Case 5 - 750 garment workers, one usable stair and a bell nobody can hear

Judge each deficiency by how many people it exposes and how little warning they would get.

1. Blocked rear staircase - clear it today. 750 people on the upper floors with one usable stair. Escape depends on redundancy: a fire or smoke in the open stair traps everyone above it, and people will not know until they are in the stair. Clear the bales, mark the stair “keep clear”, add it to the supervisor’s daily checklist and make storage on a means of escape a disciplinary matter with a named owner.
2. Alarm not audible - fix before anything else is planned. At 82 dB(A) of machine noise a ground-floor bell cannot be heard on the stitching floors. An alarm nobody hears means no evacuation, whatever else is in place. Sounders on every floor sized to be clearly audible above ambient, plus visual strobe alarms in the noisy halls, with a weekly test and a log.
3. No drill since 2019. Drills teach the route, the alarm and the assembly point; without them the “plan” is paper. The first drill should be unannounced, timed and followed by a written debrief.
4. Extinguishers out of service since 2022. Service and tag annually, mount at exits, and train only the staff expected to use one - for a small fire on the way out, never as a reason to stay.
5. First aid cover. Two day-shift first aiders for 750 people with no night cover fails the second shift entirely, and a box locked in the HR office fails at the point of need.
6. Missing assembly point, exit signage, emergency lighting, and no current statutory fire audit/certificate - the paperwork and hardware gap an inspector will notice first.

Written emergency plan with names

• Alarm: sounders on every floor, strobes in the machine halls, break-glass call points at exits, weekly test logged.
• Routes: both stairs clear, illuminated exit signage, emergency lighting, doors opening in the direction of travel.
• Wardens: at least one warden and a deputy per floor per shift, with tabards and a torch; their task is to sweep their floor and report “floor clear” at the muster point.
• Assembly point: marked, away from the building and from fire service access; headcount taken from the shift attendance list; a named person reports missing names to the fire service - nobody is sent back inside.
• Capacity reality: a single stair of about 1.2 m discharges roughly 40–60 people per minute, so 750 people need well over ten minutes just to reach the ground. That calculation is why the second stair is non-negotiable and why every drill must be timed.
• Night shift: separate wardens, separate drill and a named responsible person, given the 22:00 finish and thinner supervision.

Drills At least twice a year, one unannounced; record date, time to clear, numbers out, problems, actions and owner. Test the alarm audibility at the furthest machine on each floor as part of the drill.

First aid

• Train a spread of first aiders across every floor and both shifts, so a casualty is reached within a couple of minutes at any hour; post names, floor and phone number beside each hall.
• Stocked boxes at several accessible points on each floor, each with a named checker and a monthly checklist; a designated first aid room; eye-wash where chemicals are used.
• Accident book, transport arrangement to hospital, and a written handover to the treating facility.

Verify by inspection, not by assurance.

• Carry out a documented inspection of every floor, both stairs, all alarm points, extinguisher tags, first aid boxes and the muster area. Photograph the findings and enter them in the committee inspection register with a responsible person and a deadline for each.
• Check the current statutory position: the fire audit and certificate, the workplace registration, and the last fire service or DOSHS visit. Ask for the report and track its actions.
• Re-inspect the stair weekly until management shows it can keep it clear, then monthly.
• Review the drill report at the next meeting and set the date of the next drill; review the first aid checklist monthly and the extinguisher service annually.

Protect the committee and the workforce if management delays

• Record the recommendation, the date, and the employer’s response in the minutes. A recommendation that is minuted and unanswered is powerful evidence.
• Escalate in writing to the area occupational safety and health officer where a blocked escape route or a silent alarm persists - those are imminent dangers, not housekeeping issues.
• Tell the workers what the committee has asked for and when; a workforce that knows the plan is part of the emergency system.

Communicate and record Wardens, first aiders, the assembly point and the drill date on noticeboards in the languages spoken on the floor, at induction, and at shift briefings. Keep drill reports, alarm test logs, extinguisher service certificates, first aid box checklists, training certificates and minutes together in one file for the inspector.