Many people in the United States and throughout the world are
mobility impaired and their numbers are growing daily. The mobility
impaired are at a major disadvantage today by not being
properly accounted for and integrated into emergency evacuation
plans.
First, the interpretation of the current American with Disability
Act (ADA) laws can cause the mobility impaired to be overlooked in
the implementation of most standard evacuation plans. Second, often
if someone who is “mobility impaired” is not wheelchair bound, they
are not taken into account when planning an emergency response plan.
Third, the awareness of the availability of the devices for
evacuating the mobility impaired is lacking, much to the detriment
of all mobility impaired building occupants.
The obvious disadvantage of mobility-impaired building occupants is
that it is impossible for them to get out of a building during an
emergency evacuation without assistance.
This article will explore the types of emergencies that require
evacuation; who the “mobility impaired” really are; how in the past
the mobility impaired have been evacuated; what alternatives there
are on the market today for safe evacuation of the mobility impaired
and some recent developments post 9/11 that are helping to make sure
the needs of the mobility impaired are included in emergency
evacuation plans of the future.
There are many emergencies that concern all occupants of a building,
both employees and visitors, including those that are mobility
impaired. Due to extensive media coverage, terrorist attacks
have become the recent focus, however, there are many more frequent
emergency situations for which each building owner and manager must
plan a response.
There are internal threats with building emergencies, such as:
fires, gas leaks, bomb threats and power outages which all require
that elevators be shutdown.
There are also external forces with natural disasters such as:
earthquakes, floods, and, of course, as with the recent hurricane
Katrina, violent storms. All of these events are cause for the quick
evacuation of all the occupants from a given building.
In most buildings in the United States the elevators cannot be used
for evacuation purposes during emergencies. In fact, many have fire
doors that close and seal off the elevators to prevent them
from being used by anyone but emergency personnel. The reason for
shutting down the elevators is largely because moving from floor to
floor could literally transport a fresh volume of oxygen
to a floor starved of oxygen due to a burning fire.
Supplying the fire with a fresh burst of oxygen is dangerous for
everyone concerned. The elevator shafts are also a good place for a
reservoir of gas to gather during a gas leak. All of this must be
taken into account when we discuss how to evacuate a building during
an emergency response plan. Since the elevators cannot be used to
assist in the evacuation of the mobility impaired, alternatives must
be explored.Who are the mobility impaired? When we are referring
to the “mobility impaired,” we include those that can be identified
visually as mobility impaired, such as those bound to wheelchairs
and those using canes and walkers. However, the mobility impaired
include more than those in wheelchairs. The distinction of “mobility
impaired” refers to all employees as well as unknown visitors to
your building at any given time. This can include: pregnant women,
the elderly, the arthritic, the obese, people with respiratory or
heart problems, and people with temporary injuries to their
lower extremities such as sprained ankles.
The “mobility impaired” in terms of evacuation practices, basically
includes anyone who is not able to physically travel down stairwells
without assistance.
Today, the mobility impaired, as was the case with hundreds of
people in the World Trade Center during the 9/11 terrorist attacks,
are assembled and corralled in a part of the building designated
as the “Area of Rescue.” Once in position, they are told to wait for
emergency personnel to come and rescue them. The rest of the
building is evacuated while these people are forced to sit and wait.
So what are the alternatives to the “Area of Rescue” plan?
There are several emergency evacuation devices on the market
today that empower the mobility
impaired. These devices allow for the mobility impaired to be
evacuated along with all other building occupants and can also allow
for building owners and managers to avoid potential liability
issues.
There are basically two types of devices on the market today. One
type is designed with a single person in control of the device using
an integrated speed governing mechanism. The other type of
device requires two carriers to evacuate or relocate the evacuee to
safety. There are many models of each type of evacuation device to
choose from. All vary in form and function and the prices vary as
well, ranging from $600 to $2,500, largely depending on whether the
device has a governing mechanism.
There are advantages and disadvantages of all brands and types of
devices. The advantage of the motorized governor device is that it
takes one person to evacuate an individual down a stairwell.
The manufacturers of these devices typically recommend a second
person be recruited to potentially assist with the evacuation in
case of complications. The major disadvantages of this type of
device
include: the difficulty of carrying an evacuee back up the stairs
due to the weight and non-ergonomic design of the device; training
is needed to understand and operate the governing mechanism;
they have potentially higher maintenance requirements due to moving
parts and the cost is typically a great deal more than the manual
models.
The major advantage of the two-person manual evacuation device is
that they can be carried at any speed and over most obstructions
such as debris and water. When the stairwell is blocked
by debris or has collapsed, the carriers simply turn around, without
changing the orientation of the chair, and go back up the stairs.
Other advantages include: the more ergonomic design of many of
the manual devices make the evacuation process safer for both the
evacuee and the evacuator; the lower cost of the manual devices make
it more cost effective to incorporate them into emergency
plans, allowing for additional devices to be utilized during
evacuations; and typically these types of devices are simpler to
operate and require little or no training.
The disadvantage of these types of evacuation devices is the
requirement of two people to transport the evacuee both up and down
stairwells.
Some new developments in current events have also assisted in
shaping the future of the evacuation of the mobility impaired. The
National Council on Disability (NCD) recently released a detailed
post 9/11 report recommending immediate federal changes in emergency
planning for people with disabilities.
“All too often in emergency situations the legitimate concerns of
people with disabilities are overlooked or swept aside. In areas
ranging from the accessibility of emergency information to the
evacuation plans for high-rise buildings, great urgency surrounds
the need for responding
to the concerns of people with disabilities in all planning,
preparedness, response, recover, and mitigation activities.
The homeland security terrorist event of Sept. 11, 2001, as well as
the recent energy blackouts in the U.S. Northeast and Midwest and,
more recently, the natural disaster hurricane events in Florida and
the tsunami event of December 26, 2004, underscore the need to pay
attention to the concerns
raised in this report,” stated NCD Chairperson Lex Frieden.
Another reason for concern was addressed on December 28, 2004 when
an important court decision was made regarding the evacuation of the
mobility impaired.
The case was “Disability Rights Council of Greater Washington v.
Marshals Department Stores and City Place Mall.” This decision
concluded that the sole use of “Areas of Rescue” would not
be adequate in providing for the efficient evacuation of the
mobility impaired. It was also concluded that the mobility impaired
must be more effectively integrated into all emergency evacuation
plans.
“The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) has always been
understood to help get people with disabilities into places of
public accommodation. Now for the first time, it has also been found
to require that public places try to get those same people out in
the event of a fire, terrorist
attack, or other emergency,” states Elaine Gardner, director of
Disability Right Project at the Washington Lawyers’ Committee for
Civil Rights and Urban Affairs in response to this recent court
decision.
This case was settled out of court, after nearly two years of
litigation for an undisclosed
amount. This result was the first of many possible similar
situations looming over all our high-rise and skyscraper-building
owners. All building owners and managers must make an active effort
to educate
themselves about emergency evacuation devices and stay on top of
their evacuation plans to control their liability exposure. There
must also be a dramatic shift in the mentality towards emergency
preparation and evacuation, especially where the mobility impaired
are concerned, for the safety of all building occupants across the
nation. FSM
Sean Foote is vice-president of Concept Development
Associates, Inc. He can be reached at 707.546.4470 ext *18 or by
email at sfoote@cda-designs.com. Kenn Foote is president of
Concept Development Associates, Inc. He can be reached at
707.546.4470 ext *12 or by e-mail sfoote@cda-designs.com. They have
been involved within the emergency response industry for five years
now working with building management, building owners, and fire
safety personnel.
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