Workplace Law Magazine is available only to Premium Members of the Workplace Law Network. Produced 10 times each year, it is distributed in hard copy format in the first week of the month, and is also available online.
Evacuation versus invacuation
Whenever we address issues around fire and disability, and what happens when the two things come together, I am reminded of a scene in the BBC2 television series, The Office. In the scene an overzealous fire warden tries to get an employee in a wheelchair down the stairs by lifting her chair with her in it. When he and a co-worker get down a few flights of stairs, they are exhausted and decide to leave her there because, after all, it is only a drill. The extras on the DVD also show a deleted scene from this episode, where two colleagues of the fire warden find his plans to remove people in wheelchairs from the building with a sort of catapult system, with instructions to leave the wheelchairs in the building ‘in case they get hot’.
It’s a lighthearted look at what is actually a very real issue – is it always safest to evacuate everyone from a building in a fire situation, or can leaving someone in a ‘safe’ place sometimes be the better option?
A debate surrounding the use of evacuation chairs versus the use of refuges has been raging on the Workplace Law forum since 2003, and one of the comments that came from retired senior member of the Fire Brigade, John Clenaghan, was that if he was taken to a refuge on the sixth or 21st floor of a building and told to wait there until the fire brigade arrived, “I would be out of the wheelchair or whatever and crawling down the stairs”. This raises a valid point – namely, that what might seem like an ideal solution in a fire drill might suddenly be less appealing in an actual fire situation.
Society has changed in recent years; disability has gone from being considered from a purely medical point of view – focusing on limitations experienced by an individual because of their disability – to being considered from a social point of view, which addresses how society and the environment can ‘disable’ any individual. The focus is no longer on how they can get out; it is now how we all can get out. Whilst the stereotypical image of a disabled person is one of a person in a wheelchair, the majority of people covered by the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 (DDA) aren’t wheelchair users; out of the ten million adults covered by the provisions of the DDA in the UK, only 500,000 are wheelchair users, whilst 2.5 million are visually impaired and eight million are hearing impaired. This means that considerations other than how to get down the stairs need to be made.
In this issue...
Latest 06 Legal calendar Key legislative dates and events taking place in July and August. 08 Case law Comment 07 Fire and evacuation – who and how? When considering this issue, the first question you have to decide upon is who is disabled, says Clive Raybould. Focus 10 Evacuation: the real stories In an emergency situation, complete evacuation from a building is not always possible. But can it ever be safe to leave workers or members of the public in a building as part of an evacuation strategy? Claire Fuller looks at real-life examples to see how well – or how badly – evacuation strategies have worked when they have been put to the test. 14 Who’s in your building? With 20,000 students and 2,000 members of staff, keeping track of who is in the building at any one time is no small task for City University. So how does it put effective evacuation plans in place? Neil Archibald finds out. 18 Wayguidance: How to find your way in an emergency In an emergency a well-lit building can suddenly become dark and disorientating. This makes evacuation difficult, especially for blind or partially sighted people who rely on colour and contrast to navigate the building. So what can be done to stop this happening? Claire Fuller speaks to Dr Geoff Cook, Director of the Research Group for Inclusive Environments at the University of Reading. Network 21 How well do you know your safety signs? Could you decipher the meaning of every safety sign without the aid of the accompanying written warning? Images alone can be unclear and confusing. We've decided to put the clarity of signs and our knowledge of these common warnings to the test and have created a quick quiz for members to take part in. 22 “I’ve got to keep flying the access flag!” He was responsible for the first ever guidance on visual contrast, which now forms part of the British Standard BS8300 and Part M of the Building Regulations. Since completing this research, Professor Keith Bright – who has worked on numerous Workplace Law projects over the last 10 years – has gone on to become a recognised and highly regarded expert in access issues. Kelly Mansfield tells his story. 26 Clinic Workplace Law members ask the experts for advice on their evacuation queries. Technical 28 Legal update In-depth technical guidance on: means of escape for people with cognitive impairments; and Building Regulations and British Standards on access. The data 32 This month’s statistics Key statistics and information on health and safety and employment law.
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