And Safe Egress for All

Emergency plans often leave out disabled people, increasing the risk that when disaster strikes they will be left behind or will not have information that could save their lives.

So says the National Council on Disability, a federal agency that advises the President and Congress. Looking at the Sept. 11 attacks and other manmade and natural disasters, the council found holes in evacuation plans that left disabled people vulnerable, The Associated Press reports.

“Decisions about who the people are, where they are located and how they need to be evacuated should be made in advance,” says Martin Gould, a research specialist for the council. “There should not be a need for decisions to be made during a crisis.”

Evacuating the disabled has long been a consideration for governmental building planners and managers. Prior to Sept. 11, however, evacuation drills typically occurred once a year and were predictable and not taken seriously. The emergency preparedness procedures mainly addressed fires.

After the terrorist attacks, government departments reaffirmed their commitment to the evacuation procedures. The Department of Transportation, for example, released a 15-page memorandum in Aug. 2002 addressing the subject.

“Employees with disabilities who need assistance during an emergency must inform the department of their needs, including exactly what kind of assistance is required,” the document states. “Additionally, employees with disabilities are encouraged to set up a buddy system to support the emergency preparedness plan.”

At the Twin Towers, plans for the disabled were put in place after a 1993 bombing that killed six people. But survivors of the 2001 attacks said regular drills were not held, and some people did not know or had forgotten about available aids such as evacuation chairs — lightweight escape seats for wheelchair users — that had been stashed in some offices, the report says.

“Although it would seem that the events of Sept. 11 would have created widespread change and innovation related to disaster preparedness for all individuals as well as people with disabilities, this has not been the case,” the report concludes.

Strategies for emergency preparedness involving the disabled involve many aspects. The physical layout of a building, the type of occupancy and the characteristics of the occupants are important parameters to be considered when determining how to provide life safety for all occupants.

“In assessing the effectiveness of the various life safety strategies for occupants with disabilities, the general opinion is that there is no single life safety option that will solve all of the problems,” says Dr. Guylène Proulx, author of Evacuation Planning for Occupants with Disability, a research report from the Institute for Research in Construction of the National Research Council of Canada.

“Most likely, a combination of different options will be used to ensure an acceptable level of life safety for all occupants in a building,” the report continues.

“Many current evacuation models neglect to include important aspects of an evacuation such as social/group movement, disabled movement and use of evacuation devices,” agreed James Lord and Brian Meacham of Westborough, Mass.-based Arup Fire, at a National Institute of Standards and Technology roundtable on the subject.

SIDELINE

EVACUATION CHECKLIST FOR THE DISABLED

The University of Oregon offers the following guidelines in its emergency procedures manual. Like the Department of Transportation’s emergency guide, it warns that the most important factor in emergency safety for people with disabilities is advanced planning.

After an Evacuation is Ordered

• Help evacuate people with disabilities if possible.

• Do not use elevators, unless authorized to do so by police or fire personnel.

• A buddy system, where people with disabilities arrange for volunteers to alert them and assist them in an emergency, is a good method.

• Always ask someone with a disability how you can help before attempting any rescue technique or giving assistance. Ask how he or she can be best assisted or moved and whether there are any special considerations or items that need to come with the person.