EMERGENCY EVACUATION REVISING THE RULES
It is the legal duty of the responsible person in any building to make the evacuation of disabled people equal to that for able bodied people, as Anthony Smith, Managing Director of Vox Ignis, explains.
When the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) was first introduced in 1995, it gave disabled
people long overdue access to goods and services, education, employment,
transport and accommodation,
this was subsequently incorporated into the Equality Act in 2010.
Sadly, despite its many, many benefits in access to goods and services, one area the act failed to address was the evacuation of mobility impaired people in the event of an incident, leading to the Government and Disability Rights Commission to publish a guide of supplementary information for the fire risk assessment for Disabled People in 2007.
The guide stated: “The Fire and Rescue Service’s role in fire evacuation is that of ensuring that the means of escape in case of fire and associated fire safety measures provided for all people who may be in a building are both adequate and reasonable, taking into account the circumstances of each particular case. Under current fire safety legislation it is the responsibility of the person(s) having responsibility for the building to provide a fire safety risk assessment that includes an emergency evacuation plan for all people likely to be in the premises, including disabled people, and how that plan will be implemented.”
As a member of BSI FSH/12/5, which covers Voice Alarm and Emergency Voice Communication Systems, and as Managing Director of Vox Ignis - a manufacturer of disabled refuge and fire telephone systems - I’ve long lobbied for the amending of BS9991 and Building regulations approved document B1 to make it compulsory for dwellings above one floor to have disabled refuge areas with an Emergency Voice Communications System (EVCS), as commercial buildings; ensuring residents can communicate with building management in the event of an incident such as fire. In such emergencies, it is vital that communication is clear, secure, monitored and maintained; these systems can be the difference between life and death.
In the wake of the Grenfell disaster, many in the industry – and myself included – believed it would only be a matter of time until such critical amends were made. However, four years on, it looks as though the industry, fire services and general public may finally be seeing their persistent rallying result in action, transforming this outdated mandate.
18
While responsible building owners – and there are some out there – are already establishing refuge areas in dwelling houses, the revision of BS9991 in the next year could finally spell the end of such crucial health and safety measures being optional and make it a requirement for residential buildings, but it will take a change to the Building Regulations Approved Document B1 to change the law.
Lifts, escalators and platform lifts may have transformed the way people with mobility issues access buildings; however, more often than not they are completely redundant in an emergency, which is why refuge areas are key to ensuring the safe and orderly evacuation of people from buildings in the event of a crisis.
“THE REVISION OF BS9991 IN THE NEXT YEAR COULD FINALLY SPELL THE END OF SUCH CRUCIAL HEALTH AND SAFETY MEASURES BEING OPTIONAL AND MAKE IT A REQUIREMENT FOR RESIDENTIAL
Here at Vox Ignis, we’ve witnessed this first-hand. Working with property developers across the globe, we’ve helped establish disabled refuge areas in a wide range of developments, from skyscrapers to hotels and high-rise residential towers, and are starting to be involved in projects in this country with residential towers, notably in Croydon.
Although, in both of those instances, the client wasn’t bound by law to include EVCS for the disabled refuge areas in their developments, it goes to show that many forward-thinking, responsible developers are already embracing the latest in evacuation and fire safety technology, however, as an industry and as a nation, we can ill afford to rest on our laurels.
Of the 72 people who died in the tragic Grenfell disaster, more than half of the casualties were adults with limited mobility or children, according to evidence shared in the latest phase of the inquiry, and we can only hope that – if the proposed revisions to BS9991 are approved, and Approved Document B1 is amended – we can finally put the relevant measures in place to make high-rise residential buildings safer for all, once and for all.
www.vox-ignis.com
www.tomorrowshs.com
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68
