WO2003042962A1

WO2003042962A1 - Marker device

Info

Publication number: WO2003042962A1
Application number: PCT/NO2002/000291
Authority: WO
Inventors: Tormod Rauan; Geir Rauan
Original assignee: Tormod Rauan; Geir Rauan
Priority date: 2001-11-14
Filing date: 2002-08-22
Publication date: 2003-05-22

Abstract

Present invention pertains to a marking device for utilization during evacuation or search for persons, in particular in ships and hotels. The marking device is utilized by various search and rescue crews to disclose that a room, a cabin, or an area is searched, cleared or evacuated. The marking device according to present invention is thus in particular developed to comply with the requirements that rescue workers demand of good marking that must be visible/sensed in different situations and otherwise is designed such that it will remain in position during the rescue mission, fire-fighting and during other necessary activities to prevent or contain dispersion of fire and smoke.

Description

Marker device

The present invention relates to a marking device for utilization during evacuation and search for persons, particularly in ships and hotels. The marking device is employed by various search and rescue personnel to disclose that a room, a cabin or an area is searched, cleared or evacuated. The marking device according to present invention is thus in particular developed to comply with the requirements that rescue workers demand of good marking that must be visible/sensed in various situations and otherwise is designed such that it will remain in position during the rescue mission, fire-fighting and during other necessary activities to prevent or contain dispersion of fire and smoke.

It is common knowledge that situations like fire and other accidents that result in the necessity to evacuate or clear e.g., a ship or hotel are very chaotic situations where great uncertainty is associated with whether all that resided onboard the ship or in the hotel is evacuated. The situation is in a way the same at schools, in office buildings and in other institutions, but may be less chaotic as such institutions often have their own fire or disaster contingency to ensure that all persons are evacuated when necessary.

Nevertheless, in most accident and disaster incidents it will be necessary to examine the building to ensure that all persons that residing in the respective rooms has been evacuated. Such work is executed by various groups of personnel, and the work commences at different moments of time during the evacuation process. Onboard a ship or in a hotel, it is often groups of the ships or hotels own employees that constitutes so-called "evacuation teams" or "rescue teams" who's assignment is to search through parts of the ship or hotel to ensure that all who resides in the rooms in fact has left. Similar assignments are executed by the fire department or rescue personnel when they gradually arrive at the scene of the accident and the effort is attempted coordinated amongst the local representatives that commences an immediate evacuation and the subsequently arriving emergency personnel that gradually will take charge of the situation. In Norway, the approach to the problem is made specific through so-called RITS¹- groups (rescue efforts at sea) transported out to ships at fire or other events necessitating evacuation. Upon arrival at the ship, evacuation and clearing/search of cabins have already commenced and clearing of sections of the ship will already be completed. In the chaotic situation that often prevail the site, the issue will be to establish which rooms/cabins have been searched and thereafter complete this search. This task will be eased to a great extent by marking the doors leading to rooms already searched. In addition, it is an advantage to close the doors to prevent

¹ RITS (redmngsinnsats til sjøs) dispersion of smoke and fire, and also prevent unnecessary draft, but a closed door is not a sufficient marking of a room.

Marking devices to be hung on the door handle has previously been employed on doors leading to rooms already searched. The most utilized solution to date is a plastic card/strip with evident resemblance to the signs employed by hotels to prevent disturbance in the room. The sign is made of non-rigid plastic and has a continuous opening utilized to attach the marker to the door handle when the room has been searched.

However, a rescue worker progressing in a smoke filled corridor or similar often has to move in dense smoke, and under such circumstances it may be very difficult to detect a marker of the existing type on a door handle. For one thing, this is often due to the marker being made of non-rigid plastic, and it can be difficult for a rescuer to feel it using work gloves made of fire resistant material. Further, the plastic strip of known type is in a red color that is well visible in ordinary light. The visibility of the marker is however quite impaired in the dark or in a smoke filled room, even when a flash-light or another source of light is directed towards the marker. Not least, the marker of previous known type with a relative large continuous opening can easily fall off the door handle e.g., when this is opened or as a consequence of the rescuers attempt to feel if the door handle is actually marked.

It is also often of interest to create draft in some corridors to remove smoke, by operating fans or air condition units. Such fans may in that case create draft that contributes to blow the existing marker away from the door handle.

The above mentioned problems results in confusion with regard to which rooms have been searched and the rescue effort will thereby be delayed with the risk of loss of life and health.

It is therefore of considerable interest to improve the marking system existing today in order to comply with the requirements that rescue personnel has to good marking that improve the working conditions. It is thus an object of the present invention to produce a marker device to be utilized during evacuation and search for persons in ships and hotels in particular, which marker device with ease can be mounted on a door handle as a distinct sign that a room is searched. It is further an object that the marker device shall have a design and utilize materials that make it easy for a rescuer with gloves of e.g., a fire resistant material to feel that the marking is present on a door handle. The marking device is further to be of a material that will not take mentionable or deterministic damage due to heath, smoke or similar under conditions where it is still possible to rescue people from the area. In addition, it is an object that the marking device will be highly visible in particular when the marking device is directly illuminated with a flash-light or similar in the dark or in dense smoke.

It is further an object that the marking device is designed such that it remains visible for a long time, even if it during fire should be considerable amounts of soot in the smoke resulting in the marking device being covered with soot.

It is of course also an object of the present invention that it can be mounted on a door handle or similar in an easy manner, and that it is to remain on the door handle in a secure manner even when touched by rescuers and in instances where fans or air condition units are utilized to create draft in the area where the marking device is mounted.

It is furthermore an object that the marking device in an embodiment will be designed such that it can be placed together with other marking devices on a bunch that rescuers can bring with them when they are searching areas for remaining persons. With basis in the above mentioned intensions it is in accordance with the invention made a marking device for utilization during evacuation and search for persons particularly in ships and hotels, which marking device has an opening for mounting of the marking device on a door handle or similar. The marking device is characterized by being made of a material that is fire resistant and relatively stiff, that the marking device on several places are implemented with a reflex material and that the opening in the marking device is shaped as a slit in the marking device.

The production of the marking device in a fire resistant material is evidently in order to prevent the marking device from being mentionable or determinately damaged by fire, after the marking device has been mounted to disclose that a room is searched. The material, from which the marking device is produced, should also be relatively stiff in order for a rescuer to feel it with ease, even when wearing gloves of e.g. a fire resistant material. The marking device is further equipped with reflex material in several places such that it is likely that the reflex material is visible even when sooted. The opening in the marking device is further shaped as a slit, which may cause the marking device to be somewhat "tight" to mount on a door handle. The effect is again that the marking device will be able to remain on the door handle while exposed to stress.

In a preferred embodiment, the reflex material is placed along the outer edge of the marking device. This is preferred such that the reflex device will be easily visible and cover a major area of the marking device, at the same time the reflex material may avoid sooting when this may occur. In an alternative embodiment the marking device is equipped with a hole in its outer edge, which hole is utilized for threading a number of marking devices onto a ring or similar for keeping. In an additional embodiment the marking device according to present invention is equipped with an elongated banner or a flag hanging from the marking device when this is in use. This will make it easier for rescuers crawling along the floor to detect the marking device when it is mounted on a door handle. Additionally, such a banner or flag can be equipped with a weight device at its end such that the banner or flag always will be hanging towards the floor.

The marking device according to present invention can be produced by various methods, and of several different materials fulfilling the above mentioned requirements. An alternative embodiment may be a marking device produced by several layers of materials, of which at least one layer is stiffer than the remaining layers of materials. In such a case, the outmost layers should be fire resistant to prevent the marking device from mentionable or deterministic damage from heath, smoke etc.

An embodiment of a marking device according to present invention is described in detail and displayed in the attached figure 1. The figure displays a square marking device according to present invention. The marking device is assembled of a fire resistant, relatively stiff material (2) and is equipped with a reflex material (3) along the outer edge. In accordance with the present invention the opening (5) is shaped as a slit (here a cross) making it possible to mount the marking device (1) on a door handle.

Further, the marking device (1) is equipped with a continuous hole (4) at one corner of the marking device (near the outer edge) making it possible to mount a "bunch" of marking devices (1) on a ring making it accessible for a rescuer.

Claims

PATENT CLAIMS

1. Marking device for utilization when evacuating or searching for persons particularly in ships and hotels, which marking device has an opening for mounting of the marking device on a door handle or similar, characterized in that the marking device is made of a fire resistant material that is relatively stiff, the marking device being equipped with reflex material, that the opening in the marking device is shaped as a slit in the marking device.

2. Marking device according to claim 1, characterized in that the reflex material being mounted along the outer edge of the marking device.

3. Marking device according to one or several of claims 1-2, characterized in that the marking device at an outer edge is equipped with a hole for threading a number of marking devices onto a ring or similar for keeping.

4. Marking device according to one or several of claims 1-3, characterized in that the marking device is equipped with an extended banner or flag hanging from the marking device when this is in use.

5. Marking device according to one or several of claims 1-4, characterized in that the marking device is made of several layers of materials, of which at least one layer is stiffer than the remaining layers of materials.