What a bliss to see so much common sense in most of the above posts. I think that we need to distinguish between the stay put principle, which should not be in any way undermined, and people's understanding of it, which is an issue but an easy one to rectify, as Retters points out above. I have explained the principle to many residents' associations, housing associations, etc. They always get the idea, but I disagree with Wee B that people dont need to understand. I was totally horrified in one training course for HOUSING OFFICERS!!!! to find that a housing officer had always thought that, in his block of flats where he lived, stay put meant stay in his own flat (!!!!!!!!) if there was a fire. Totally unbelievable!
People go to work and have it drummed into them that they must operate the fire alarm system in the event of fire, that they must evacuate immediately when they hear the fire alarm, that if they as much as dont cooperate in fire drills its a disciplinary, and then they come home put Coronation Street on, and the next thing they look out of the window and there is 5 fire appliances, lines of hose and smoke, and they are supposed to understand that its alright to go back to Coronation Street (though why would you).
In some ways Lakanal House shows how safe high rise blocks and stay put actually is. Many structural issues were identified, but there was still a significant window of opportunity, according to evidence, for people to evacuate.
