Posted By Kara Little
Hello All
Can you give me some advice.
I am the nominated fire officer for a 2 storey building.
I was recently told to hold a test evacuation. On the day I question, unbeknown to me we had a wheelchair user visiting the site. He gained access to the 2nd floor by using the lift.
When the alarms activated, the person that was dealing with him moved him to a safe refuge at the top of the stairs and ran down to tell me this is what they had done. There was no way of getting this person out of the building other than using the lift (which we've been told not to do) or by carrying him down the stairs (not dignified for him and not much good for our backs). I have been reading previous posting and note the comments re evac chairs - we do not have anything like this. There are no specific instructions on evauating a disabled person from the top floor as it was never anticipated a wheelchair user would ever been seen on the top floor
Anyway back to my point in question. I have been severely critised as the nominated fire officer for not ensuring a staff member stayed with the wheelchair user.
Are there any specific regulatiions that state I must stay in a burning building with a disabled user?. Yes in hindsight it was a terrible thing to do however I have been told in the past it was the safest thing to do i.e leave the disabled person in the refuge area.
We really would not have sufficient staff to stay with someone, man the doors, do a role call, ring the fire service etc
Also if someone stays in the building and I am outside co ordinating the evacuation etc how do I communicate with the person who has stayed in the building to let them know what is going on? We are not provided with work mobiles
I think the test evacuation has highlighted serious flaws in our fire procedures and I am just thankful they came to light during a test. Can you give me some guidance as to the above questions as I am being asked to attend a meeting with the fire safety advsior to explain my actions

Posted By Kevin Brown
With the introduction of the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 the responsibility for the safe evacuation of disabled staff and visitors now rests with the employer, not the Fire and Rescue Service. You need to have robust procedures in place to ensure the evacuation of all building occupants, including those with mobility problems.
The precautions should not rely on intervention by the Fire & Rescue Service to evacuate the workplace, so any 'refuge' you make use of should be a temporary holding place where you can transfer the vulnerable person to (for instance) an evacuation chair before effecting an escape.
(Lifts can, under certain circumstances, be used if they are fire -rated. Check whether yours is).
Any criticism should have been constructive and based on the absence of relevant evacuation procedures. Don't accept any criticism for making your own escape. You have a right o continued existence too. The DDA 1995 doesn't grant greater rights to the disabled.Two people succumbing to smoke inhalation is not intrinsically better than one.
I suggest you consult the FIRE AND RESILIENCE section of the Communities website (www.communities.org.uk). You'll find plenty of guidance on fire safety in general, and means of escape for disabled persons (in particular), including advise on 'refuges'. The good news is that you can download them in .pdf format for free).

Posted By Bob Shillabeer
Please don't let the myth that the fire service won't rescue people anymore. That is what they are very good at, they train to do this type of activity all the time. The RRFO has only changed the role of the fire prevention side of the fire service, it has not done anything to the fire rescue side at all. The main reason for the RRFO was developed was to move the responsibility for fire risk assessment into the same area as all other types of risk assessment and to free up time for the fire service (and save cost). Fire certification applied only to a small number of sites and left a great amount of premises without any legally binding responsibility, this has now changed. The rescue and fire fighting aspect of the service has not changed.

Posted By MGF
In response to Bob, and I understand the reasoning, although the aspect of rescue will still be undertaken by the fire service the fire evacuation and assessment should ensure all employees, visitors etc are evacuated before they arrive. Previous systems of 'safe haven' are now only to be used as a safe area on an evacuation route to allow rest, not to wait and be rescued.

As part of the assessment process the responsible person is required to look at forseeable circumstances and as such put in place systems/procedures to ensure everybody is evacuated.

As shown by the person posting the query, in this instance somebody accessed an area, rightly or wrongly, but in doing so possibly made the company liable due to that forseeable action not having in place a system to evacuate the person, or allow them upper floor access in the first instance (we then fall into DDA territory).

After numerous contact with fire personnel these systems must be in place, and the old 'safe haven' leaving a person there for evacuation would be frowned upon and the responsible person would be actioned with providing a suitable system for evacuation.

That said, they would not leave a person in a building, as they will rescue, but in all reality everbody should be out or on their way out before thay arrive, and on inspection the fire service would expect to see documentation etc surrounding these issues.

MGF