No Way Out: How To Prevent Blocked Emergency Exit and Pathways With AI.

Keeping exit doors unobstructed and clearly marked is common sense, but the number of casualties resulting from violations reveals a disturbing pattern.

When OSHA enforced a national memorandum on exit routes in 2013, it came off the back of a deadly fire accident that claimed the lives of 119 poultry processing farm employees in Beijing.

The memo reflected a similar event in September 1991, where 25 employees died in a fire incident at a Chicken processing facility in Hamlet, NC.

However, what is noteworthy is that the two fire events recorded high and fatal casualties for one reason: the victims could not escape the incident due to locked exit doors.

Therefore, the national memo instructed inspectors to scrutinize whether employers provided and maintained unlocked, unobstructed, and clearly marked exit doors and exit routers in all workplaces.

Yet, the disturbing pattern of blocked exits persists, persuading even stricter fines.

In February, OSHA fined a popular variety store over $3.6 million for violations, including a repeated failure to ensure unobstructed exit routes.

But here is the problem:

Even though fines can be paid, no amount of money can restore an employee or customer’s life.

So, what is the way forward?

• How can employers comply with OSHA’s exit-route regulations?
• How can they ensure that customers shop with confidence and guarantee employee safety?

This article takes a deep dive into the preventive measures to eliminate the risks of blocked emergency exits in retail facilities.

But first, let’s understand why retail facilities flaunt exit route regulations.

Rolling carts, workstations, portable ladders, packing boxes, etc., don’t know when they are obstructing an exit door- humans do. But if nobody in a workplace of at least ten people identifies the potential risk of a blocked exit door, then there is a severe problem.

Therefore, flaunting exit route regulations is one of the symptoms of an ineffective workplace safety culture, highlighted by:

1. Lack of insight on unsafe patterns

Safety incidents like blocked exits are usually one of the strings in a pattern of connected incidents. It is hard to develop valuable insights when the incidents are underreported. This is evident because all the companies that flaunted exit route violations also had three or more different citations.

2. Poor safety training

Safety training does not end after all the presenting well-designed slides. Instead, it is achieved through active on-the-job coaching. Employees should not only be trained on how to keep exit doors clear but also guided to follow a scheduled daily practice of looking out for obstructed exit doors.

3. Poor commitment to safety among executive members

When operation officers deprioritize safety in day-to-day activities. the lack the necessary insight to report critical safety issues, such as safety training and protocols for employees.

That way, they may not allocate sufficient resources to maintain safety standards and regulations, including exit routes. This can result in inadequate or insufficient safety equipment, poor lighting, or a lack of emergency alarms or systems, making it challenging to identify and use exit routes during an emergency.

4. Negligence- Being Human

Humans are the weakest link in any safety program. This means that even with the best safety policies and procedures in place, human error can lead to safety violations or accidents.

For example, an employee may inadvertently block an exit route with merchandise or equipment, or fail to report a potential safety hazard to management. If these violations are not addressed by management, they can become a habit, leading to further negligence and a culture of noncompliance with safety regulations.

Workplaces with poor safety culture are waiting for tragedy to occur.

An emergency never announces itself. Just as safety doesn’t happen by accident. And if a safety culture that fails to identify exit route violations persists, such a workplace is waiting for tragedy to occur. Here are instances of such disasters:

A deadly fire outbreak

The U.S fire department responds to 13,570 structure fires in stores and other percentiles every year.

According to the National Fire Protection Authority, these incidents are estimated to cause roughly $604 million in property damage annually and an average of 12 civilian deaths. And most deaths are caused by smoke inhalation rather than the fire itself.

Workplace violence situation

Exit routes can be a path to safety during workplace violence situations such as an attack from an armed offender.

Severe weather condition

In severe weather conditions such as a tornado, an emergency exit can help customers and employees in a shopping mall stay safe from injuries caused by broken windows, falling racks, etc.

Other events that may warrant using the emergency exit doors include:

• A situation where there is a bomb threat
• When crowd control is necessary
• In the case of a power failure
• Suspicious package
• Natural gas leak

How to keep exit doors unobstructed and prevent the risks of blocked emergency exit

Inspect exit routes

Ensure exit routes are accessible and unobstructed. No materials or equipment may be permanently or temporarily placed within an exit route.

Locked exits

There are cases where the security official or store manager has no safety experience and locks the exit routes. This is a high-risk factor for blocking exit routes that may have catastrophic consequences in the event of a fire outbreak or other emergencies.

The exit routes should be open at all times. Employees should also be able to open the door from the inside without the need for special keys, tools, or unique techniques.

The exit door should be wide enough.

According to OSHA, an exit door must be at least 28 inches at all sides to meet the standard requirements. If it is too narrow, an exit door will fail to provide an unobstructed passage for all escapees.

Remove all interference with an exit route.

An example of external interference with an exit route can be imagined if construction engineers working on the building next to a shopping mall block the exit discharge of neighboring buildings.

Provide an alternative exit routes

It is essential to have an alternative exit route that can be used if the primary exit routes are blocked. The alternative exit route should be marked clearly, and employees should be able to find it quickly with strategically positioned signs.

The exit door should not be hard to find

Being unable to find the emergency exit door is as dangerous as the cause of the emergency itself. This is why exit doors are strategically located in stairwells, hallways, or other locations that customers and employees are familiar with and can access easily.

The exit door should not be stuck.

When OSHA cited Manhattan-based furniture store Idea Nuova on a count of 22 alleged violations, the emergency exit door being stuck was one of the violations. Inspectors noted that the exit door had to be forced open to gain access, which could potentially obstruct an emergency exit.

Can AI Technology Help?

Emergency exit alarms, fire alarms, and panic bars are all great technology solutions ensuring smooth emergency exits. But none of them provides safety against the risk of obstructed exit route. This is where our AI solution comes in.

With our ARVIST (A Rather Very Intelligent Safety Technology), BGS is helping workplaces prevent workplace incidents before they happen.

When it comes to emergency exits, facilities that install the ARVIST can now worry less about blocked exits and pathways. The technology has been trained by the most advanced machine learning programs to identify and alert any type of obstruction in exit routes.

With ARVIST, employers and facility managers can now track only safety analytics that genuinely matters. For obstructed exits, you can now generate actionable insights based on:

• The frequency of blocked pathway and exit alerts
• How long does it take to respond to the alert and remove the obstruction
• The time of the day when the alert is most prominent

And lots more.

The importance of keeping a clear exit route and pathway is not realized until we find them totally inaccessible during an emergency. When an exit route or pathway is blocked, employees have little time to clear the obstructions and risk fatal injuries in fire outbreaks, violence, and other emergencies.

Following the guidelines listed above can help ensure exit routes and pathways are unobstructed. And if you want to work with ARVIST, contact us here or check this demo to see the technology in action.