Occupant evacuation and orientation problems in large halls - An exhibition building case study

A major exhibition building in Melbourne, Australia, faced a dilemma regarding the signage installed in the building according to the deemed to satisfy provisions of the Building Codes. The main hall is 450 m long and 80 m wide when all partitions are opened. Exit doors are located at the perimeter of the building and there are standard self illuminating exit signs above doors. When the hall is empty all doors and exit signs are clearly visible, however, during an exhibition when all stands, cubicles, structures, signs and stages are installed most of the exit signs become obscured. The occupants of the building, which can be as many as 10000 people at any one time, could face the problem of becoming disoriented in the case of a fire related emergency due to factors such as colour and light noise and lack of immediate access to exit signage. As a result they fail to respond and behave as assumed in the emergency evacuation plan. The study discussed in this paper investigates alternative exit signage methods in order to assist the occupants to respond quickly to warning systems and initiate evacuation as desired and planned by the management of the Centre Copyright (C) 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.