DEVELOPMENT OF A FIRE SAFETY TRAINING TOOL FOR STAFF IN RETAIL STORES

摘要

A novel approach to staff fire training for Marks and Spencer staff is presented and discussed in this paper. The contextual backcloth is the current training techniques employed and the requirements generally of Health and Safety Legislation in terms of duties imposed on staff, particularly with respect to the safety of others. The training approach articulated in this paper is rooted in the notions of occupancy where the responses, actions and behaviours of individuals in time and space are a function of the environment in which they find themselves. The concept of 'occupancy' was used to analyse video taped recordings of five unannounced evacuations of Marks and Spencer stores. From these five different settings which imposed different constraints and opportunities for staff were identified. A computer video presentation for each of the settings for each of three cues, ie alarm, smoke and flame were presented to 172 Marks and Spencer staff to whom a follow up questionnaire was administered. The results of the work are presented in this paper. These results indicated that the percentage of staff who actually followed their current training instruction was surprisingly low. The computer video presentation highlights the inadequacies of the current training methods, exposes staff to real situations for a range of cues and offers the possibility of realistic, useful staff training assessments.