Access versus evacuation

Darren Franks asks whether enough is being done to ensure the safe evacuation of mobility-impaired persons from buildings.

When it comes to both fire protection and health and safety, the most important issue is life safety. However, when it comes to evacuating mobility-impaired persons from the upper and lower levels of buildings in the event of an emergency or when lifts cannot be used, employers and service providers still face many challenges and there is a general lack of understanding of current requirements to ensure appropriate provisions are in place.

In most buildings, legislation and guidance dictate that fire alarm and detection systems must be provided for early warning of fire, fire resisting compartmentation must be provided to protect escape routes, suitable means of escape must be clearly indicated and available, and all these requirements should have testing and maintenance regimes generally in accordance with the relevant British Standards Code of Practice or industry guidance.

However, when it comes to physically evacuating a mobility-impaired person it is common to find that suitable and sufficient provisions are not in place. A recently published white paper, that involved decision makers of around 500 small to medium sized enterprises, indicated that one in ten businesses are not sufficiently prepared to evacuate disabled persons or mobility-impaired individuals.

As part of the Fire Protection Association's continuing commitment to increase fire safety awareness across the built environment, a number of informative feature articles are available to read on our website. You can read the full article here.