Nearly a fifth of people in the UK are disabled, so providing a safe means of evacuation is not optional says Elspeth Grant.
It is clear that the Building Safety Bill is putting the emphasis on competency levels in the building industry and enforcement by trained inspectors. Entrenched views and outdated practices will not survive this new emphasis on compliance with the law.
Many organisations find it particularly challenging when it comes to the implementation of evacuation strategies for disabled people, who represent 18% of the UK population. The UK has an ageing population and, in addition, there will many additional millions who have a temporary impairment which may impact their ability to evacuate a building in an emergency.
The ‘Birkenhead Drill’ for emergencies at sea is well known as the protocol of putting women and children (the vulnerable) into the lifeboats first. It would be unthinkable that the Birkenhead Drill would not be standard practice during an emergency at sea, however during a fire in a residential building in the UK, this protocol does not apply. The result is that the vulnerable are denied Personal Emergency Evacuation Plans (PEEPs) and told to await rescue while those fit and able escape swiftly – a position that is often supported by experienced fire safety professionals and some fire and rescue services, particularly when it relates to general needs accommodation.
Disability and impairment
Prior to defining any strategic approach for the evacuation of buildings for disabled people, it is essential to understand disability and the effects of impairment on evacuation. All too often, immediately disability is mentioned, the majority of people only think about wheelchair users.
In fact, of the 14.1 million disabled people in the UK, wheelchair users represent only 1.5 million of the overall total, with a third of wheelchair users being able to leave their wheelchairs for short periods. People with mental health issues, arthritis, or hearing impairments are in fact the largest groups of disabled people. Some 6.3 million people have reading difficulties, between 2.5 and 3 million people have visual impairments, and there are 700,000 people on the autistic spectrum.
It is essential that disabled people are involved in the process of developing an organisation’s evacuation strategies in addition to the development of their own PEEP. Government data shows that a higher percentage of occupants of social housing are disabled people.
The law
Since 2010, the Equality Act has stated that it is unlawful for any organisation to discriminate in access to goods, facilities, services, and managing property. Businesses are also required to make ‘reasonable adjustments’ to their policies or practices, or physical aspects of their premises, to avoid indirect discrimination.
The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) is advising disabled residents in general needs accommodation that the failure to provide auxiliary aids may be seen by a judge as breaching the service provision aspects of Part 4 of the Equality Act 2010. The Vento scale for compensation in such cases for the higher band is between £25,700 and £45,700 where the discrimination is continued and causes stress. Implementing a PEEP and providing an assisted escape device will, in many cases, be more cost-effective than paying multiple compensation claims.
The lack of evacuation planning for disabled people is particularly shocking given that the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 (Fire Safety Order) reached the statue books in 2006. The legal requirements of the Fire Safety Order applies equally to disabled and non-disabled people and includes general needs accommodation. However, means of escape for disabled people is rarely implemented or enforced in general needs accommodation.
The Fire Safety Order is criminal law, with a personal responsibility for compliance on the defined Responsible Person within an organisation. Articles 14 and 15 state that there is a legal duty to [ensure that]:
‘in the event of danger, it must be possible for persons to evacuate the premises as quickly as and safely as possible’ and ‘establish and, where necessary, give effect to appropriate procedures, including safety drills, to
be followed in the event of serious and imminent danger to relevant persons’ and ‘nominate a sufficient number of competent persons to implement those procedures in so far as to the evacuation of relevant persons from the premises.’
The government’s guidance on means for escape for disabled people backs up the legal position by stating in section 1.1 (legal overview) that:
‘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. Such an evacuation plan should not rely upon the intervention of the Fire and Rescue Service to make it work.’
There is no legal requirement under the Fire Safety Order for assistance to be provided by an employee, just that the person must be competent and trained. It is, therefore, perfectly acceptable to include family, friends, and neighbours in a PEEP.
If employees are involved in an evacuation, employers must take care that they are not putting the employee in increased danger, as this will breach the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 and the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999.
Learning lessons from the past
41% of the fatalities in the Grenfell Tower Fire were disabled or children, many of whom had registered with the Tenants Management Organisation that they were unable to evacuate. Whole families and friends died together because one or two of them were unable to evacuate due to their vulnerability and inability to evacuate.
The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) made a submission to Phase 1 of the Grenfell Inquiry that the lack of evacuation planning for disabled people breached the right to life and was discriminatory under the Equality Act 2010.
Research last year by the University of Leeds and consultant Phil Murphy into historical data provided by the Home Office, highlights that if a person is in the vicinity of a fire for more than 20 minutes, then their chances of survival reduce significantly.
The figure from this research shows that response times after the emergency call are on average 7.5 minutes. At a high-rise building, however, it will be an average of 25 minutes before firefighters are in a position to intervene. This shows that any disabled person who is unable to move down vertically if they are in the vicinity of a fire will be exposed to danger for an average of a full 30 minutes prior to a potential rescue, with an increased risk of death.
These two pieces of information alone show why it is imperative that the legal requirement is met to ensure that all relevant people, including vulnerable people, can escape from immediate danger as quickly and as safely as possible.
The strategic approach
The strategic plan must deliver the legal requirements, be cost-effective, identify delivery methods, include training programmes, and be fit-for-purpose across diverse property portfolios.
All property portfolios have buildings which have different functions and levels of risk from fire. Portfolios will often include buildings with public access, offices with secure access, residential accommodation, student accommodation, and commercial outlets. At a high level, the evacuation strategy needs to take all of these into account by prioritising the estate risk and function, identifying the delivery methods, and stating the legal/moral protocols.
The strategy has the dual purpose of defining the road map and proving due diligence by Responsible Persons. A lower-level PEEPs strategy will define the detail of who, when, and what will be delivered.
Article 21 of the Fire Safety Order states that the responsible person must ensure that any employees are provided with adequate safety training. To meet this legal requirement, all staff who will be involved in the delivery of PEEPs must undertake training that is accredited by a recognised professional body, in order to provide evidence of competency levels.
The delivery of a PEEP includes the elements of the physical environment in which the evacuation plan is being implemented, the capabilities of the disabled person, assistance that is available (if required), and the method of evacuation.
In public access buildings, it will be important to have a strategy for the development of General Emergency Evacuation Plans (GEEPs) in addition to PEEPs, for any employees or known disabled people occupying the building.
The physical environment
Buildings in the UK vary enormously in age and accessibility. The objective of the strategic approach is to ensure that, wherever possible, the physical environment meets the requirements of Part M of Building Regulations. This particularly applies to means of escape stairwells, which are often ignored during refurbishment activities. The use of contrasting colours, handrails on both sides of stairwells continuing around landings, and clearly contrasting nosings assist both disabled and non-disabled people to evacuate a building safely. Clear signage and use of colour to assist navigations will significantly assist residents during an emergency.
The development of artificial intelligence fire alarms, evacuation alert systems, data management, and the implementation of new technology will enable responsible persons to build in strategies that protect the vulnerable in an emergency, and ensure that they meet both moral and legal imperatives.
Conclusion
Any strategic approach must recognise that disabled people make up 18% of the UK population. They are individuals, often with with complex conditions, living independent lives in the community, and enjoying support from family, friends, and personal assistants who are perfectly capable of assisting them to evacuate from buildings.
All organisations have a large amount of data about their property portfolios, the people who use their buildings, their employees, visitor profiles, and residents where applicable. Joining up the dots of this information is essential when defining the over-arching strategic approach for the evacuation from buildings of disabled people.
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Elspeth Grant is a PEEPs Advisor and Trainer and CEO of Triple A Solutions.