Glossary
Means of escape.
The structural and design features that allow a relevant person to leave a building safely in case of fire. In UK housing, typically protected stairwells, corridors, lobbies and final exits, designed to remain usable for the time needed to evacuate.
What an FRA evaluates about means of escape.
The FRA evaluates whether the escape routes remain usable for the time needed to evacuate everyone in the building given the fire strategy. This includes the protection of escape routes from fire and smoke (compartmentation, fire-resisting doors, smoke control), the capacity of escape routes for the occupant numbers (width, doors), the lighting of escape routes (emergency lighting, signage), the management of escape routes (storage, obstruction, propped-open fire doors), and the routes themselves (legibly marked, unlocked from the inside).
Means of escape vs evacuation strategy.
The means of escape are the physical features. The evacuation strategy is the plan for how relevant persons use them. A stay-put strategy may keep most residents off the means of escape for most of an incident; a simultaneous evacuation strategy puts everyone on the means of escape at once. The means of escape need to be adequate for the strategy in use.