The right of access for people with disabilities is now firmly established. However, surprisingly few organisations have given due consideration to the provision of emergency egress.
In the UK, current legislation and standards state that all people should be evacuated from a building if there is an emergency such as a fire. Many Building Managers, as part of a solution to the problem, have introduced ‘refuge areas’. Unfortunately, there is a common misunderstanding that refuge areas are places to leave people with disabilities to wait for the fire service to effect their escape. This policy is fundamentally flawed. Refuge areas are only relatively safe waiting areas for short periods of time. They are not areas where people with disabilities should be left indefinitely until rescued by the fire service, or until the fire is extinguished.
In fact, current legislative documents and standards state that the responsibility is clearly with the building management to ensure there are suitable procedures in place to evacuate everyone, including people with disabilities, without relying on the fire service. Evacuation plans should already be in place and should be equally applicable whether the fire service is operating normally or there is a fire fighters strike.
The traditional method of providing means of escape assumes that building users are non-disabled people. The presumption of independent capability to use steps and stairs for egress is clearly inadequate when considering the safety of some people with disabilities.
That is why K-Five has launched into the UK a range of proven evacuation chairs specifically designed to facilitate the safe and speedy evacuation of people with disabilities or those with walking difficulties
Below is a gallery of our evacuation chairs - please Click the appropriate image to see further details
