A recent fire drill raised concerns
“The safety of the Harmony complex is at stake” says a party of student representatives of the law faculty of the University of Groningen. The students suggest that the fire alarm in the Harmonie complex did not work during a fire drill, and that the evacuation was poorly coordinated. As reported by the Groninger Internet Courant.
The students of the ‘Progresief Rechten’ (Progressive Rights) group have reported the following:
“After another poorly coordinated evacuation on 18 February, the Progresief Rechten student party is calling on the faculty to improve the fire safety of the law faculty. During the evacuation, the fire alarm did not work, emergency responders panicked and the assembly point was not reached. This is not the first time in this academic year that the evacuation of the Harmony complex went poorly.”
Chair Sanne van Rees said: “The safety of buildings where thousands of students study every day is of vital importance, it is unacceptable that a fire drill should go so badly.”
During the fire drill, the officers concerned complained about the lack of communication and did not know the escape routes, the students say. “We can still be happy that this was an exercise, such a situation should definitely not occur during a real fire.”
Image via WikiUser Bert Kaufman. License here
