Following the accident in Poland at the beginning of the year, comprehensive inspections were carried out in Finland about the fire safety of offices and especially escape games.
Whenever a new field is released in the world, it takes its own time for it to become the norm. Prior to this, businesses seek to act in the best possible way, for example in terms of safety. However, many may have a distorted view of safety: “Escape games are not an extreme hobby, nothing dangerous can happen here” and the necessary corrections are not made on the basis of this idea. I myself thought this way in the past, before the Polish case. Although escape games are generally safe, a fire can come, for example, from a neighboring store and proceed to an escape room. Sure, we have emergency keys in the games, but in a panic, they can be tricky to use. The most important fix for us was that
“game exit must be made keyless.” It was easy to replace the exterior doors with a green emergency latch instead of a door handle.
There were a few cases inside the game where the emergency latch didn’t fit the theme in any way and we ended up modifying the locking mechanism itself differently. At the same time, we put a lighted exit sign above the exterior doors of the game rooms to help visibility in the event of a power outage. In addition to these, the premises have extinguishing equipment and first aid equipment. With regard to the changes made, we received approval from the fire inspector for our prompt response and exemplary action on repairs.
I think inspections have been just a good thing; companies receive up-to-date and equal information on safety regulations, and customers can play games without worries, regardless of location. – Ari Pölönen, Founder of Pakotarinat, Escape Game Designer & builder.
