Thursday, December 15, 2005
Bus Roll Over - Here Are The Questions
The recent highway bus roll over accident caught my attention in a big way. If you use a bus for transportation at all, here are several questions you should know the answer to. Do you know how to get out if there is a crash? What if the bus is on its side, how do you get out? What if the driver is not able to help?
This is nearly the same as staying in a hotel overnight and having a fire occur. Did you look to see where the emergency exits are? How do you get out if you can’t use the elevator?
Exiting a bus can create the same havoc if you wait until after the crash to find out such important information. Most people know buses have large side windows that can be opened in an emergency. But do you know how to do it? Buses also have safety roof hatches that can be opened in an emergency to exit. Do you know how to open them?
The media said in this latest incident that the fire fighters smashed out the windshield to gain access, a job that is difficult even with tools such as a fire axe. Laminated glass is hard to break all the way through without expending a lot of effort. Did you know that you can pull out a little piece of rubber in the windshield moulding (from the outside) and the windshield glass will practically fall out?
Can you imagine how heavy a side window is when a bus is on its side and you are trying to stand on the edge of a sideways seat and push it upward to flip it over?
So many questions to be answered in a panic time frame, perhaps in the dark, could seem like hours.
It all comes down to safety. Figure it out before it happens, just in case. “It is always better to know where the fire extinguisher is before the fire, rather than during.” The same holds true for emergency evacuation of a bus.
I used to have the procedures on my web site. Maybe it is time to bring them back…
This work by NSCAVE is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License
This is nearly the same as staying in a hotel overnight and having a fire occur. Did you look to see where the emergency exits are? How do you get out if you can’t use the elevator?
Exiting a bus can create the same havoc if you wait until after the crash to find out such important information. Most people know buses have large side windows that can be opened in an emergency. But do you know how to do it? Buses also have safety roof hatches that can be opened in an emergency to exit. Do you know how to open them?
The media said in this latest incident that the fire fighters smashed out the windshield to gain access, a job that is difficult even with tools such as a fire axe. Laminated glass is hard to break all the way through without expending a lot of effort. Did you know that you can pull out a little piece of rubber in the windshield moulding (from the outside) and the windshield glass will practically fall out?
Can you imagine how heavy a side window is when a bus is on its side and you are trying to stand on the edge of a sideways seat and push it upward to flip it over?
So many questions to be answered in a panic time frame, perhaps in the dark, could seem like hours.
It all comes down to safety. Figure it out before it happens, just in case. “It is always better to know where the fire extinguisher is before the fire, rather than during.” The same holds true for emergency evacuation of a bus.
I used to have the procedures on my web site. Maybe it is time to bring them back…
This work by NSCAVE is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License
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