The safe evacuation of persons from a building operating within COVID-19 restrictions

Buildings’ environmental conditions were changed drastically around the world due to the COVID-19 pandemic hazards and restrictions. New social distance rules and organizational changes in the buildings appeared to require a modified fire safety evacuation analysis. The total number of building users under the revised requirements was often limited. Some additional restrictions, such as the reduction of evacuation exit availability, could cause escape problems in the case of fire. In order to determine how the pandemic restrictions could influence the evacuation conditions, a sports hall building was used to assess the impact of the restrictions on evacuation strategies. The research covered test evacuation simulations using the ‘Pathfinder’ modelling software, as well as manual calculations of the expected evacuation time. It was found that the pandemic social distance requirements could cause adverse evacuation conditions in the case of fire. The research helped formulate a simple mathematical algorithm for determining safety evacuation parameters under pandemic restrictions. Practical application The surrounding conditions for new buildings are driven by the reduction of social distances imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic. It has been found that pandemic social distancing can significantly extend the time of the evacuation of people. This article proposes a new simple mathematical algorithm for determining the evacuation parameters under pandemic restrictions, which allows the estimation of the required minimum width of emergency exits. This is a practical tool for those responsible for ensuring safety in buildings.