Rank: Forum user
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Dear safety bods (that includes me!)
An interesting situation has come up where I work and I am after some advice from my fellow safety professionals....
We are about to employ a profoundly deaf cleaner (she will not be able to hear the alarm) who will be required to clean a boarding house of 96 rooms, plus common areas. She may also have to go into other buildings all of which have separate fire alarm systems, some of which are quite old.
Does anyone have any experience of this and can suggest a solution?
As there are so many rooms it would be impossible to rely on strobe/flashing sounders as they won't be installed in every room so I'm thinking of some sort of paging type device that vibrates when the fire alarm sounds...Does anyone have experience of these and can the vibrating device be connected to several different fire alarms?
Many, many thanks,
BL15
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Rank: Forum user
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Just re-read the thread title and it should read 'Fire' not 'First'....was also thinking about first aid!!!
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Rank: Super forum user
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BL15 pager is the way to go.
Had the same issue a few years back with severely impaired hearing in a factory. Contacted the company who provided and maintained the fire alarm system who were very helpful, told us what type of devices would work with their system and then installed the software to make it work.
Simple solution.
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Rank: Super forum user
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As jonty says - pager - you can get them with a vibration mode as well as with flashing beepers - talk to your fire alarm supplier.
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Rank: Forum user
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Hi We use a system called " Deaf Alerter" Dave
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Rank: Super forum user
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And write it all down in a Personal Emergency Evacuation Plan, which should include any training she might need, such as in recognising if the device develops a fault and what to do if it does,
John
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Rank: Forum user
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DaveDowan wrote:Hi We use a system called " Deaf Alerter" Dave We use deaf alters at the college as well. Works well.
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Rank: Super forum user
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Presumably the cleaner has a supervisor, so as a back-up plan, get them to go see the cleaner - as you would as a fire marshal to ensure all the people are out.
Also, because the deaf worker is at a greater risk, perhaps knowing where they are before an incident occurs would also make sense - so either an electronic log (going through checkpoints monitored by security) or a simple written log book.
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Rank: New forum user
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Can you still get pagers these days, abit 80's.... Pager, Mobile phone (on vibrate of course) or the installation of flashing lights/beacons. As this is a boarding house what controls to you have for any deaf guest?
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Rank: Forum user
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Hi BL15
Just thinking through Kim's suggestion of an electronic log, if your Houses are anything like our's it's probably not an option, but generally the Matron would have an idea of which area the cleaner covers, or if the entire House, they have set orders of areas which they clean and therefore you could have a basic timetable for her - i.e. 8am common room, 8.30am 3rd form dorm etc. Realistically though the cleaner should be found in a sweep of the building, which is how we rely on guaranteed clearance of the building.
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Rank: Super forum user
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BL15
As commonly advised on other forum threads about people with medical conditions and disabilities which might affect their safety and capability, it would be worthwhile for you and/or the prospective cleaner's line manager/supervisor to arrange to have a chat with her if this hasn't already been done.
Among other things you may find out what arrangements, if any, were made for her by any previous employers and whether she found them to be effective or not. You'll also find out if she lip-reads and/or uses sign language. In addition, although you understand her to be profoundly deaf, (i.e. no hearing at all), it's possible that she might have a cochlear implant and that this enables her to hear some sounds especially loud ones such as fire alarms.
Another point: If the cleaner is provided with an effective warning device which is activated by the sounding of the fire alarm wherever she is within the building, this surely deals with the greater risk she might otherwise face from fire because of her deafness. If so, introducing an electronic or manual log system specifically for her, as suggested by Kim at #8, could be considered excessive.
Also, though she might have negligible or no hearing, her faculties of sight, smell and touch may be fine and therefore of use to her in the event of a fire occurring.
My mention of smell above reflects the fact that quite a number of fires are initially identified by people who notice an unusual smell which could be smoke or something burning. I've experienced it myself late one afternoon in a large hotel in Eastern Europe during the 1980s. A fire broke out in one of the bedrooms allegedly because its occupant had fallen asleep while smoking. As the hotel had no internal fire doors, the first inkling that I and some others on the upper floors had about the fire was a smell akin to that of burnt toast coming from somewhere. Somewhat surprisingly the hotel did not have a conventional fire alarm system, so its guests and visitors were alerted (more likely confused) by various members of staff running about shouting and banging on bedroom doors! :-(
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Rank: Super forum user
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It will also be worth speaking to her as she may have a pager or similar that reacts to alarms etc. I know a number of years ago someone I knew had such equipment already and was happy to utilise this when at work. It is also better to discuss the solutions with her before implementing as you will get her buy in quicker to use equipment etc and know that it is right for her.
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Rank: Forum user
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Reply to post no7 "We use deaf alters at the college as well. Works well."
Is that for silent praying then?
Come on, it is Friday...
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