Bob Armstrong (University of Nottingham - Fire Safety Advisor), shares his knowledge and experiences:
If you work in an area and you are very familiar with that place, make sure the escape routes, the corridors are clear of any obstructions, chairs, sofas, piles of black bags, paper. And I don't care if you are the head of school, the main director in whatever building you are in, or the new starter - move it or have it moved! Don't just leave it that is dangerous, er and you can't condone it.
The effect of leaving it there is that in a fire you will get a narrowing of the escape routes. The escape routes have been calculated to take X amount of people into a staircase, which will take them down and out into a place of total safety. If that is narrowed we get a back-up of people, and the average temperature of a room fire is 600 degrees centigrade at chest height. About 1200 at ceiling height, and if that is coming out into the corridor and your queueing to get out of a door, or past an obstruction, then their is a fair chance that you are going to be affected. So you need to er, make sure it is clear and easy to get past, because then it becomes the survival of the fittest, er which I'm afraid will take lives.
