Evacuation Coordination Instructions for Churches

Every church, synagogue, mosque, or hall with a congregation needs to be evacuated within minutes of the onset of a disaster to prevent loss of life. The structure of a church could be old, and the abundance of wood can be a catalyst in case of a fire hazard.

How can you make sure you have the perfect evacuation plan ready for your church?

THE EMERGENCY PLAN NEEDS TO BE COMPREHENSIVE

Be it a cyclone, tornado, a fire, or an active shoot—the emergency plan needs to have the potential to be implemented any time, under any circumstance. That is the rule thumb of a great evacuation plan and yes, it does apply to the house of worship as well.

Prior to this training course it is assumed that you have:

• Evacuation Signs and Diagrams
• Evacuation Emergency Response Plan (procedures)
• Have held an Emergency Planning Committee Meeting to work through the logistics (about 40+ topics)
• Have conducted a fire audit of your premises

(Note we can help with all of the above if you are not yet ready for the training)

CLEAR LEADERSHIP NEEDS TO BE MANDATORY

Every group in the church (men’s group, ladies’ group, youth group, Sunday school etc) needs to have a clear leader—and that leader needs to step up and become the chief fire warden in the event of an emergency. They must be trained properly in the safe evacuation of people including those that are very young and those that cannot self-evacuate.

The leader must also have an understudy who will help them to get the job done faster or be able to step up if they are off sick. Having an extra hand works wonders for crowd management as well.

IF YOU THINK IT WILL NEVER HAPPEN TO ME…

•  Two consecutive mass shootings occurred at mosques in a terrorist attack in Christchurch, New Zealand, during Friday Prayer on 15 March 2019.  The attack, carried out by a single gunman who entered both mosques, began at the Al Noor Mosque in the suburb of Riccarton at 1:40 pm and continued at Linwood Islamic Centre at 1:52 pm. He killed 51 people and injured 40.
• France Makes New Arrests Over Nice Church Attack
• 3 Arrested for Throwing Bombs At Bengal Church
• St Mary’s Catholic Church engulfed by fire, taking 70 years of Queensland history with it
• Gunman opened fire from the steps of New York City’s Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine. The incident took place just after an outdoor choir performance at the church on Sunday.

COURSE OBJECTIVES

The course will teach employees the art of successful evacuations and the application of safety measures for maximum efficiency. All the course participants will learn:

• How to identify emergency situations
• How to respond to threats in a timely fashion
• How to carry out evacuations successfully
• The legal aspects of emergency evacuation
• How to properly report emergencies

The topics covered under the course will include:

• General Evacuation
• Emergency Plan
• Evacuation Signs and Diagrams
• Assembly Area
• Alarms
• Warden Identification
• Evacuating the Building
• Reasons for Evacuating the Building (including fire, bomb threat, active shooter, armed holdup)
• Housekeeping

Make the sanctuary a safe haven!

Please note that this is a generic module. We can modify this course per your churches needs and customise the protocols to suit your organisation.

If you supply the basic resources that we need, the customisation doesn’t cost a cent. If you want customisation, do not buy this course. Once customised you pay per user.

Email admin@answeryes.com.au or reach us at 07 3180 4422.