Rate this!
Phil Lemon
Member - 46 posts
I am trying to put together a Personal Evacuation Plan for a disabled member of staff, who has Rheumatoid arthritis, works on the 9th floor on daily rotating shifts (7.5 hrs + Lunch hr) between 08.00 & 20.30 Mon-Fri and 08.00-14.00 Sat.
Periodically, has mobility problems depending on the severity of the pain associated with the condition. Whilst they are ambulatory most of the time, they have never negotiated more than a flight of stairs at home.
Lifts ground on alarm activation. We have a firemans lift which can be keyed to work but needs a person 'in' it to operate.
There are 18 short flights of stairs with 17 turns on landings if we were using an evac chair.
Taking into account both the DDA and RRO, how can i safely evacuate this person without asking someone (a group of volinteers to cover shifts and absence) to enter a potentially burning building and go to the 9th floor to get the person and buddy or
train enough people(again volunteers) to operate safely an evac chair to bring the person down from the 9th floor
I have put this in open forum but thought that this also might be a place to examine it
Rate this!
Kevin Brown
Member - 73 posts
Having regularly handled an evacuation chair on simulated evacuations (and had the dubious pleasure of being the evacuee) the only thing I have to say in their favour is that a 30 minute fire resisting door will still leave enough time to escape the building from the 9th floor.
I have severe osteoarthtritis in both ankles due to an unplanned collision with the planet (specifically Snowdonia) several decades ago. My mobility problems have never been so severe as to render me slower downstairs than an evacuation chair team (i.e. occupant, handler and helper) and my PEEP reflects this. My workplace doesn't have a fire-rated lift but I've written fire safety procedures for one or two that do. If you can include in the PEEP the option to call/control the fireman's lift to the 9th floor in the event of an incident, that would be a good starting point. If your emergency procedures require a fire marshal to be last to leave the floor he or she could escort the vulnerable individual out. "However, where a lift and stairway for a means of escape are incorporated in a fire-resisting shaft which has a final exit from
it at the access level and the lift has a separate electrical supply to that of the remainder of the building, than that lift subject to an agreed fire risk assessment, may be acceptable as a means of escape in case of fire". (The quote is lifted direct from the official guide).
I think you need to sit down with your colleague and discuss what is reasonable and practical in terms of his/her physical capacity and the options available to you. ( Not forgetting the obvious, but usually unwelcome, option of moving to a lower floor).
Rate this!
Phil Lemon
Member - 46 posts
Kevin
Thank you, your points noted and appreciated
Rate this!
Brendan Murray
Member - 2 posts
Phil the other option I would suggest is that of the safe haven. This is universally unpopular with people but it is often the only practical solution available to us. I have always offered this solution up and when the inevitable cries of horror are heard, I ask those offended by the idea to come up with a more suitable alternative. I would certainly never consider issuing a PEEP that did not have this as an option.
Rate this!
Kevin Brown
Member - 73 posts
Bearing in mind that the shift of emphasis in the RRO makes the employer, rather than the Fire & Rescue Service, responsible for the safe evacuation of the workplace the status of a safe haven is now slightly, but significantly, different.
A refuge (or haven) is a place of reasonable safety in which disabled people can wait either for an evacuation lift or for assistance up or down stairs. Disabled people should not be left alone in a refuge area whilst waiting for assistance with evacuation from the building. Where refuges are provided, they should be enclosed in a fire-resisting structure which creates a protected escape route leading directly to a place of safety. They should only be used in conjunction with effective MANAGEMENT rescue arrangements.
Your fire safety strategy should not rely on the fire and rescue service rescuing people waiting in these refuges. Your evacuation procedures and any PEEPs you need to facilitate will have to address the issue of extracting vulnerable employees from the building, albeit in the wake of those better able to make their own way out.
I'd venture to sugest that that 'a place of reasonable safety' is one where someone can transfer to an evacuation chair and wait a short time until the escape route is clear and the assisted escape can be made impeded. I wouldn't feel at all happy about leaving a vulnerable colleague in a refuge, and even less happy about risking the life or well-being of a buddy who, after all, has no less a right to get out of harm's way.
Rate this!
Kevin Brown
Member - 73 posts
'impeded' should have come with an 'un'. Sorry
Rate this!
Patrick Midson
Member - 1 post
I have only just joind as a member of this network and have had a look at the comments on this issue. I totally agree with Kevin's comments about refuge areas and their use but would add that a means of communicating with the fire control marshall should be includeed in the refuge that is wire free. There may be another alternative to consider dependent on the building construction and that is phased evacuation.
You must be a member of the group to comment is this discussion.
0 (0)
