Learn about elements of a good emergency evacuation floor plan by moving over the items listed below.

• Designate Primary & Secondary Exits
• No Emergency Exits in Restrooms
• Exit Away From Rooms with Hazardous Materials
• No Emergency Exits into Narrow Passages
• Exit Signs Indicating the Nearest Emergency Exit
• Designate an Assembly Area
• No Use of Elevators to Reach an Emergency Exit
• Indicate Exits with Wheelchair Access
• Indicate the Employee's Current Location

Text Version

A floor plan shows the possible evacuation routes in the building. It is color coded and uses arrows to indicate the designated exit. A room containing hazardous materials is indicated in the lower right hand corner of the building by the flame symbol. The assembly area is indicated outside the primary exit at the top of the building.

An evacuation floor plan with three exits, has the primary exit designated in the upper left by red arrows, with two main flows coming toward it indicated by bent arrows, the red rooms, and red elevator. Persons in the upper left half of the building are directed toward this exit.

The secondary exit is located centrally on the adjacent outer wall on the right side of the building. Persons in the top hallway and second hallway are directed with tan arrows from the tan colored rooms toward this exit. A male and female figure (representing restrooms) are indicated in the first tan colored rooms in the upper hallway. The individuals should exit along the hallway toward the secondary exit at the right side of the building. Both the primary and secondary exits are marked with handicapped signs.

There is a third exit in the last hallway, centrally located in the outer wall opposite the outer wall with the primary exit and adjacent to the outer wall with the secondary exit. Persons in the third hallway are directed by blue arrows from the blue colored rooms and blue elevator to exit out this doorway. This exit is not designated for handicapped persons as stairs are indicated.

Colored boxes indicate a row of rooms along the outer walls, with hallways parallel to the rows of outer rooms on three sides of the building. The outer wall on the left side of the building has a hallway along the outer wall. Four sets of six colored rooms are along the internal corridors and there are three large rooms centrally located with internal hallways connecting the top and bottom of the building.

The Primary Exit is marked with an arrow from the text below the map, as is the Secondary Exit. An X inscribed in a circle marks the position of the employee, indicated in the legend, in text "You are here". On the floor plan, the employee is located in the upper left hand corner in the internal set of six red colored rooms, in the central room in the second hallway. The employee may exit the red colored room, either to the left or right (indicated by red arrows), and then proceed toward the outer wall and the upper left primary exit.

Learn about elements of a good emergency evacuation floor plan by moving your mouse over the items listed below.

• Designate Primary & Secondary Exits
  Your evacuation floor plan should designate at least one primary exit and one secondary exit. These exits must be remote from each other and so arranged as to minimize any possibility that both may be blocked by any one fire or other emergency condition.

• No Emergency Exits in Restrooms
  Even if there is a door in a restroom that employees could exit out of, no emergency exits are designated through restrooms for evacuation of a building. Windows are never designated as exits. Consequently, the floor plan does not indicate the restroom as an exit.

• Exit Away From Rooms With Hazardous Materials
  Emergency exit routes lead away from this room containing potentially hazardous materials so that no employee will be forced to pass the area during an emergency.

• No Emergency Exits Into Narrow Passages
  This short passageway between the two buildings may not provide enough open space for safe evacuation during an emergency. Accordingly, no emergency exit leads to this narrow space.

• Exit Signs Indicating the Nearest Emergency Exit
  Signs reading "Exit" with an arrow indicating the directions, must be placed in every location where the direction of travel to reach the nearest exit is not immediately apparent.

• Designate An Assembly Area
  An assembly location should be designated outside the building for employees to gather during an emergency. The location of this assembly area should be clearly illustrated if shown on the map.

• No Use of Elevators To Reach an Emergency Exit
  The floor plan of a multiple-story building should show the locations of stairways and elevators and must indicate that the stairs, not the elevators, are the appropriate means of exit in case of emergency.

• Indicate Exits with Wheelchair Access
  Where applicable, exits with wheelchair access should be designated on the floorplan.

• Indicate the Employee's Current Location
  The floor plan should indicate the employee's current location in the building.