Accidents waiting to happen; recipes for disaster:
Group of youngsters on a holiday or stag party or hen party. All or some drinking or taking drugs.
Low balcony. Four foot high. Or three foot seven inches which somebody says is the UK minimum. Anybody over six foot tall or standing on a chair, or sitting for a photo selfie, or leaning, could have their centre point rather high.
Climbing toddlers or family with several children.
Answers
USA
1 In the USA we were living and travelling a lot with a seven-year-old son. He liked climbing as a teenager and went to climbing walls with his father and his school. The rest of the family thought I was making a fuss. So I ran to reception first whilst they were parking the car and off-loading the luggage. Unbeknown to them, I could ask for a room next to a car parking space, a door not near a road. I could ask to be near a swimming pool to make it easier to have a quick dip and watch over children swimming. Or not near the swimming pool if it had no barriers.
UK
2 In the UK we moved out of a flat with a balcony, third floor, when he was one year old, after I saw him trying to climb onto the balcony railing. We moved to a bungalow.
USA
3 After a famous fire in a Florida hotel I used to book motels instead of high rise hotels. I used to say it was easier to load up luggage. Quicker. Very American. Not so oppressive and towny when seeing the countryside. I had another motive. I would ask for a ground floor room.
USA
4 When I travelled around the USA with a group on a press trip, I sat in the front seat of the coach (bus). I was first off the vehicle on arrival and raced to Reception. I asked if I could have a ground floor room. It took only a second for my room to be switched. (If ground floor rooms were taken and there was no lift I could also ask to be near the stairs or fire exit and for my tall well-built friend who used to carry my luggage to be put in the next door room.)
SAFETY IN SINGAPORE
Many balconies in Singapore have extra railings added. Some balconies are blocked by barriers floor to ceiling.
ACCIDENT POTENTIAL IN ASIA and SINGAPORE
In Singapore we have complained to the management about the fire exit staircase being blocked. Decorators leave huge barrels of paint on the stair wells. You could trip over paint pots in the dark. They would catch fire, fuel the fire and create acrid choking smoke.
Complaints in Singapore
We complained. Management said they would send around a note to every resident in the block asking for the items in the stairwell to be removed. Warning that they had three days. (So another three days in danger!)
Bilingual or four language signs should be on the door warning that items left on the stairs were a hazard and would be removed without notice.
After a week, no letter had come round The items were still on the stairs.
I tell other friends from other blocks about this. They shrug and say that it's the same all over Singapore. When I go back I shall take photos. I might send them to the editor of a newspaper. If I write a letter, I will are branded as a nuisance by people in the block where I am staying and by people in general. Instead I could suggest that the editor should do an article and a campaign.
I could also write to an American newspaper for expats in Singapore. How Safe is Your Skyscraper? Is your fire exit blocked? Or locked?
UK KEY ACCESS
As a landlady in the I checked on every visit to my property that the tenants, whether family, friends, or tenants, had kept the key to the back door within arm's reach for a quick exit. People tend to keep all the keys in a box near the front door. That's no good when you are trying to get out of the back.
Fire Drill
Do a lights off attempt to get out of your house or rental property in less than five minutes. Remove items in the way of the door. Clutter. Remove items blocking the door of the cupboard where the key is kept.
Try it blindfold, using airline masks, (with somebody with you so you don't fall over).
Cambodia
On the first day in a holiday in Cambodia I noticed that the door to the fire exit at the back was padlocked. I looked at the adjoining block. Could the people on the other side put a ladder across the gap from one window to the next? I would not risk that - unless forced out.
From my window to the next block, separated by an alley with a steep drop onto concrete. At least you could wave or shout. But they were a Chinese restaurant.
I went the other way down the corridor. Past the main staircase (which would funnel smoke which might be a barrier. I discovered that there was a front exit onto a balcony near a swimming pool. At least you could shout for help. They could pile cushions up around the area around the pool. (See my previous posts about Cambodia.)
As the person responsible for yourself and a group, it's up to you to check safety. Forewarned is forearmed.
As they say, better safe than sorry. As they say, the life you save may be your own.
Tips
I shall now research exits, signs to exits and so on and add to this article later.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_hotel_fires_in_the_United_States
http://www.safelincs.co.uk/fire-escape-ladders/
Portable fire escape ladders from about £30.
http://www.fireescapesystems.com/
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. Please share my posts.
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