Firemans Lift Not Guaranteed for “The Disabled”
March 2009
LET’S END THE MYTH
Since the introduction of the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, the responsibility to put facilities and procedures in place to ensure safe emergency evacuation of the Disabled from working environments has been placed upon the shoulders of business owners, managers and controllers of property.
Historically, for an Employer occupying all or part of a building on multiple levels, it will have been acceptable to rely on fire fighters to assist in the evacuation of Disabled persons from a designated safe haven.
It is however, no longer acceptable to rely on fire fighters to assist in this way. When fire fighters arrive onsite at a burning building, the best case scenario is for them to be able to enter the building with their top priority being to start tackling the fire.
If there are Disabled persons still in the building, then the fire fighters will have to enter the building with their top priority being to assist in the evacuation, which could potentially endanger the life of the fire fighter, and delay tackling the fire.
The fire brigade will however, not guarantee to rescue particularly if it means endangering the life of a fire fighter. It is also likely that the Fire Brigade will apply a punitive charge in the region of £500 per person to evacuate Disabled persons from a building.
With the onus on business owners and managers to put procedures in place, there are a number of acceptable options which will hopefully mean that all persons will be safely evacuated by the time fire fighters arrive. If there is a fire safe lift in the building, then this may be designated as a means of escape for persons who are not able to safely evacuate via the stairs. An alternative and acceptable option is to provide an evacuation chair.
Evacuation chairs are not cheap, and also require operators to be trained in their safe use. In cases where more than one company occupies a building, the cost of the chair may be shared between the occupants, and the chair should be kept on the top floor, available for use from any of the floors as required.