Evacuation studies for tall office buildings in Hong Kong

The majority of the labor force in Hong Kong are now working in offices. Fire safety in such non-industrial workplaces should be watched. The most important part is to evacuate the occupants inside. The total evacuation time in office buildings should be kept at a lower value. In this article, evacuation in the offices of tall buildings will be studied. The regulations for designing escape routes in Hong Kong, the United States, and the United Kingdom are reviewed first. The codes and associated parameters in the three different places are compared. Provisions of means of escape in selected offices are then studied. A sample of 10 offices for small and medium enterprises was selected for analysis. The minimum total evacuation time was calculated by empirical flow models commonly used in performance-based design. Results on the evacuation time available for the occupants are used to justify the evacuation design in following the codes. Design on means of escape and the required evacuation time are discussed. It is observed that even when the code specifications are followed, the minimum total evacuation time might be longer than the limit specified in the code. Points to note for improving the evacuation codes are recommended.