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.
Much of this advice will also help disabled people
during an evacuation.
Further advice can be obtained fr
om the
Disability Rights Commission at www.drc-gb.org.