Fire exit sign within a building

Ensuring Your Business Evacuation Plan Is Ready For Disabled Employees & Visitors

The Disability Discrimination Act 1995 (DDA) underpins the current fire safety legislation in England and Wales and the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 requires that employers or organisations take responsibility for ensuring that all people, including disabled people, can leave the building they control safely in the event of a fire.

Equality for all, a key element of an increasingly diverse workplace, is usually interpreted as equality of opportunity for all races and genders. Just as important, however, is an often-overlooked basic right: workplace safety for the disabled.

Have You Got The Correct Processes In Place?

Where an employer or service provider fails to make provision for the safe evacuation of disabled people from its premises, this may be viewed as discrimination. It may also constitute a failure to comply with the legal requirements of the latest fire safety legislation. So how best to stay on top of all current requirements and responsibilities?

Buildings Assessment

Some basic questions to determine whether your workplace is likely to comply or not include the following:

  • What existing provision does your facility have for evacuation and access?
  • Can a wheelchair user access all areas of your building if required?
  • Can a wheelchair user be evacuated from your building if lifts are unusable in an emergency?
  • Does the Grade Listing of your building restrict disabled access alterations?
  • Can you fit a permanent structure that meets the demands of access?

If you are unsure of the answers to the above questions, rest assured, you’re certainly not alone!

Suitability For Specific Needs

Additional questions serve to further explore your organisation’s ability to adequately meet fire safety regulations:

  • Would you know if your facility wasn’t prepared for an employee/visitor with specific access needs?
  • If your facility has a single lift access, have you got a contingency plan for lift failure?
  • Are there planned lift maintenance works this year, taking your lift out of action? If so, what contingency plans are in place?
  • If your workspace is below ground level, how prepared are you for emergencies? (Basement steps rise towards exits and evacuation chairs do not climb stairs)

Evacuation Training

The most important considerations for today’s employer are adequate training coupled with the ability to deploy and execute your access and evacuation plan when required. People learn by ‘doing’, so your training should be practical, hands-on, and refreshed often enough for familiarity and confidence. Remember, whilst compliance is essential, the quality of staff’s training is the most critical aspect of a real-life incident.

The Solution

If the questions above can be answered positively and confidently, then your workplace and protocols are clearly as they should be.

If not, and doubts arise as you contemplate the likely outcome of a sudden emergency scenario, then fear not, overcoming logistical and resource hurdles is relatively simple if the right experts are consulted.

The value of a full risk assessment for evacuation and access is a highly worthwhile activity, as is the provision of a stair climber for your workplace. Stair climbers are discreet, battery-powered devices, with various models capable of efficiently carrying people and wheelchairs in a variety of situations. Stored at workplace access points, they enable safe evacuation for disabled employees or visitors in the event of an emergency.

In tandem with thorough and common-sense training sessions, preparing staff for when evacuation may be required, employers and facility managers are covering all bases when it comes to providing equal emergency access for everyone within your building.

The Evacuation Company offers complimentary access audits to every type of workplace and event facility, along with all types of residential and commercial properties. Let us assist you with the relevant processes and protocols to ensure you are meeting the requirements of every disabled staff member or visitor to your building. Contact us today for further information.