Shopping Centres should act on security

Balancing safety and design within shopping centres presents a challenge that retailers need to address, as most are easy targets for crime and terrorism because of the way they are laid out.

At Tensator we have been putting safety first, contacting shopping centres to improve standards in UK shopping centres, as effective way-finding signage has never been more important.

This campaign came about when a member of our team experienced a shopping centre evacuation. Somebody was stuck at the top of an escalator with a pushchair, but as the escalator wasn’t working and the signage was poor, he couldn’t find his way to an alternative exit. Our team member naturally helped him carry the pushchair down the escalator to safety.

But imagine if no one was around to help? Centre managers are directly responsible for guiding customers and staff safely out of the building in an emergency situation, and each must be prepared for that and have adequate rules and regulations in place.