarm system, be
sure to reset the alarm once the drills have been successfully completed. Do one last test of the alarm system to
confirm it is operational. Finally,
alert the local authorities that the drill is over so they know that any
subsequent fire alarm will be real.
As soon as possible after the fire drill, get
the safety or security team together for a debriefing.
Consider these questions:
1) How long did it
take to evacuate the building?
2) Are you
satisfied with the results, or could it have been done better?
3) Identify what
worked well.
4) Discuss any areas
or aspects of the fire drill that did not go according to the plan.
5) Can anyone suggest
any strategies for improvement?
Before the next fire drill make sure the
church has an updated, Comprehensive Fire Drill Plan that includes fire safety
inspections, fire extinguisher and safety equipment testing, fire drills for the
children and volunteers in the children’s area several times a year, and fire safety
training for church members and staff. It should include church-wide fire drills,
like the one described here, on a regular basis.
Like most churches, you probably have no idea
how to do this, or even where to begin.
Whether you have any questions, or need help with fire safety, severe weather
emergency planning, or simply getting your church security team up and running,
you can contact me any day or time at the contact information found below.
Be safe!
Integrity Security
Consulting
Russ Sharrock
405-762-2471 | integrityseccon@hotmail.com
I have developed and made available to anyone interested, for FREE, a series of Security & safety forms that can
be printed for your use:
1) A Safety & Security Risk Assessment Form
2) Church Security Plan Template
3) Church Emergency Plan Template
4) A General Fire Safety Checklist
5) A Bomb Threat Checklist
6) A Bomb Threat Distance Chart: Includes various types of
explosive devises and to be referred to in an event of a bomb threat
evacuation. These are minimum distances to evacuate away from the area of
explosion.
7) Facility Lockdown Checklist
8) Child Protection Covenant
These MS Word documents can be adapted as necessary to fit your
church size and needs. I will be adding new forms as time allows.
For a copy of any of these FREE
forms, or if you have any questions, contact me and let me know what your needs
are.
No comments:
Post a Comment