Sustainability & Risk/ Emergency Preparedness / First Responders

First Responders

As a first responder, you respond to all types of emergencies -- fire, flood, crime, spills-- at a building. Knowing the location on each floor of employee emergency exit routes will help you better lead people to safety and respond to the emergency. Similarly, if the site contains hazardous materials, it is vital that as a first responder you know exactly where these materials are located so that you enter the building with a clear understanding of its potential dangers.

Often, facility managers will have previously supplied first responders with a Web URL so that while en route to the building you can access and review the company's egress routes, hazardous material plans, equipment plans, and other building information. If a Web URL has not previously been supplied, the building's emergency response team can supply it at the time of your arrival and you can use a laptop to review this information before entering the building.

Egress and Occupancy Plans

Egress (exit) plans are critical to ensure that all building occupants are able to escape the facility during an emergency. Egress plans typically consist of large, extended arrows that map the most direct route to the nearest means of egress on each floor. First responders use these plans to know how the clearest way to lead building occupants to safety.

To view a floor's egress plan:

1. Select Sustainability & Risk/ Emergency Preparedness / First Responders and then View Egress and Occupancy Plan.

Building Zones, Hazardous Materials, Room Plans, and Equipment Plans

In emergency situations, you can use zone drawings to identify at-risk areas. For example, if the sprinkler system in Zone 1 has automatically been activated, you can look at the zone drawing to determine the exact area of the floor that might have a fire. Similarly, you can consult the zone drawings to see at-risk areas within a zone.  

To see zone and other building information, set the drawing to display zone and other information by working with the Information to Display panel. From this panel, located in the bottom left area, you can toggle the drawing between displaying the various types of building zone information, as well as an equipment plan and a room plan.

To see zone and other floor information:

1. Select Sustainability & Risk/ Emergency Preparedness / First Responders / Highlight Zones.
2. The system lists the buildings and floors in the left panels. Select a building from the top left pane, and then select a floor within this building.
3. In the Information to Display panel, choose one of the following types of information to display:
• Fire or Smoke Zones
• Alarm Zones
• Security Zones
• HVAC Zones
• Emergency Lighting Zones
• Hazardous Materials (areas housing hazardous materials. See Drawing Hazardous Material Plans.)
• Rooms
  • Lists the rooms located on the floor.
  • After viewing the above zone information and noting the general area of each zone, you can use this view to see what rooms fall within each zone.
• Equipment
  • Uses markers to show the location of equipment items, and lists the equipment located on the floor.
  • After viewing the above zone information and noting the general area of each zone, you can use this view to see what equipment items fall within each zone.
4. The system displays the floor plan drawing, with the selected information, in the right pane.
5. Beneath the drawing, the system displays key data corresponding to the displayed information in the drawing.
6. As necessary, continue to display other types of information by using the options in the Information to Display panel.

Hazard Highlight Reports

The application offers several report that highlight on the floor plan drawing areas holding hazardous materials. See Hazard Highlighting Reports.