Top Fire Safety Tips for A Worry-Free Vacation
For your summer vacation, you and your family are probably thinking of packing your bags, checking into a hotel, and soaking in the sights and sounds of your chosen travel destination. Indeed, choosing the right hotel could make your vacation infinitely more memorable. Nevertheless, when it comes to fire safety, you should also be alert at all times—whether you are at home or travelling. Thus, when choosing a hotel, it is also important to ensure that the hotel is in compliance with existing fire safety regulations. In this light, what are the other things you should be checking out upon your arrival? We have compiled some fire safety tips to make your vacation not just memorable but also a safe one.
The size and type of the hotel
For instance, smaller hotels or motels, bed-and breakfast places, and the like employ fewer people, have fewer rooms, and smaller buildings. On the other hand, high-rise hotels may employ hundreds of employees, have over 100 guest rooms and have the same number of visitors at any given time. Just as you would like to feel safe at home or at work, you should also be safe in a public building, such as a hotel. In addition, if you are staying in a relatively new hotel, it could be using high-quality fire protection (i.e., the use of fire sprinklers in every room and sophisticated detection and alarm systems installed throughout the building). On the other hand, smaller hotels may not. Regardless of the number of employees or size, however, check to see if the hotel employees have been given appropriate fire brigade training by the concerned authorities.
Fire safety equipment
Essentially, the type of fire safety equipment and the amount of such equipment in the hotel should depend on the size of the hotel itself. According to existing fire safety regulations in the UK, a specific number of fire extinguishers should be installed at each floor of the hotel, depending on its size. Upon your arrival, also check out if fire safety equipment are available, including sprinklers, smoke and fire detectors and alarms, automatic and manual fire alarms, standpipes in the stair landings, emergency lights, portable fire extinguishers, and the like. These should all be visible to guests, employees, and fire rescuers (in cases of emergencies).
Fire escape plan
Another tip to ensure fire safety while staying in a hotel is to check whether or not fire escape routes are easily seen in hallways and other locations mandated by current fire safety regulations. In cases of emergencies, guests must be able to locate the fire escape route and the fire exits even amidst smoke and darkness. In addition, standard fire safety signs complying with current fire safety regulations should also be visible in every location in the hotel. You will never know when you will need to use these signs so why not familiarize yourself with these? Finally, you should also make an effort to familiarize yourself and your family members about the fire escape route and location of fire exits so that you and your family will be ready at any time.