Residential towers are soon replacing the erstwhile 4-storied apartments that used to dominate the real estate scene until recently. This is because today’s cities have severe lack of space that makes it difficult to accommodate large numbers of people.
Residential towers have proved to be a boon in this regard as they can house huge populations with relative ease. They are also lucrative for the builders and developers as they can make higher profits resulting from the higher volume of sales.
However, this can have its downside too. It can result in the death of a large number of people in case of unfortunate events of natural calamities like earthquakes, fires, and floods. Hence, it becomes imperative for us to put in place certain safety features that will help you stay protected should an untoward incident take place.
Oswal Group has taken a giant step in this regard. All safety procedures are installed in the newly constructed as well as under construction residential complexes with 2 BHK, 3 BHK and 4 BHK flats in B. T. Road, North Kolkata. Orchard 126 and Orchard County by Oswal Group are important hallmarks in the field of adhering to safety features.
Let us now discuss how safety procedures can be put in place for residential towers so that your environment is secured to the maximum extent.
The most dangerous calamity that can affect any residential tower is a raging fire. Hence, all the materials that are used for construction and enameling should be coated with fire resistive coatings. This will help in controlling the fire so that it does not spread quickly.
Fire can kill thousands of people in a very short time. This is because fire spreads very quickly. It will take a while for the firefighters to come in the scene. By that time many people will already have died. Hence, it makes sense to build the structure in such a way that the fire does not spread easily. This will allow us to have a lot of time in our hands that will help us save the lives of many people should such an unforeseen calamity occur.
We cannot fight a fire without an equipment. Hence, our buildings need to be equipped with all the safety equipments. This includes a couple of large fire extinguishers, fire alarms at regular intervals of the corridors and smoke detectors installed in the main passage.
Having these safety equipments in place will help us stay prepared for any emergency. It will be a boon for the residents if the fire can be controlled with the help of these safety equipments and help save precious lives when every moment counts.
It is not enough to have safety equipments without knowing how to use them. Hence, people need to be trained in their usage. They should also be given psychological training to kill their fear of fire. All this can be done only with periodic fire drills that can be conducted quarterly.
The staff members of the societies of these residential towers need to be trained properly in using these equipments. Even some active senior citizens who have free time can voluntarily help in providing their lifetime experience to these staff members.
Important members of the societies like the Chairman, Secretary and Treasurer should also make adequate arrangements for conducting these fire drills. This will go a long way in safeguarding the lives of the people of these towers.
While conducting drills for earthquakes and fires, the participating members must also be given training for rapid evacuation procedures. There must be many emergency exits installed at all important places. There should be a service staircase used by staff that can double up as an emergency exit during natural calamities.
Residents should be instructed not to take the lift in the case of such calamities. Reflectors should be installed at the path of these emergency exits to guide the resident if the calamity strikes at night. All instructions should be written in the notice board so that everyone can read it during their free time. This will help create awareness about these issues to all concerned residents.
No skyscraper can function without proper lifts. However, here also certain safety precautions should be taken. The lifts should be divided into three different kinds of banks that will enhance the safety system. They are the low-rise, medium-rise and high-rise banks.
The low rise bank lifts should be used from the ground to the 12th floor. The medium rise bank lifts should be used from the 13th to 23 rd floor. The high rise bank lifts should be used from the 23rd to the top floor.
In addition to this, there should be service or freight lifts that should be used for all the floors. Classifying the lifts in this way can help you minimize accidents on these lifts. This will help you protect the lives of all the residents.
Every residential tower should have survival kits that can be made available for a large number of people. The items that should be included in this kit are a wet towel, foil wrap, duct tape, whistle and flashlight.
The whistle and flashlight can be used for attracting the attention of rescuers. The towel, wrap and tape can be used for protection from the elements. These items will increase the chances of survival of the residents and will prove to be very helpful for them.
All in all, we must keep in mind that among all things, safety should always come first. This is because untoward incidents can mar the reputation of the builder or developer due to loss of innocent lives.
Hence, Oswal Group has taken the right step by focusing on safety first. This reflects the high level of concern for its patrons. It is high time that other builders and developers also take note of this fact and start implementing safety measures in their upcoming flagship projects.