SubscribeIt's a simple equation which is often overlooked in planning means of escape for those with disabilities.
The Disability Rights Commission has been working with a number of large businesses to advise them on providing suitable access and user friendly facilities. Bert Massey DRC Chairman said "To be doing very little for your disabled customers is no longer an option".
Business and the public sector alike are budgeting for the creation of ramps for wheelchair access, installation of specially adapted lifts, vision panels and wider entrances and internal doors; the list is endless. However, unless provision is made for EGRESS, than this expenditure has merely created a new set of problems in terms of emergency evacuation.
[E = A] When Planning Means of Escape
Most multi-storey buildings provide easy access via escalators, lifts and ramps, yet in the event of a fire we are all too aware of the warning sign, "In the event of fire do not use lift". However, stair descent can be impossible for people with reduced mobility (PRM's). Furthermore, it is easy to see the problem of evacuation as a local problem and provide evacuation equipment and staff training only in the area where the disabled/mobility impaired person works. The reality is that in the course of their day's work people with a mobility impairment will move around the building as freely as anyone else. These factors are often overlooked when methods of quick and efficient egress are being considered.
UK Legislation
The rights of the disabled have finally been established in the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 by providing access and egress to buildings which were previously denied. Now fully supported by two powerful items of legislation the Health & Safety at Work and Regulatory Reform Order, this trilogy of UK Legislation, forces employers to review their new responsibilities, duty of care, impartiality and risk assessments.
By acting responsibly, employers need not fear the implications of age discrimination in the workplace or Corporate Manslaughter. The following tables show the similarity between the three most important work place laws to affect us in the last 10 years.
5 Steps to R.R.O.
Risk Assessment
- Identify fire hazard
- Identify people at risk
- Evaluate, reduce, protect
- Record, plan, train
- Review and Revise
5 Steps to Health & Safety
Risk Assessment
Identify a hazard which can cause harm to people in the workplace- Identify who might be harmed and how
- Aim to reduce the risk as far as reasonably practical
- Record your findings
- Review your assessment and revise if necessary
5 Steps to
D.D.A in the Workplace
- Make property improvements as far as reasonably practical
- Identify people at risk
- Evaluate and review responsibilities
- Provide adequate training and equipment maintenance
- Record and Revise
Evacuation Chairs
"There is no doubt in my mind that Evacuation Chairs play a major role in any risk assessment under each of the above legislative areas", says Barry Scholes, Managing Director of Evac+Chair International Ltd, who first introduced the concept of a truly dedicated stairway evacuation chair into the UK in 1985. The Evac+Chair, winner of the Industrial Designers of America, Design of the Decade Ward, is a unique stairway evacuation chair in use around the world.
A simple, safe and effective method of stairway descent for the disabled and mobility impaired; it only requires one able-bodied person to evacuate a physically disabled person in an emergency. No heavy lifting is required since the chair is fitted with continuous rotating v-belts which provide a controlled descent over stair nosings. The Evac+Chair offers a fast and efficient escape without hindering other stairway users.
