--- title: "Evacuation Diagrams for Marinas and Waterfront Facilities" description: "Marinas, boat clubs and waterfront facilities face unique evacuation challenges including fuel hazards, water proximity and seasonal occupancy. Understand your AS 3745 obligations and how to create compliant evacuation diagrams." canonical: https://evacpath.com/blog/evacuation-diagrams-for-marinas-waterfront-facilities source: https://evacpath.com/blog/evacuation-diagrams-for-marinas-waterfront-facilities --- # Evacuation Diagrams for Marinas and Waterfront Facilities > Marinas, boat clubs and waterfront facilities face unique evacuation challenges including fuel hazards, water proximity and seasonal occupancy. Understand your AS 3745 obligations and how to create compliant evacuation diagrams. _EvacPath Team · 2026-04-07 · 7 min read_ Marinas, boat clubs and waterfront facilities are among the most operationally complex environments to plan emergency evacuations for. Unlike a standard commercial building where the primary hazard is typically fire and the exit routes are fixed corridors and stairwells, waterfront facilities combine flammable fuel storage, open water proximity, floating or semi-fixed structures such as pontoons and jetties, and a mix of permanent staff, members and transient visiting boaters. Despite this complexity, many marinas and boat clubs operate without current [AS 3745](https://evacpath.com/blog/evacuation-diagram-requirements-australia)-compliant evacuation diagrams, particularly the clubhouse and administrative buildings which are sometimes overlooked in favour of operational procedures for the water-side activities. This is a compliance gap that exposes facility operators to WHS liability and, more practically, leaves staff and visitors without the information they need in an emergency. ## Which Structures at a Marina Require Evacuation Diagrams AS 3745:2010 applies to any facility where people work or gather, which at a marina typically includes the clubhouse, administrative offices, function or dining rooms, boat storage (dry stack) facilities, maintenance workshops, fuel dock structures, and any amenities buildings used by members and visitors. Floating structures such as pontoon clubrooms or houseboats used as offices may also fall within scope depending on their use and level of permanent occupation. The standard is clear that each occupied building or structure within a facility should have its own evacuation diagram posted at relevant locations. A marina with a separate fuel dock building, a dry stack storage shed, a workshop and a main clubhouse requires diagrams for each. A single diagram covering the entire precinct at a macro level is not sufficient; occupants in the fuel dock need to know the exit routes from that specific building, which may differ substantially from exits available from the main clubhouse. Temporary structures erected for seasonal events, such as marquees for sailing season opening events, should also be covered by an evacuation procedure, even if not by a formal AS 3745 diagram. A warden, identified assembly area and a means of communicating an evacuation order are minimum requirements for any occupied temporary structure. - Main clubhouse and function areas: full AS 3745 diagram set required - Administrative offices: AS 3745 diagrams required for each occupied floor - Dry stack boat storage sheds: diagrams required if staff work in the structure - Fuel dock buildings and kiosks: diagrams required; fuel hazard must be considered - Maintenance workshops: diagrams required; hazardous materials register should inform warden procedures - Pontoon amenities blocks: diagrams required if continuously occupied ## Fuel Storage and Marine Fuel Handling Hazards Marine fuel handling creates a fire and explosion risk profile significantly higher than most other recreational facility types. Petrol and diesel stored at fuel docks, combined with the vapour risks inherent in boat refuelling operations, mean that an ignition event near a fuel dock can escalate rapidly. Evacuation diagrams for fuel dock areas must clearly show all available exits and direct occupants away from fuel storage tanks and likely ignition or explosion zones. In Australia, marine fuel facilities are subject to requirements under state-specific dangerous goods legislation as well as the National Construction Code. Fuel storage tanks must be positioned and protected in accordance with Australian Standards and may impose exclusion zones that affect evacuation routes. An evacuation diagram for a fuel dock building needs to be developed with knowledge of where fuel tanks are located so that exit routes do not direct evacuees through or past high-risk areas. Emergency assembly areas at marinas with fuel facilities should be positioned upwind and a safe distance from fuel storage. Given that wind direction varies, the Emergency Management Plan should specify a primary assembly area and an alternate area for conditions where the primary area may be in the path of vapour or smoke from a fuel-related incident. This should be reflected on the evacuation diagram. - Identify all fuel storage locations before designing evacuation routes - Ensure assembly areas are positioned away from fuel tanks and likely fire spread paths - Specify both a primary and alternate assembly area on the diagram - Warden procedures should include fuel shut-off steps as part of the emergency response - Coordinate with local fire brigade regarding marine fuel emergency response protocols ## Water Proximity and the Risk of Evacuation Into Danger The defining environmental feature of a marina is its proximity to open water. This creates an evacuation risk that has no parallel in most built environments: an evacuee who moves in the wrong direction, or who is disoriented, panicking, or unfamiliar with the facility, may move towards the water rather than away from it. Children, elderly members and visitors under stress are particularly vulnerable. Evacuation diagrams for waterfront facilities must clearly indicate which directions lead to safe land-side assembly areas and which directions are dead ends or lead to the water's edge. This sounds obvious, but in the layout of many marinas, where the main entries face the water and the back-of-house areas face a car park or road, the intuitive direction of travel for someone who entered from the boat side may be back towards the water. Physical barrier management is also important. Pontoon access gates, security bollards and locked marina entry points that restrict water access under normal operating conditions should be capable of being opened or overridden during an emergency. Evacuation diagrams should note any areas where access may be physically restricted, and warden procedures should address how those restrictions are managed. ## Pontoons, Jetties and Floating Structures Pontoons and jetties are not enclosed buildings and are therefore not always subject to AS 3745 in the same way as a clubhouse, but they are part of the evacuation environment. Staff working on pontoons, including fuel attendants, dock hands and maintenance personnel, need to know how to get off the water and to the assembly area. This should be addressed in their induction and in any warden instructions relevant to that work area. Where a marina has a floating clubroom, floating amenities building or floating office structure, those structures are in scope for AS 3745 if they are regularly occupied. Evacuation from a floating structure adds the complication that gangways and access ramps may be the only means of egress, and these may be affected by tidal conditions, vessel movement, or damage. The Emergency Management Plan should address contingencies for when primary access off a floating structure is compromised. Gangway angles change with tidal variation and this can affect the ability of some occupants, particularly elderly members or those with mobility impairments, to evacuate quickly. Diagrams should note if a floating structure's egress is tide-dependent, and warden procedures should address how to assist people who cannot independently manage a steep gangway angle. ## Seasonal Occupancy and Variable Membership Boat clubs and yacht clubs often experience highly seasonal occupancy patterns. Midweek in winter, a club might have only a caretaker and a couple of maintenance staff on site. On a summer Saturday with racing on, the same facility may have hundreds of members, crew, families and visitors present across the clubhouse, the boatshed, the car park and the water. Evacuation procedures designed only for low-occupancy conditions will be inadequate for high-occupancy events. AS 3745:2010 requires that the Emergency Management Plan and warden structure account for the range of occupancy scenarios the facility regularly experiences. For clubs with large seasonal membership, this typically means maintaining a core warden team of permanent staff supplemented by event wardens recruited from members for major race days and club events. Warden duties should be written to be fulfilled by people with varying levels of familiarity with the facility. Visiting boaters, people who have berthed overnight or for a short stay, present a particular challenge. They are unlikely to have received any induction to the facility's evacuation procedures and may not speak English as a first language. Clear, graphic evacuation diagrams posted in guest berth amenities and at marina entry points are the primary tool for communicating emergency information to transient visitors. - Develop warden procedures for both low-occupancy weekday and high-occupancy event conditions - Post diagrams in guest berth amenities and at marina entry kiosks - Use clear graphic formats with minimal text for areas used by transient visitors - Brief event volunteers on warden roles before large race days or social events - Include assembly area information on berth holder welcome packs ## Dry Stack Boat Storage and Workshop Areas Dry stack boat storage facilities, large shed-like structures where boats are stored on racking systems and retrieved by forklift, are industrial environments with specific emergency considerations. Workers in these facilities face risks from forklift operations, heavy overhead loads, limited natural light and restricted movement between racking aisles. In a fire or emergency, exit routes through a dry stack shed may be partially obstructed by vessels on low racks or by forklift equipment in transit. Evacuation diagrams for dry stack facilities should reflect the actual aisles and fire exits available to workers, not a simplified floor plan that omits racking. The diagram should show which aisles lead to which exits, so that a worker at the back of a deep racking system knows their shortest path to fresh air without needing to navigate by memory. Workshop and maintenance areas present similar challenges, with the addition of hazardous chemicals such as solvents, antifouling paints, fibreglass resins and fuels. The Emergency Management Plan must reference the facility's dangerous goods manifest, and evacuation diagrams should be positioned so that workers can access them without passing through an area where a chemical release might have occurred. ## Get Evacuation Diagrams for Your Marina or Waterfront Facility EvacPath creates AS 3745-compliant evacuation diagrams for marinas, boat clubs, yacht clubs, waterfront function centres and marine industry facilities across Australia. We understand the specific challenges of waterfront environments including fuel hazard zoning, floating structure access and multi-building precincts. Send us your floor plan and we will deliver print-ready PDFs in 3 to 5 business days. [No site visit](https://evacpath.com/how-it-works) required. Pricing starts at A$70 per diagram. Basic Package A$280 for up to 4 diagrams, Standard Package A$420 for up to 8 diagrams.