Ready for any emergency: Planning for safe building evacuation

Division, Siemens

Researchers and building technology experts at Siemens are working together to

develop solutions that allow buildings to be evacuated safely and efficiently. They

have developed complex simulation technologies that proactively detect where

hazardous situations can occur during building evacuation. Siemens now offers

building operators a service that analyzes their properties. Using this knowledge

they can initiate corrective actions in a timely manner. What''s more, by coupling

building automation and safety and security systems, it will be possible to intervene

during evacuations to control the required measures, for example in case of fire.

In a fire or other hazardous situation, airports, train stations, office towers and large

hotels need to be evacuated quickly and safely. But how can this be managed in an

emergency? And how can large properties be evacuated systematically and in an

orderly manner to proactively prevent panic situations?

One prerequisite is the ability to reliably predict the expected crowd movements – a

complex task. To this end Siemens has developed simulation software that

forecasts the movement of flows of people and test evacuation scenarios. Where

and when can critical situations be anticipated during an evacuation? The objective

is to ensure these situations never even occur, and to reduce the evacuation time

required.