23rd August 1999

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The University of Ulster has released details of a research project during which two major stores in Northern Ireland were evacuated.

The research was carried out by the University's Fire Research Centre and involved evacuating the Marks and Spencer stores at Royal Avenue in Belfast and at Sprucefield.

The research team, which was led by Dr Karen Boyce, wanted to get a clearer picture of how people in a public building tend to behave in an emergency, such as a fire alert:

"The sort of information we learned is not only useful to the stores in question but raises issues which should be borne in mind by those who design such stores and train the staff who work there."

In conjunction with Marks and Spencer managers, the researchers choose busy Thursday evenings to carry out the tests:

"It was important that all of the customers and staff in the stores thought the fire alarm was real as we wanted to get as clear a picture as possible how both sets of people behave in such an emergency."

The team placed cameras discreetly at certain points in the stores. The evacuation took less than four minutes and at the end of the exercise customers were asked to fill in questionnaires:

"Issues such as age and gender are important when studying how people behave in an emergency.

"But we also wanted to know other things about the customers. How familiar were they with the store, for example? Why did they choose particular emergency exits? Did they go back into the store to look for friends?" said Dr Boyce.

The researchers found that the position of the emergency exits a very important factor:

In the Sprucefield store one of the sets of doors beside the checkout area opened automatically on the sounding of the fire alarm and people were drawn to it. It might be worth looking at this issue more deeply - should all public buildings have certain doors which open automatically in such an emergency?

"By and large, people used the emergency exists they were familiar with. Some exists were not used at all - either because customers were not familiar with them or because they were off putting in some way - one exits led to steps which in turn then led to a service road."

The researchers also found the behaviour of the staff very important.

"Obviously they need to know the fire drill but the manner in which they behave is also very important. How they tell and encourage the customers to evacuate while at the same time reducing panic levels is critical.

"The way in which they gave directions was a major factor too. Some pointed to the way out so that people who could not hear their verbal directions were able to see where to go."

Dr Boyce had particular praise for the ingenuity of the staff in the two stores:

"In one store they even turned off the 'up' escalator so that customers could use it as an additional route to get down stairs.

"In another of the stores, two members of staff made it their priority to get a person in wheel chair to safety. They did so quickly and effectively."

For further information, please contact:

Press Office Department of Communication and Development
Telephone: 028 9036 6178
Email: pressoffice@ulster.ac.uk