1.13 Help for people with
special needs
Of all the people who may be especially at
risk you will need to pay particular attention
to people who have special needs, including
those with a disability. The Disability Rights
Commission estimates that 11 million people
in this country have some form of disability,
which may mean that they find it more difficult
to leave a building if there is a fire. Under the
Disability Discrimination Act,13
if disabled people
could realistically expect to use premises, then
you must anticipate any reasonable adjustments
that would make it easier for that right to
be exercised.
The Disability Discrimination Act13 includes the
concept of ‘reasonable adjustments’ and this
can be carried over into fire safety law. It can
mean different things in different circumstances.
For a small business it may be considered
reasonable to provide contrasting colours on a
handrail to help people with vision impairment
to follow an escape route more easily. However,
it might be unreasonable to expect that same
business to install an expensive voice-alarm
system. Appropriate ‘reasonable adjustments’
for a large business or organisation may be much
more significant.
If disabled people are going to be in your
premises then you must also provide a safe
means for them to leave if there is a fire. You
and your staff should be aware that disabled
people may not react, or can react differently,
to a fire warning or a fire. You should give
similar consideration to others with special
needs such as parents with young children or
the elderly.
In premises with a simple layout, a commonsense approach, such as offering to help lead
a blind person or helping an elderly person
down steps may be enough. In more complex
premises, more elaborate plans and procedures
will be needed, with trained staff assigned to
specified duties.
Consider the needs of people with mental
disabilities or spatial recognition problems.
The range of disabilities encountered can be
considerable, extending from mild epilepsy
to complete disorientation in an emergency
situation. Many of these can be addressed by
properly trained staff, discreet and empathetic
use of the ‘buddy system’ or by careful
planning of colour and texture to identify
escape routes.
Where people with special needs use or work
in the premises, their needs should, so far as is
practicable be discussed with them. These will
often be modest and may require only changes
or modifications to existing procedures. You may
need to develop individual ‘personal emergency
evacuation plans’ (PEEPs) for disabled persons
who frequently use a building. They will need
to be confident of any plan/PEEP that is put in
place after consultation with them. As part of
your consultation exercise you will need to
consider the matter of personal dignity.
If members of the public use your building
then you may need to develop a range of
standard PEEPs which can be provided on
request to a disabled person or others with
special needs.
Guidance on removing barriers to the everyday
needs of disabled people is in BS 8300.14 Much
of this advice will also help disabled people
during an evacuation.
Further advice can be obtained from the
Disability Rights Commission at www.drc-gb.org.