Sad news last month when I heard that 13 disabled people and a supervisor had all perished in a fire in a workplace in Germany. This is not supposed to happen in these times when we are supposed to have ‘taken care’ of the safety of everyone, including those who are disabled.

Don’t we have a plethora of European legislation and EU Directives that focus on a risk based approach to fire safety? Wasn’t it an EU Directive that started the move away from the Fire Precautions Act in the UK towards a risk based approach? And weren’t all countries in the EU signed up to this approach?

In the UK, building regulations recognise the need to have buildings that are accessible and user-friendly to all who may use them, including disabled people. We have the Equality Act which ensures equality and access to buildings for disabled people within reason. And we have the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 (RRO) which makes the responsible person take account of the evacuation plans of everyone in a building, including disabled people.

In 2007, the Government produced supplementary guidance to go with the suite of guidance documents already produced at that time for the RRO. This addition was titled ‘Means of Escape for Disabled People’.

PEEPs

I was so interested in this at the time that together with a colleague, Alan Stoker, we started up a company especially to deal with the evacuation of disabled people from fire. At around this time another colleague, Elspeth Grant, started a consultancy called TripleAConsult dealing with all access issues as well as Personal Emergency Evacuation Plans (PEEPs) and training.

Armed with the new guidance document, additional training and our experience, Alan and I set out to provide a service and consultancy in PEEPs, thinking that we were on the cusp of a breakthrough in how the responsible person would now view their emergency plans and evacuation strategies.

We tried hard to make a success of it. But when we delivered our fire risk assessments with action plans that PEEPs should be provided and evacuation strategies should take into account any disabled people (including the temporary disabled such as the guy who has broken his leg playing football at the weekend), we were almost totally ignored.

We would get answers like: ‘I have refuges in the staircase so we put them in there and the fire brigade will come up and evacuate them, so no need for your PEEPs”. Or: “I have these chairs in the staircase, the fire brigade know how to use them.” Or even: “We don’t let disabled people on any floor other than the ground floor and we make sure they are near an exit” (in this case there was a wheelchair user on the second floor in the canteen who got there in a lift – not an evacuation one!). Or the other standard: “We don’t have any disabled people working here”. Most are also reluctant to pay for this.

After nearly five years of running this company – even with advertising and an informative website with lots of hits – using it to deliver fire risk assessments and training as a means of persuading responsible persons to carry out PEEPs for disabled people in their buildings, the number of enquiries that I have received primarily to deliver PEEPs I can count on two hands. It is with regret that we have now put the company on the backburner. I still want to deliver PEEPs with Alan, Elspeth and myself and in the meantime I can use Flamerisk Safety Solutions Ltd to do it until demand picks up consistently.

Apathy?

So, why has this happened? I am not convinced that there is a lack of knowledge amongst employers of disabled people – they must be savvy to equality issues including access etc. I know there is still a great lack of understanding and dare I say, apathy, concerning the Fire Safety Order. The apathy extends to dealing with people at risk and the most vulnerable. My experience again is that organisations (big and small) just can’t be bothered, it won’t happen to them or they don’t want any more cost.
My straw poll of a few fire and rescue services suggests that the majority do not take into account or check out PEEPs for disabled people or view emergency plans and evacuation strategies with disabled people specifically in mind. If they tell you they do, then why have there been no prosecutions relating directly to this? I can’t believe that every organisation in their area has PEEPs for disabled people in place.

So could what happened in Germany happen in the UK? According to a London Fire Brigade report, at least one person a month in the care system dies within their area. I think a tragedy could happen unless we start to make responsible persons aware of their responsibilities and how these extend to the evacuation of disabled people. One of the most effective ways to promote this is via fire and rescue service audits and enforcement – that’s what the RRO was enacted for.

Bob Docherty is chairman of the Institute of Fire Safety Managers

Latest training course dates!

CLICK HERE to request the latest Training Course Dates flyer!

2013 First Aid at Work Certificate Course – 3 day course £175*

January – 16th, 23rd and 30th January 2013 – Course closed.

February – 22nd Feb, 1st & 8th March 2013 – Course closed.

March – Course closed.

April – 23rd, 24th & 25th April 2013 – Course closed.

May – 22nd May, 29th May & 5th June 2013

June – Call us!

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2013 First Aid at Work Refresher Course – 2 day course £110*

January – 24th and 31th January 2013 – Course closed.

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March – 20th & 27th March 2013 – Course closed.

April – 29th & 30th April 2013 – Course closed.

May – 23rd & 30th May 2013

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2013 Emergency First Aid at Work Course – 1 day course £60*

January

February – 5th February 2013 – Course closed.

March – 28th March 2013 – Course closed.

April – 17th April 2013 – Course closed.

May – 16th May 2013

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The narrow profile, design and very light weight construction of the Evac+Chair stair chair means that its use as an evacuation chair does not interfere with the ascent and/or descent of first responders sharing the very narrow stairwell of the World Trade Center. The stair chair manufactured by Evac+Chair is engineered to maneuver smoothly and consistently using a patented continuous rotating V belt that ensures safety and allows the user to have total control of the chair’s descent speed down the stairs with relative ease, regardless of the passenger’s weight or size.

Prior to the World Trade Center Twin Towers attack, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey has purchased well over 125 Evacuation Chairs (Rescue Chairs) manufactured by Evac+Chair of North America. When the World Trade Center Twin Towers were attacked on September 11, 2001; Several disabled workers (with impaired mobility) were prepared to put the Stair Chairs by Evac+Chair of North America into action. These disabled workers were aided by fellow employees utilizing the Stair Chairs of Evac+Chair, including John Abruzzo, who in the aftermath contacted Evac+Chair of North America for a special thanks for the rescue chair (evacuation chair) by Evac+Chair of North America.

John Abruzzo (9/11 survivor), a staff accountant for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, was working at his computer on the 69th floor of One World Trade Center when the first hijacked jet sliced into the tower. “It felt like the building was punched,” he says. “My desk faces north the side the airplane hit. Paper was just coming down. Worse, the building swayed–and only in one direction says John.

By the time John Abruzzo, a C5-6 quad, had maneuvered his power wheel chair into the hallway, he saw only 10 of his coworkers–everyone else had already evacuated. A co-worker located one the the many EVAC+CHAIR’s located throughout the building and transferred John Abruzzo out of his new, customized Arrow into the Evacuation Chair of Evac+Chair of North America rescue device, which resembles a sled-like component that takes their place when going down stairs.

The survivors and their rescuers reported that they were able to make their way down the stairs as firefighters came up without any interference. It doesn’t take a level of disaster such as the Twin Towers attack to keep in mind the importance of getting all occupants out of any multi-story building or large venue to safely. Anyone who needs assistance down a stair case for any reason, in any building, in any situation that requires evacuation, can be helped to safety with an Evac+Chair.

Evac+Chair International will take a starring role in the Make it in Great Britain exhibition at the Science Museum, which was opened this morning by Business Secretary Vince Cable and Business Minister Mark Prisk.

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The exhibition runs from 24 July until 9 September and will demonstrate the very best of British manufacturing.

Evac+Chair International based in Birmingham beat competition from hundreds of UK companies to a place at the exhibition, which aims to dispel the myth that Britain ‘doesn’t make anything anymore’ and educate visitors about the value of manufacturing to the UK economy.

The exhibition is the culmination of the Make it in Great Britain campaign; an initiative launched by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills last year which aims to challenge outdated opinions of the UK manufacturing industry, worth approximately £137bn to the UK economy each year and employing 2.5 million people.

Evac+Chair is the original manufacturer and the world’s leading supplier of evacuation chairs, designed to allow people who are mobility impaired to safely descend staircases in the event of an emergency without the need for lifting or great physical strength. The company employs more than 70 people and from its manufacturing base in the heart of Birmingham it produces and distributes more than 7,500 units per year to customers in the UK and more than 30 countries including the USA, Japan, India, New Zealand and South Africa.

Paul Colder, Head of Marketing for Evac+Chair International commented:

“After months of planning, it’s fantastic to see our exhibit representing the British manufacturing industry in the Science Museum alongside iconic companies like McLaren, Airbus, The Royal Mint and Sunseeker, as well as leading small and medium businesses like Ultra Global.”

“We’re passionate about UK manufacturing, and can’t wait to show people what a vibrant industry it really is. The exhibition is free and we’d really encourage people from Birmingham to come along and find us here.”

Business Minister Mark Prisk said:

“The future of manufacturing in the UK is bright. The Make it in Great Britain exhibition showcases a mix of forward-thinking businesses from a range of sectors including aerospace, automotive and food and drink, which will give the public a real flavour of what modern manufacturing is all about, and demonstrate first-hand the exciting and rewarding career opportunities available today.”

Source: http://www.approvedbusiness.co.uk/viewarticle_10767.aspx

International Evac+Chair distributors flew from Japan, South Africa and the United States to be part of the conference. We were treated to a day of learning with a focus on Evac+Chair International business updates and a training session on the businesses’ ServiCare option.

UK evacuation expert and Director of the Fire Safety Engineering Group at the University of Greenwich, Professor Ed Galea served as the keynote speaker at the event. He shared with the group his knowledge about emergency evacuation and updates in the world of emergency escape.

Evac+Chair’s founder and financial director, Barry Scholes, was recognised at the event and presented with a gold replica of an Evac+Chair for his contribution in creating and developing the business, building it into a global brand and its success over 27 years.

McCallum Safety & Health were proud to win the award for Sales by Population 2012 which Don McCallum accepted at the event!

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At an October ceremony in the House of Lords RH were awarded the Ergonomics Excellence award for the 11th time in a row. This feat is unrivalled with RH being the only manufacturer to hold the award since its inception.

FIRA put each chair through rigorous tests to ensure that it meets stringent ergonomic criteria in terms of both design and performance. This time round 3 RH chairs were put forward for testing. All passed with flying colours so now the RH Ambio, Logic and Extend chairs can claim the Ergonomic Excellence award for another 12 months.

It’s a great statement from RH, underlining their commitment to ergonomic excellence. Ergonomics lead all design in RH and it’s an important part of the business strategy to have independent verification of the high quality standards reached in both design and manufacture.

The Range

There will be 4 colours in the standard range; Black, Wheat Beige, Maroon Brown and Nightshade grey. In addition there will also be 10 more colors in the extended range. The leather from Wollsdorf has been tested extensively on all RH chairs and approved. In fact it will be very difficult to tell any difference in the new leather being used from the old leather supplied by Elmo. Fabric cards will be supplied when available.

Elmo and other leathers will still be available if you want these. Its just the standard range that will now be coming from Wollsdorf.

We are now pleased to be able to offer Automated External Defibrillation (AED) Training Courses. For more information please call us on 028 9262 9911.

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