How is a business to know how prepared they are in the event of a fire emergency? How are they supposed to respond? Evacuation exercises are actual rehearsals of the procedures to be adopted in the event of a real emergency. Wardens need to be able to recognise alarm tones, respond to them, conduct an evacuation (when necessary), search the premises and report back to the Chief Warden.

It is a procedure that is covered in the Warden Training course under AS3745, and then practiced. A trainer/observer is usually in place to time the event and to see whether the process has been followed according to the Australian Standard 3745 requirements. Following the exercise a detailed debrief is always conducted, in which the trainer asks questions regarding the progress of the exercise. What was done right and what was done wrong?

An evacuation exercise can be done either comprehensively, as a total evacuation, involving everyone in the building, or as an Emergency team (the ECO) exercise, where only the ECO that team are involved. Either way, the team must go through all the motions of a real evacuation exercise and end up at the designated Assembly Area.

Documentation reporting is supplied by Ozmetro Fire Services, to the effect of the exercise, highlighting strengths and weaknesses and recommendations that would satisfy the AS3745, to be fulfilled by the client.