  This article presents experimental data sets and information about the
pre-movement behaviour and specific evacuation conditions observed in 15
evacuation drills in 10 nursery schools in the Czech Republic involving 970
children (3-7 years of age) and 87 staff members. Based on the analysis of
video recordings, over 1800 data points describing pre-movement times, the
interpretation of warning signals, the reactions and activities of staff
members and children, levels of physical assistance provided to the children,
and exiting strategies were gathered, interpreted, and compared to key
literature findings. Our observations showed that pre-movement times measured
during the drills ranged from 3 to 59 s, depending on experimental conditions,
and physical help was provided to 25% of the participating children. The
pre-movement behaviour of the participants was strongly influenced by the
instructions provided to children as well as the daily routines, rules, and
educational practices employed in the nursery schools. In addition, the
principles of the affiliation model and role-rule model were identified as
applicable to preschool children. To enable engineering applications (e.g., in
evacuation modeling studies), findings are presented together with a set of
nine behavioural statements regarding the pre-movement behaviour of preschool
children.
