Why the sign on the wall matters more than you think

The Unseen Guardian: How Evacuation Signs and Emergency Plans Save Lives

While explaining Locatrix's purpose to a new prospect, Board Director and former Locatrix CEO, John Hummelstad shared an anecdote about a now-loyal customer. After their initial meeting, the customer returned to their office and sent John a photo of their evacuation sign, highlighting that it had expired.

John replied “Once you see an evacuation sign, you’ll never un-see them again”.  

It is true, everyone who starts with this business can easily tell the date they started by looking through their camera roll and checking to see when random photos of evacuation signs appear. That’s when you take an interest in the previously most ignored picture hung in a public building, probably the one that is most familiar is on the back of the hotel room door.

It’s all about awareness.

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Understanding the Data behind the Signs

So, what changed for that person and every other person who has done the same thing?

• Understanding that the data on that sign translates the requirements of the emergency plan.
• Understanding that many building specialists were involved your emergency management plan.
• You learn why there is a need for specific requirements for an emergency management plan.

Specific requirements are formed due to:

• The class of a building.
• The use of a building.
• Types of occupants.
• The location of the building.
• The factors that impact the operation of a building.
• The class of a building.
• The use of a building.
• Types of occupants.
• The location of the building.
• The factors that impact the operation of a building.

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The Critical Role of Emergency Planning Case Study: Brisbane's West End

ABC News published an informative article by Lexy Hamilyton-Smith on 20 February 2025 which highlights why emergency planning is critical.  One of the hottest topics effecting all Australians today is the housing crisis and our Government is trying to figure out solutions to address it. One is that we need to be more creative with what we build and where we build.

Brisbane’s West End is what would be considered “prime real estate” in Brisbane, only 1km away from the CBD. Building and development in West End faces many of the usual challenges, but specifically this a suburb of Brisbane that's well known for flooding.  

Despite the risk of flooding to the area, town planning has proposed three 50 storey skyscrapers for residential living. These units will be built higher in their overall design and the first residence units will be located at the same heignt as the third floor of a standard skyscraper. The building has been designed so that the residential living space will have a different classification to the lower levels which prevents residential living on the ground floors and enablles mixed use occupancy. The lower levels will be designed to sustain flooding and have a very clear evacuation procedure.

Providing appropriate engineering and planning is considered in the design, this seems like a fair solution to a big problem with one major factor that needs to be included…

The Evacuation Sign. You know, that picture that you use to always ignore?  The Emergency Evacuation Sign and the Emergency Management Plan are the two critical factors that will help residents to safely and confidently call Brisbane’s West End home. A development like this will require a significant flood management plan and evacuation strategy to support the careful engineering of this structure.

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The Importance of Site-Specific Building Information

It is important to recognise that every building is unique, even if they look the same.  We have the Australian Building Code to guide us and each building falls into a particular classification but in addition to this, each building will have its own individual plan which considers the environment – whether that be flood prone, fire zone, high wind, earthquake and in addition, the type of occupants and proposed activity within the building.  

Each site requires it's own site-specific procedures which are critical to its function.

How many businesses have a Learning Management System?  You can buy them off the shelf and they are a great comfort for building owners and business managers, taking the sting out of having to make sure you keep your workers safe.  But how many of them are site-specific and role-specific?

You may want to check.

If you find that your emergency management plans are not site-specific and they are more a generic “tick the box” document then you could be missing details that are required, which you as the building owner or manager are responsible for and that's a big risk to take.

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Engineered Solutions

There are often special engineered solutions written by certified and qualified professionals that incorporate a management strategy to work around operational challenges which building operators often face in environments where there are special needs or vulnerable occupants. For example, a plan to keep an operating theatre functioning during an emergency or when an evacuation is not possible. In these instances there may be obstacles to be overcome due to the incapcity of the occupants and the complexity of their needs.

Generic training would miss this detail and it would be lost for good.  The turnover in health and aged care is typically high, with agency staff to manage and train. Management of a care facility would never think to explain this with the necessary accuracy to their replacement, the maintenance man with the folder that included the paperwork couldn’t guarantee it wouldn’t get lost, and the only hope then lies with the fire protection company who conducts the face-to-face training – a contract that is negotiated on price each and every year.  That’s high risk left on the table.

There are so many engineered solutions out there and many of them change the way occupants need to respond in an emergency.  If that information isn’t communicated clearly and kept digitally updated, it’s pointless.  

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The Future of Emergency Management is a Digital one

As we build on compromised sites like in West End, or renovate and change the use of a building, there will be more site- and role-specific emergency training that building owners will be responsible and held accountable for.  PlanSafe and its digital mapping tool PlanStudio are the best way to keep this information from being lost and making sure it is communicated in an effective, clear and efficient way.

PlanStudio and PlanSafe information is also transferred through to our Emergency Services Platform (ESP) which is then made available only to first responders.  The system is easy to implement and keep up-to-date. It is also the most efficient way of making sure the emeregncy services have access to the information that matters, when it matters, to save lives.