When any of the 3,000 folks who work in the Cal-EPA high-rise in downtown Sacramento take their mandatory building safety class, they no longer trudge to a conference room for a 90-minute group session.

Instead they log onto a Web site where they can see 3-D diagrams and interior building photos, view emergency exits and evacuation plans, and even take an online quiz on what they've viewed.

The online training at the California Environmental Protection Agency building is aimed at more efficiently preparing employees to react to fires, earthquakes, bomb threats, medical emergencies and even stalled elevators.

The software program used at the building was developed by Pasadena-based Building Safety Solutions Inc., which specializes in evaluating large buildings for commercial real estate investors.

The convenience of online training encourages people to take it, resulting in a safer workplace.

David Koch, Manager of 101 California, a 48-story high-rise office building in San Francisco, Koch said fewer than 100 of the building's 4,000 tenants would show up for twice-yearly safety courses that featured a small brochure and a 20-minute video presentation.

But within the first three days of installing the BSS Online course three years ago, some 700 tenants had logged on.

Koch said he doesn't know how many people in his building have taken the training, but said he's seen a significant improvement during annual fire drills.

At the Cal-EPA building, only new workers are required to take the course, but Theresa Parsley, Cal-EPA's assistant director for facilities, said the department is considering requiring a refresher course every two years.

Options include narration in other languages, including Spanish and Polish, as well as closed-captions for hearing-impaired individuals.

Companies typically charges from 2.5 cents to 3.5 cents per square foot, meaning the package produced for the 950,000-square-foot Cal-EPA building cost about $25,000. There can also be charges for annual licensing ranging from $1,500 to $5,000, depending on the building.

The system may be a time-saver. Parsley, the Cal-EPA facilities manager, said previous drills requiring a full building evacuation took nearly an hour to complete.

In the most recent drill, just a few weeks after the BSS system went online, workers vacated the building in 26 minutes.