NEW BY-LAW FOR THEATRES: PANIC PREVENTION

Greymouth Evening Star, 11 October 1948, Page 8

NEW BY-LAW FOR THEATRES: PANIC PREVENTION

A panic-prevention, by-law which is being drafted will establish provisions designed to prevent danger from panic in theatres and similar places of assembly due to such causes as earthquake or fire, states the annual report of the Standards Council, tabled in the House of Representatives. It will describe the duties of the manager in an emergency, an in appropriate cases will require all performances in theatres over a certain size to be under the supervision of fire-protection watchmen, whose qualifications and duties will be prescribed.

• Further provisions will relate to panic drill and panic-prevention training of the staff, emergency communications systems, and the display of exit notices.

.When completed the bylaws relating to chimneys will ensure that chimneys will be so designed and constructed as to resist, within practical limits, stresses to which they might be subjected, including those due to earthquake forces; also to provide insulation adequate to prevent fife risks, states the report. The Fire Prevention Bylaw will incorporate bylaw requirements in respect of the control of fires near and in buildings, and the provision of. first-aid fire-fighting equipment, in addition to special fire hazards arising from the storage and manufacture of inflammable materials and the carrying out of high-hazard industrial operations, including those which involve the production of explosive and toxic gases and dusts.