Evacuation Drills
Prepare your workforce to respond quickly and effectively during an emergency.
All workplaces in South Africa are legally required to conduct two evacuation drills per year.
Evacuation drills are an essential part of workplace emergency preparedness. They give employees the opportunity to practise evacuation procedures, test emergency preparedness equipment, familiarise themselves with evacuation routes and assembly points, and identify opportunities to improve before a real emergency occurs.
Absolute Health Services facilitates legally compliant evacuation drills that help organisations test their emergency response procedures, strengthen workplace preparedness, and meet their legal obligations.
Why are evacuation drills important?
An emergency is not the time for employees to be learning evacuation procedures for the first time. Regular evacuation drills help ensure that everyone understands their role and can evacuate the workplace safely, calmly, and efficiently.
South African workplaces are required to conduct at least two evacuation drills each year. These drills not only support legal compliance, but also help organisations evaluate whether their emergency procedures, evacuation routes, communication systems, emergency preparedness equipment, and health and safety team are working effectively and all staff are able to evacuate successfully.
What's included?
Our experienced team will assist your organisation with planning, facilitating, and evaluating a workplace evacuation drill. The service includes:
- Assistance with planning the evacuation drill through a pre-drill meeting
- Staging an emergency scenario
- Facilitating the workplace evacuation
- Observing employee and health and safety team responses
- Evaluating evacuation procedures and evacuation times
- Identifying areas of concern or non-compliance, e.g. faulty equipment or blocked evacuation routes
- Identifying areas of compliance and good performance
- Debrief meeting
- A comprehensive written report with photographic evidence highlighting areas of compliance and non-compliance and recommendations for improvement
The benefits of a professionally facilitated evacuation drill
Many organisations view evacuation drills as an inconvenient legal requirement that simply needs to be completed. In reality, they are one of the most valuable opportunities to test your emergency response procedures.
A professionally facilitated evacuation drill helps your organisation to:
- Verify that evacuation procedures are effective
- Familiarise employees with evacuation routes and assembly points
- Evaluate the performance of Evacuation Marshals and health and safety teams
- Identify obstacles or weaknesses in the evacuation process
- Test equipment to ensure that it is working correctly
- Improve emergency preparedness and total evacuation time
- Build employee confidence during emergencies
- Support ongoing compliance with legislation and by-laws
Facilitated Evacuation Drill Prices*:
Small company:
2 x AHS Evacuation Marshals @ R7,500.00 (ex VAT)
Medium company:
4 x AHS Evacuation Marshals @ R12,500.00 (ex VAT)
Large company:
6 x AHS Evacuation Marshals @ R17,500.00 (ex VAT)
*Prices are approximate, exclude VAT and any applicable travel and accommodation costs, and are subject to change.
