To escape a dangerous building emergency occupants may need to respond quickly, assess the environment, plan their actions and tackle possible problems during evacuation. In this study 147 participants were tested in an experimental evacuation design for the effects of three environmental factors (fire alarm, lighting and emergency exit signs illumination) on problem-solving abilities. The experimental evacuation scenarios consisted of: (1) fire alarm, normal lighting conditions and illuminated emergency exit signs, (2) fire alarm, dark environment and illuminated emergency exit signs and (3) fire alarm, dark environment and not illuminated emergency exit signs. The tested problem-solving abilities were the time to plan actions and number of excess moves on the Tower of London test. The main results indicate that the third experimental evacuation scenario led to a decrease of 25.9% in planning time, compared to the control scenario. Age also had a significant effect on planning time. The oldest participants took or needed on average 42 s more planning time than the youngest participants, an increase of 146.9%. Furthermore, the second and third experimental evacuation scenario led to significant more excess moves, compared to the control scenario. However, the older the participants the less excess moves they had. For gender no significant effects on problem-solving abilities were found. In addition, the relationships between problem-solving abilities and building evacuation time were investigated. Longer planning times were associated with longer evacuation times and more excess moves were associated with shorter evacuation times. Practical implications for building and safety managers are to add training in darkness or assume more evacuation time in darkness or for older aged populations in evacuation plans and drills. Future research should collect more quantitative data about effects of various environmental factors and personal characteristics, such as problem-solving styles, age and gender, on building evacuation behaviour.

中文翻译：

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3 个环境因素对疏散过程中解决问题能力的影响


为了逃离危险的建筑物，紧急居住者可能需要快速响应、评估环境、计划行动并解决疏散过程中可能出现的问题。在这项研究中，147 名参与者在实验疏散设计中接受了三个环境因素（火灾警报、照明和紧急出口标志照明）对解决问题能力的影响。实验疏散场景包括：（1） 火警、正常照明条件和发光的紧急出口标志，（2） 火警、黑暗环境和发光的紧急出口标志和 （3） 火警、黑暗环境和未发光的紧急出口标志。测试的问题解决能力是计划行动的时间和伦敦塔测试中超额移动的数量。主要结果表明，与控制情景相比，第三种实验疏散情景导致计划时间减少了 25.9%。年龄对计划时间也有显着影响。最年长的参与者比最年轻的参与者平均多花费或需要 42 秒的计划时间，增加了 146.9%。此外，与控制情景相比，第二种和第三种实验性疏散情景导致了更多的超额移动。然而，参与者的年龄越大，他们多余的动作就越少。对于性别，未发现对解决问题能力的显著影响。此外，还调查了解决问题的能力与建筑物疏散时间之间的关系。较长的计划时间与较长的疏散时间相关，而更多的超额移动与较短的疏散时间相关。 对建筑和安全管理人员的实际意义是增加在黑暗中的培训或假设在黑暗中有更多的疏散时间，或者在疏散计划和演习中为老年人口增加疏散时间。未来的研究应该收集有关各种环境因素和个人特征（如解决问题的方式、年龄和性别）对建筑物疏散行为影响的更多定量数据。