What is an Evacuation Assembly Area?
An evacuation assembly area is a designated zone where occupants are directed to congregate in the event of an emergency, at a safe distance from the building. Ideally, these evacuation assembly areas are located in open areas such as parking lots, away from busy streets.
Choosing evacuation assembly areas is an extremely important part of any emergency action plan. Below, we will quickly explain why it’s important to not only have assembly areas designated, but how they should be marked and used in practice during safe egress route drills and emergency situations.
How to use Assembly Areas
Assembly areas should be used in a number of different emergency types. These include fires, explosions, floods, toxic spills, armed intruders and other internal/external threats to personnel. One important function of an assembly area is to enable an easy accounting of employees, staff, students, and visitors in the building.
Specific staff members should be trained and assigned the duty of accounting for different groups of occupants at the different assembly areas. These leaders must quickly ascertain if any known occupants did not successfully arrive at the evacuation assembly area. This information can be crucial for emergency responders to understand who may still be in the building, and where they may be located.
Evacuation drills for all personnel are critical to organized, prompt evacuations. Employees that already know where to go, and who is responsible for the headcounts in their evacuation area, will be more likely to treat evacuation as automatic and routine. Preventing panic is key to a safe and successful evacuation.
Use Clear, Intuitive Signs for Evacuation and Assembly Areas
Another best practice for successful evacuations is to clearly mark emergency assembly areas with distinct signage. This helps occupants understand where to go in the event of an emergency that requires evacuation. See the image above for an example of clear designated assembly area signage.
Larger buildings that have multiple assembly areas will need to differentiate each area, most often with a number or letter (such as Evacuation Area A, Area B, Area C, etc). Signs should clearly communicate the different evacuation assembly areas, using lettering that is easily visible and legible from the emergency exits. Outdoor signs should be durable enough to withstand the elements.
Some signs may designate different types of assembly areas, for instance, you may have special signage to direct people to a safe tornado shelter within the building. And internal assembly area is referred to as an “area of refuge.”
Typically, organizations implement these signs as part of a larger evacuation plan within their emergency action plan. This likely includes planning egress routes, implementing evacuation maps at the right locations within the building, and designating personnel responsibilities during emergencies.
Whether you are looking for signs, or looking for qualified help with evacuation planning, Building Maps has the experience and knowledge to help you get it right. We specialize in code-compliant evacuation map design, using clear and intuitive images to aid successful evacuations. Whether you’re evacuating long-term personnel or first-time visitors, Building Maps can help you lead people to safety.
Request a Quote from our Team
Building Maps is the industry leader in creating and maintaining safety maps for organizations like yours across the U.S. When it comes to assembly areas and evacuation planning, most organizations must be compliant with NFPA 101 or another similar code (OSHA, ICC, NFPA, etc.) according to building usage and occupancy types.
Our entire team is trained and well-versed in NFPA, ICC and OSHA codes and standards. We’re not just illustrators – we’re building safety experts. Don’t risk the safety of your people; with Building Maps you can be confident that we’ll follow all the best practices for safe egress.
Contact us today for a quick and free quote and have our maps included in your pre-incident plan!
