Escape room provides a hot take on fire safety training

Thirteen has developed a first-of-its-kind escape room experience to teach staff members  about building and fire safety, providing a unique twist on the popular puzzle experience.

During the challenge created by Thirteen’s building safety team, colleagues work collaboratively to solve clues around common fire safety issues which are often found in homes and develop solutions to overcome the challenges. 

The training programme is the brainchild of fire risk specialist, Les Jones, who previously served for over 30 years with the local fire brigade.

Les said: “Helping to keep our customers safe in their own homes is a key priority of ours and education is vital for both customers and colleagues. Building safety is everyone’s responsibility. 

“Colleagues from housing services, building support and cleaning teams are just some of the teams who are working in the buildings that we manage each and every day and only by ensuring they are able to identify potential issues can we best ensure the safety of our customers.  

“Hundreds of colleagues will take part in this practical training exercise, increasing their knowledge on building and fire safety, by working together in teams. Once each clue is solved there’s a brief discussion around the fire safety issue and actions to take which is really engaging. We’ve been delighted with the response to it so far.”

Steph Kelley, building safety operations manager added: “Throughout the year our building safety team have worked with colleagues, involved customers and partner agencies to raise awareness of building and fire safety, especially in our more complex buildings. 

“That’s why we’re training and educating our colleagues, so they are engaged and can give consistent advice and be our extra eyes and ears on the ground. 

“Our campaigns focus on many elements of home safety, such as preventing accidental fires in homes, the importance of smoke and carbon monoxide alarms and what we do at Thirteen to ensure homes are safe, such as carrying out gas and electrical safety checks and why keeping corridors and communal areas clear is so important.

“We want to see preventable fire incidents reduce even further and we’ll be continuing to work with communities to do this as well as devising new, fun ways of engaging and educating our staff.”