Posted By Michael Carr Hi all i have been asked what the benefits are of a phased fire evacuation. would anyone like to add their ideas on the pros and cons of this type of evacuation?

Posted By Ken Taylor Just consider the consequences of getting all the patients out of a hospital or all the residents out of a large care home at the same time.

Posted By J Knight Just to pick up Ken's point and put a bit more detail on it. We have Care Centres with up to 40 ill disabled people in them. At night we may have only six staff. The purpose of a phased evacuation is to remove people who cannot move on their own from immediate danger to a place of relative safety with the limited resources available. Six staff couldn't possibly do much at all if they tried to evacuate the entire building; if they just have to move the occupants of one nine bed compartment they might just save a few lives, John

Posted By Jeff Manion Staff who will be involved in an evacuation must be suitable trained in what to do and when to do what may be required, employees are often able to assist in the development of emergency plans as they have experience of the location. Evacuation plan. Typical plans are likely to involve one or more of the following actions. (a) single stage evacuation, (b) progressive horizontal evacuation, (c) delayed evacuation. (a) Single stage evacuation. Is appropriate for persons who come under the “independent persons” grouping, where it may be reasonable to accept that all persons are able to evacuate from the facility. (b) Progressive horizontal evacuation. Is appropriate where residents are dependant on staff to assist with the escape. Moving persons from one area to another away from the seat of the fire, passing through fire resisting barriers to a protected area on the same level, they can wait here and be lead to a place of safety whilst the emergency is tackled and persons can be assisted to a place of safety. (c) Delayed evacuation. Exceptionally, in a few circumstances it may not be desirable or practical to evacuate residents (due to medical conditions or treatments). If this is the case it may be appropriate to allow them to remain in their rooms whilst the danger is being assessed and dealt with. It may also provide time to deal with the movement of persons from the area to a safer place within the facility, this then should be a simple exercise. In all cases use of the lifts should be avoided due to chimney effect of smoke and possible fire etc rising through the lift shaft, lifts often will go to the lower floor and remain at the floor with doors open (assuming a cause and effect system is in place). This can be over-ridden by the fire services and others who are specifically trained. Escape times. Are influenced by several factors including the type of mobility and dependence (see above), level of awareness, and co-operation afforded between the tenant and staff, distance to travel to protected areas, number of staff – suitably trained for such events. To establish the times required a simple exercise could be applied using various tenants within the facility, they should be accompanied and the person attending should not open doors etc as these could be experienced in an emergency situation. Suggested travel distances. Escape Routes Suggested range of travel distance. More than one escape route provided 10 m in high risk areas - where there are small high risk areas this distance should be applied 18 m in normal risk areas 25 m in low risk areas - where a risk assessment has concluded there is a high risk seeks further advice from a competent person. Single escape route provided 6 m in high risk areas - where there are small high risk areas this distance should be applied 9 m in normal risk areas 15 m in low risk areas - where a risk assessment has concluded there is a high risk seeks further advice from a competent person. The above suggest the distance to be travelled – time is of the essence and must be a further consideration. Assisted means of escape. Independent persons – one who can manoeuvre without aid. There mobility is obvious and the can leave the facility without assistance from staff, if they have mobility impairment, they are able to leave with minimal assistance from others. Dependent person – all residents other than those who are defined as independent. Very high dependence – residents whose condition and / or care creates a high dependency on staff and others where immediate evacuation would prove potentially life threatening. Assisted means of escape. Persons being cared will have obvious mobility, they show signs of severe mobility restrictions, have an understanding of the situation and are able to co-operate with staff. Others such as persons with dementia may have good mobility and their understanding of a situation may be unpredictable. It is possible to have available access to documents on tenants with data that confirms the situation with various persons, this may prove invaluable when assessing assisted means of escape. The number of persons that may need to be moved in an emergency should be as low as possible, further restrictions apply such as lack of staff or others who may be able to assist in any evacuation. In may be a practical exercise to have persons who have very high dependence on the lower levels with independent persons on the upper levels. Just completed something for a particular environment - this may assist. JM