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Accounting for staff response in engineering design

Accounting for staff response in engineering design

Gwynne, S.M.V., Au, S.Y.Z., Purser, D.A. and Boswell, D (2011) Accounting for staff response in engineering design. In: Advanced Research Workshop, Evacuation and Human Behavior in Emergency Situations, (Evac 2011), 21st October 2011, Santander, Spain.

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Abstract

The pre-warning concept was developed in a number of previous articles (produced in 2010 and 2011). It refers to a potential delay that can occur between the start of an incident and the subsequent raising of a general alarm. The pre-warning delay represents the potential delay in staff response as they interpret the cues available to them and then respond. This delay may be procedural (i.e. due to a formal procedural activity required of the staff) and/or cognitive (i.e. the processing of the information available and decision-making process by the member of staff). Typically, this delay is either not accounted for in engineering analysis or is based on the time for the technical system in place to detect the incident (and occasionally the subsequent failsafe notification time), rather than the staff response to it. This staff response can amount to a significant time period depending on the nature of the event, the technological and human resources available, the nature of the space and the procedure in place. Here, the pre-warning concept is generalized and a set of case studies presented. These case studies relate to fire and non-fire emergencies and exercises, and are intended to further support the existence of the pre-warning phase and illustrate the value of this concept. These cases also demonstrate the potential impact of the pre-warning phase upon the outcome of an incident, and help refine the engineering to better account for this impact. An example is presented demonstrating how the pre-warning concept can be incorporated into the standard performance-based analysis of a design and then quantified accordingly. The article builds upon the original concept, providing a facility that can aid in the understanding and analysis of emergency scenarios.

Item Type: Conference or Conference Paper (Paper)
Additional Information: [1] This paper was first presented within Session 3.1 at the Advanced Research Workshop, Evacuation and Human Behavior in Emergency Situations, (Evac 2011), held on 21st October 2011 in Santander, Spain.
Uncontrolled Keywords: evacuation time, egress, evacuation process
Subjects: Q Science > Q Science (General)
Pre-2014 Departments: School of Computing & Mathematical Sciences
School of Computing & Mathematical Sciences > Centre for Numerical Modelling & Process Analysis > Fire Safety Engineering Group
Related URLs:
Last Modified: 14 Oct 2016 09:26
URI: http://gala.gre.ac.uk/id/eprint/10807

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