What is a Building Emergency? Structural Failures and Other Types

Emergencies may happen anywhere, including in buildings. Buildings are vulnerable to hazards due to natural and man-made factors. Thus, building owners or managers must have a building emergency management plan for mitigating building emergencies. What is a building emergency? 

Before composing building emergency management plans, owners must understand what building emergencies are. Therefore, they can create detailed plans and mitigation strategies for different types of emergencies.

What is a Building Emergency?

A building emergency is an unexpected hazard that may pose a threat to the people’s safety inside the building and its structure. As it is an emergency, it requires immediate responses. Without those responses, this hazard can cause more fatalities and severe financial losses.

Building emergencies come in various forms. Below are types of building emergencies.

1. Structural Failures

Some buildings collapse without warning or clear reasons. However, after an examination, this incident occurs due to the system or component of the buildings failing to perform. 

The causes of this failure varied widely, including poor planning, defective or low-quality materials, errors during construction, and foundation issues. Sometimes, buildings display signs, including cracks in the wall and sagging floor, before they collapse.

2. Fires

Most buildings are prone to fire hazards. The causes of this hazard are typically faulty wiring, heating equipment, improper disposal of smoking materials, and cooking equipment.

Fires must be instantly extinguished. If it does not get this immediate action, this hazard may spread to other buildings or cause an explosion. 

3. Natural Disaster

Various types of natural disasters can damage buildings. Powerful earthquakes can destroy many buildings. Moreover, storms, tornadoes, and cyclones typically damage roofs and windows. Furthermore, floods can cause wall damage and mold growth.

4. Utility Failures

Utility failures, such as gas leaks, major pipe bursts, and power outages, can lead to building emergencies, for example, explosions, destruction, and fatalities. Therefore, residents must follow specific protocols to prevent casualties and damage when there is a utility failure.

5. Hazardous Conditions

Schools, factories, laboratories, and hospitals are vulnerable to hazardous chemical spills, exposure to ionizing radiation, and accidental release of dangerous biological agents. These conditions can jeopardize the lives of people in the building. 

Moreover, they require immediate special actions. These actions can prevent the incidents from developing into more serious conditions, such as fires, explosions, and the spread of hazardous chemical or biological agents.

6. Security Threats

Armed confrontations, e.g., bomb threats and active shooter situations, may happen in civilian buildings, schools, hotels, etc. Throughout history, terrorist attacks, bombings, and shooting incidents have killed many people.

Moreover, those security threats can destroy buildings. Therefore, all buildings, especially those with a high security threat risk, must have a mitigation plan to minimize this risk.

Use Cases of a Building Emergency Management Plan

Building emergencies can lead to numerous casualties and fatalities. A few weeks ago, a prayer room in Al Khoziny school complex in Indonesia collapsed without warning. 

In the afternoon of 29 September, approximately 170 people, most of them students, were praying in the Al Khoziny prayer room. Suddenly, the building collapsed and killed more than 60 students and injured many others. The cause of this incident is non-standardized construction.

Considering this structural failure and other similar cases in the past, building owners and managers must have an excellent building emergency management plan to mitigate structural failure risks. Therefore, they can minimize fatalities, casualties, and financial losses caused by those incidents.

This plan includes three aspects.

1. Prevention

Owners must hire professionals to conduct structural analysis before constructing the building, construct the building using high-quality materials, and adhere to building codes. It is also essential to consider natural disaster risks around the building.

For example, a structure located in an earthquake-prone area must have an earthquake-proof design. Moreover, owners must conduct regular maintenance, e.g., inspecting the building and immediately repairing broken parts. Thus, structural failures can be prevented.

2. Preparedness

Aside from preventing structural failures, owners must have a building emergency response plan. This plan contains important details, such as emergency building evacuation procedures and emergency contacts.

In addition, owners must establish an exclusion zone around a building with a high risk of structural failure. During alteration or renovation, owners ought to consider installing temporary bracing for safety purposes. All these processes must be included in the emergency management plan.

3. Response

This part contains steps to respond to a building emergency caused by structural failures. If a building collapses, owners, residents, or people nearby must evacuate the building instantly. They should not re-enter the collapsed building either to avoid secondary collapses. 

Moreover, they must call emergency services immediately. It is also a good idea to broadcast alerts regarding the incident to prevent more victims, traffic congestion, and other unpleasant incidents.

What is a building emergency? It is an unexpected incident that occurs in a building. This emergency comes in several types, including structural failures. Building owners or managers can mitigate this hazard by composing and following a mitigation plan. This plan must include broadcasting emergency building alerts. To send this alert, you ought to buy a cell broadcaster on smsbroadcaster.com.