Around 200,000 copies of the Beijing Subway Emergency & Safety Guidebook were given free of charge to passengers in Beijing subway stations on June 11 which identify escape routes from 70 stations in case of emergencies.
According to Xie Zhengguang, general manager of the Beijing Subway, subway stations in the city are compact and often crowded. In busy public places, the lives of people could be put at risk when there was an emergency, so passengers need to be aware of safety issues and have information on evacuation.
The Beijing Subway Emergency & Safety Guidebook was compiled using the New York Subway Emergency & Safety Guidebook as template and gave consideration to Beijing’s regulations and experiences in subway operations, said an employee of the subway company.
The Guidebook includes: simple common sense on subway and passenger safety, maps of emergency evacuation routes at all the 70 stations, what to do if objects drop off the platform onto the line, how to react if the power goes off, what to do if there was a toxic gas attack or an explosion. The publication also identifies fire escapes.
It is the first time that Beijing has released maps of station emergency exists for the four lines on the subway system and it’s also the first guidebook of a metro transport system in China. With cartoons, photographs and text, the Guidebook advises what passengers should do if they feel their lives are in danger. It also clearly identifies the simplest escape routes. It illustrates all the subway safety signs and what they mean. The locations of hospitals, police stations, bridges crossing streets, large shopping centers and other buildings are also indicated in the booklet.
The subway employee said that passengers can safely leave stations by following the emergency evacuation signs. The signs, yellow arrows on a green background, are made of fluorescent material and are visible in the dark so passengers can see them and exit safely even when the power supply is off.
The Guidebook will also be published on the official website of the Beijing Subway: http://www.bjsubway.com.
(China.org.cn by Xu Lin, June 14, 2006)
