In an emergency, such as a fire alarm or an evacuation, the people in charge need as clear a picture of the building as possible. One useful part of that picture is an estimate of how many people are inside. Occupancy counts never replace evacuation procedures, trained staff or alarm systems, but they can support planning and give safety teams one more source of information.
WELLPOINT People Counters count entries and exits at each entrance, and WELLPOINT.cloud calculates current occupancy from them. Here is what that data can do for emergency planning, and where its limits are.
Occupancy Figures Based on the Latest Synchronized Counts
Current occupancy in WELLPOINT.cloud is entries minus exits, based on the latest synchronized counts. The data is real-time, with data updates every 5 minutes on PLUS and PRO (hourly on LITE). That makes the figure a useful estimate, not an exact headcount for the minute an incident starts. For safety use, PLUS or PRO with their 5-minute updates are the better fit.
The counter sees only the doorway beside which it is mounted, so it does not know where in the building people are. A floor or wing can be measured separately only if every entrance to it has a counter.
Planning Before an Emergency
The most valuable use is usually preparation. Hourly and daily reports and month-by-month trends show how many people are typically in the building at different times. Safety teams can use this to plan evacuation drills, decide how many floor wardens are needed during busy periods and check that usual occupancy stays well below their own permitted maximum. Emergency decisions and actions always stay with your team.
Privacy-First Technology
The Pulse V3 does not capture images or identify visitors. Only anonymous entry and exit counts are transmitted from the counter. In workplaces, this is easy to explain to your data protection officer and employee representatives.
Reviewing After a Drill
After an evacuation drill, the hourly reports show entries and exits around the time of the drill, which helps compare it with a normal day. Over time, this supports better planning of drills, exits and staff roles.
Making the Figures Dependable
- Put a counter at every entrance and exit that people use, including side doors; otherwise entries minus exits drifts.
- During an evacuation, people often leave through emergency exits. Unless these exits have counters too, the occupancy figure will not fall as people leave.
- Use several devices for entrances wider than about 2.4 m, grouped as one entrance.
- Mount each device beside the entrance at 1.2 to 1.4 m, at a right angle to the walking direction, and test it with a few walks through the door.
- Treat the figure as one input next to your own procedures, such as roll calls and visitor sign-in lists.
Key Benefits for Safety Planning
- Typical occupancy by hour and day for evacuation planning
- Current occupancy, based on the latest synchronized counts
- Camera-free, anonymous counts only
The WELLPOINT People Counter (Pulse V3) is mounted beside each entrance and counts both directions with a time-of-flight sensor; WELLPOINT.cloud runs in the browser, also on a phone. Devices and plans are ordered on visitorcount.com.
Want to see how occupancy reports look? Request a demo account – the demo uses fictitious sample data.