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MELTON MP Don Nardella has urged a review of guidelines for emergency exit signs.
In State Parliament last week, Mr Nardella called on the government to investigate whether inappropriate signage on exit doors might cause confusion in some emergencies.
“Rather than showing a person running out those doors, we could have one that shows a person walking,” he said.
Melton resident Vince Theuma said he believed that in an emergency such as a fire, typical exit signs could lead to people running out to save themselves “rather than walking in an orderly manner away from the area of danger”.
Mr Nardella said a change could help save lives.
“There have been some very awful cases both here and overseas at nightclubs with fires where people have tried to rush out the doors because that is what the sign above the door shows – to run out the exit,” he said.
“A change to the sign may not necessarily save a lot of people, but at the moment the sign says to people, and it is a universal sign, that if there is some danger you run out.
“That is very disconcerting.”
Mr Nardella called on the assistant treasurer to investigate whether the use of a “safer” image would lead to better outcomes in an emergency.
