Organizing Events And Safety For Landlords

 When you get on a plane, you will hear a safety announcement before take off. Importantly, where to find the exits. Hotel bedroom doors show you the route to exits.

At most Toastmasters International speakers' club meetings I have attended in England, whoever opens the meeting, the Toastmasters of the Day (or the Sergeant at Arms or President) gives directions to the fire exit.

At a large meeting, such as a speech contest or conference, such as one I attended at London Business School, an usher or person in charge of seating will prevent latecomers or those without ticketed seats from sitting on the stairs because that blocks the aisles and is forbidden by safety regulations.

If you are organizing the meeting, you might get to know the layout of the building, the toilet location, kitchen or cafeteria or coffee machine area, the time the meeting ends. Also the entrance, fire exit, any defibrillator machines which are often found in public areas and near swimming pools.

If you are a landlord, or renovating a building, you might wish to check regulations and install fire exit signs.

Chinese and Japanese symbol for exit on left.

Russian sign. From Wikipedia.

Old French and English sign. Nowadays pictures of a running man are used because they are more universally understood.

Useful Websites

https://www.fireandevacuationservices.co.uk/training/fire-warden-training?msclkid=ad0760c9dd9b1a9814ce0997b09b1453

https://landlordcertificatelondon.co.uk/fire-safety-and-fire-exit-signs-uk-regulations-2025-lcl/

https://www.thetimes.com/world/europe/article/swiss-bar-fire-crans-montana-what-happened-zf9ks68cf

Memories Of New Year's Eve Safety Precautions In London Evoked By The Swiss New Year's Eve Fire Findings

A couple of years ago I attended  New Year's Eve dinner at a restaurant near Trafalgar Square in London.

Spiral Staircases, Basements & Exits

 It was down a spiral staircase. I asked where the fire exit was. They had another second exit beyond the kitchen. That would be the escape route if the fire was between me and and the spiral staircase. If the fire started in the kitchen, the escape route would have been up the spiral staircase.

I was concerned about the staircase.  But half an hour after midnight, I was glad to be out and going home.

Entrances and Exits To Tube Stations

Unfortunately, when it was time to leave, there were huge queues outside the nearest underground railway station. Police had blocked off the entrance because crowds from Trafalgar square and areas all around had already filled the station platforms, escalators and entrance hall.

We asked the waiting time, which would be about half an hour, estimated. We could see a huge line, behind snake barriers, like you get at Disney and I had experienced many years ago at Habitat in Canada.  We did not want to queue. We did not want to stand still in the cold for half an hour or more.

We went back to the warm restaurant which was still open with about half the diners still there and we reclaimed our table felt obliged to order more wine and food. Down and up the spiral staircase again. 

Crowds and Crushing

I remembered another New Year's Day in Singapore when we joined a crowd watching the parade of Harley bikes with the riders, and the the passengers in colourful costumes. I was swept away from my husband and I retreated into a shop doorway. Even there, for a moment I was crushed by the press of passers-by, and for a moment I feared I would be injured by the press of people.

Avoiding Crowds

This year, my American relative in London told us he did not want to join us for a New Year's eve dinner in central London. he preferred to stay home and watch television, not go to a crowded city centre. He also does not drive at night in London in winter.

My husband was still keen to go. After being frail, I declined to go to the city centre, ending late beyond midnight. 

Instead we took a frail friend who is on chemotherapy, to a New Year's Day lunch at Borough Market (see my other blog posts). The Market was closed for New Year's Day, so the streets were not crowded.

A spiral staircase to a basement is not ideal for a fast exit.

If I don't see a fire exit. I try to sit near a door, away from the kitchen.

The latest news reports 40 dead and 116 injured. The basement had a permitted capacity of 100. So either there were more than the permitted number in the basement, all of whom died or were injured. Or people above on the ground floor were also injured. Or people who went back to rescue others, or retrieve belongings, were also injured.

Long Term Effects Of Fire

 Whichever it was, a huge number either dead or with physical and mental trauma for many years, probably for life. This event will certainly stay in my mind for the coming month, and every New Year's Eve, and when planning where to go. The costs of lifetime care require huge payouts from individuals or insurance companies.

Records of Fire Checks and Extinguishers & Fire Escape Exits

In terms of fire checks, it seems to me that those in charge of several buildings, whether as landlords, or governments, need a spreadsheet of properties, with records of inspections on a checklist, so that gaps in inspections or provision of fire extinguishers can be remedied.

Fire Extinguishers Misused & Locked

Earlier newspaper reports indicated that fire extinguishers were locked away because bar patrons, youngsters, had tried to use them when there were no fires for a prank. If that is the case, as with fire alarms, signs should warn of large fines for prank use of fire alarms. (Which happens in schools, university dormitories - it happened several times at my son's residence in Brunel.)

Warnings Needed

Scouts and schools should emphasize that such pranks lead to loss of life. Why? Because after pranks, patrons ignore alarms. Also building managers lock away extinguishers. 

Exits Misused

Also leaving without paying through a fire exit, or entering through a fire exit to avoid paying, causes the fire exits to be locked.  

I remember seeing signs in streets on the numbers of people killed on the roads in certain dangerous areas. We have mandatory notices on basins used by staff instructing them to wash their hands. We should have signs saying, 

If patrons leave without paying, then instead of allowing tabs, credit cards should be taken at the beginning, or deposits taken, or money taken for entry with for first drink free.

In London we had to leave a non refundable deposit for our Christmas Day meal at Hawksmoor. that was to prevent no shows. But the same would also deter the use of fraudulent cards, embarrassment over cards which are beyond expiry dates and don't work. Business hotels now take payment in advance as an option, which enables customers to leave whenever they like without paying. A similar system was used at WOW in Portugal. You paid for a museum tour which included four drinks at designated points in a one way system, showed a pink bracelet and a card which management ticked for each alcoholic or non alcoholic drink. This would also prevent people drinking too much.

Sample Sign Warning

40 dead and more than 100 left with lifelong injuries from fire in a building with blocked fire exits. 

Do not block or lock this fire exit! 

Penalty 500 dollars.

Useful Websites On Fire Safety

SAFETY

https://www.cross-safety.org/uk/safety-information/cross-feature-article/fires-nightclubs-started-pyrotechnics

https://www.google.com/search?q=what+are+bengal+lights

WORLDWIDE FIRES

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_fireworks_accidents_and_incidents

SWISS FIRE

https://www.thetimes.com/world/europe/article/switzerland-swiss-bar-fire-owner-6z2nnv6fq

VIDEO

https://uk.video.search.yahoo.com/search/video?fr=mcafee&p=mail+swiss+fire&type=E210GB885G0#id=3&vid=222bbd08dee9ddf4b2bab9916fa98119&action=click

Victims of Swiss Fire

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c3vel0xvlvgo

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/swiss-ski-resort-fire-every-36490994

Update on Swiss fire on New Year's Eve

https://www.thetimes.com/world/europe/article/switzerland-swiss-bar-fire-owner-6z2nnv6fq

Update Jan 30 2026

https://www.thetimes.com/world/europe/article/swiss-bar-fire-crans-montana-what-happened-zf9ks68cf

Please share links to useful posts from my blogs.

Seating Booked & Fire Exits Kept Clear At Venues - when you are in the audience or organizing an event

 You may want to carry with you a pet cat in a cat box, books for book signing or other bulky items. Or even sit in a wheelchair or carry a pair of walking sticks, a guitar, or a walking frame.

Transporting Books, Bulky Items & Cats

First you need to check where they can go in a car or plane on the way to the venue.

I bought this handy bag to go on a small four-wheel suitcase.

Books, Bulky Items, Seats & Wheelchairs at Venues

If you cannot find a seat in the audience, you might consider sitting on the stage. Or being the bouncer or doorkeeper.

At a seated venue such as a conference centre, you cannot sit on the stairs and block the aisles.

I went to a speech contest in central London. If I remember rightly, it was at the London Business School. I had been added to the list late, not signed up on the original listing through a booking system. I was a replcement speaker for somebody who dropped out because of nerves or illness or work.

Finding A Seat

Therefore I had no allocated seat, and had to wait until I saw where there was a vacant seat. I knew that some people who had booked the event would be there only for the first session and not for the the session after the lunch break.

However, one of the building management came to me and said I could not sit on the aisle because I was blocking the escape exit in the event of an alarm for fire, evacuation for suspiciouls packages or anything else. (Not just because people need to get out in a hurry to avoid smoke inhalation. But also because if anybody trips over you there could be a pile up and injuries from falling or being crushed.)

As an audience member you need to liaise with the organizers. They may be able to allocate you their own seat if they are on stage speaking throughout the event. 

I had been hesitant to disturb the busy organizers of the event. However, when made to move, I hailed somebody and explained that I needed a seat.

The organizer might also know if somebody has rung in to say, that they would be absent their trains were not running or a pile up on a motorway. So you get a good seat near the front! This happened to me.

Leaving Aisles Free

I am now mindful of the need to leave aisles free of people sitting, whether from the beginning or latecomers.

As an organizer, it is good to have somebody at the door to direct latecomers to  seat so they are not let standing, or moving into centre seats causing a disturbance, when a conveneient seat is further away conveniently on the aisle where they can quickly slip into the seat, and have their props handy beside them under their seat, or at the back corner out of the way.

Wheelchair Users Need Of Space

I was recently in August 2025 at a Writers' Summer School at Swanwick in Derbyshire. As a result of a hirline fracture in a bone I was for the first time using an elecric wheelchair provided by the venue. 

However, it bleeped noisliy when reversing. In order to enter or leave the venue, or approach the stage, or the table of raffle gifts at the back when I won one of several raffle prizes, you needed to use a wide turning circle. In order to keep the vehicle charged, I was beside a socket on the side aisle wall. Half way down the side aisle, the aisle was blocked by the permanent box for the audio equippment and seated operator. I ralised that in a fire or evacuation I was blocked in and would be blocking others.

As an audience member, a furniture mover setting up a room, overseer, or building management, you need to be aware or keeping clear aisles, as well as entry and exit for any wheelchair users.

What It Costs To Promote A Meeting on Meetup

Problem
My two Toastmasters Clubs in London get lots of new members, average 2 or more, sometimes 4-6, each of the two monthly meetings. My Singapore club is considering it. But what toes it cost?

Answer
In September 2018 I looked at the Meetup website and found I was offered:

Basic membership for 6 months cost US $9.00 a month. If you have two meetings a month, that's US$4.50 per month.  If you were to advertise more events, it becomes more profitable.

What does basic mean? A limit of 50 members and 4 organizers.  I presume that's 54 in total. That's plenty for a small club of about 20 members which wants to expand.

Fifty members doesn't mean 50 paid up members of your club. I presume it's 50 people on Meetup who signed up to be notified of your meetings. Some of those are phantom members who will never turn up.

I joined a sewing and crafts group meeting in Wembley in London. I never went. It was too far and inconvenient times and days.

If you have two sister organizations you might be able to link them on a mutual Meetup group and share costs. For example, two Toastmasters clubs of the same name, such as the English speaking club and the Mandarin-speaking club which meet at the same venue on different days.

Another option is for a one-off payment of US$14.99 a month, perhaps for one event such as A Christmas party at a restaurant.

You need a treasurer who is on top of cancellations, because as with any monthly payment, if you are inclined to forget, you might end up paying for years for something you no longer need.

If you find it successful, no such problem. You are assured that they will roll over the payment.

If you want to organize a free meeting, instead or in addition you can use Peatix, a company which started in Asia.

In the UK Toastmasters meetings are often booked through Eventbrite. If you are not charging, why bother to issure tickets?

a) At a large event such as a conference in an auditiorium with a popular sepaker you might be sold out. Because of fire regulations you are not allowed to have people sitting on the stairs and standing in the aisles and in front of the fire exit doors. To avoid early arrivals grabbing the seats and latecomers being turned away, the first ones to book are given tickets. Others go on a waiting list.

b) The organizers may want to know the numbers in order to cater with enough food and drink or cups for water, or chairs, or to switch to a larger or smaller room according to the numbers.

c) At the other extreme, if nobody books for an event, because it is not popular, too last minute, or people are away on holiday, you might wish to postpone your New Year, Easter, Valentine's, or Summer BBQ until a week later, or postpone your so-called Christmas party until after Christmas.

If you want to pay, the Meetup system was accepting WePay.

Useful Websites
https://www.meetup.com
peatix.com

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. Please share links to your favourite posts with your family and friends and colleagues.

How to ensure balcony safety, exit access, select a safer hotel room, buy ladders

Problem
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.