A TenSquared Case Study
Company Profile
Company: Suburban
Country: Brazil
Industry: Textile & Apparel
Highlights
Goal: Conduct a full evacuation of the building in an organized and safe way in under 3 minutes and gather all workers at the designated meeting/assembly point in under one minute.
Methods:
- Involving employees from all levels in risk assessment
- Creating and training a fire brigade who were responsible for identifying specific areas for improvement
- Training current employees and adding fire safety and evacuation training to new employee orientation
Results: Surpassed goal, reducing evacuation time to 2 minutes 47 seconds
Case Study
Experts say that the response during the first crucial minutes of an emergency (such as a fire) are the most important for containing the damage and reducing the cost to human life.
The Brazilian company Suburban chose emergency response as their challenge area for their TenSquared project. Their two-fold goal was to a) conduct a full evacuation of the building in an organized and safe way in under 3 minutes and b) gather all workers at the designated meeting/assembly point in under one minute.
Suburban’s TenSquared team involved employees from all levels of the company in evaluating existing emergency procedures. Their assessment revealed the need for a fire brigade, which the team selected and trained.
The brigade identified several shortcomings, specifically:
- Fire hoses in the facility were not connected to a water source
- Chemicals were being stored in hazardous areas
- Excess material was blocking emergency paths
The TenSquared team was able to remedy each of those hazards. They also placed new signage in the facility to indicate emergency routes. Finally, the team trained employees in emergency procedures and incorporated the training into new employee orientation. By implementing these changes, the team was able to reduce evacuation time to 2 minutes 47 seconds, 13 seconds below the goal of 3 minutes.
What is TenSquared?
Find out how SAI’s innovative 100-day worker engagement and capacity-building program can help your company address root causes of workplace issues, overcome institutional hurdles to change, and foster a culture of continual, sustainable improvement.
