Research on equipment kits of emergency evacuation for workers living and working in the high building

With the rapid development of the economy, the population in large cities increased rapidly due to the concentration of economic hubs, industrial zones and demands enjoying benefits and utilities of workers. To address the surge in housing and offices, Vietnam and other places in the world have massively built high-rise residential and office buildings. The construction of high-rise buildings presents numerous benefits, except for one thing: safety in case of fire incidents. Although buildings have evacuation plans in accordance with the design but in reality these plans are insufficient. Even overseas, catastrophic events in recent years have shown the skyscrapers filled with death threats, the life-line exits in the buildings are not efficient and capable enough when disasters like fire, natural disasters or earthquakes happen.

For more options of exit for people living and working in high-rise buildings, some countries have conducted studies of individual evacuation kits. In Vietnam, the Occupational Safety Centre under the National Institute of Labour Protection has conducted ​​research on equipment kits of emergency evacuation for employees living and working in high-rise buildings in order to help them escape when fire and explosion incidents occur.

Research equipment kits of emergency evacuation conducted by the National Institute of Labour Protection includes:

• Personal sliding device including slide-down device; sliding rope; connection ring; safety belt; auxiliary line.
• Hammer: Used for breaking doors and latching.
• Dust masks.
• Protective eyeglasses.
• Protective work gloves.
• Document guidelines for escape.
• In addition, employees could equip themselves with emergency masks and helmets.

Personal sliding device:

Personal sliding device is the main component of the escape support equipment kits, including:

– Sliding rope: synthetic fiber rope of 12mm diameter, polyester fiber core (PET), polyamide fiber sheath (PA).

– Hand brake: made ​​from SM400C Japanese steel by punching method.

– Abdominal belt: using abdominal rope of safety belt against falling from high.

– Connection ring: using high quality imported connection rings.

Details have been fabricated, assembled and quality controled to meet the requirements of standard EN 341, related technical documents and requirements of actual use.

Figure 1: Personal sliding device

Table 1: Technical requirements of personal sliding device