Bilbo, The purpose of the PEEP is to ensure the disabled person can escape safely from a building when the need arises. All you need to do is ensure they understand the PEEP will be shared with certain individuals to ensure it can be applied safely even when you are not around. The personal bit simply means it is applicable to one person only and is nothing to do with the disabilaity act or the data protection act. Ensure that when you draw up a new PEEP you make sure the person understands that it may be necessary to share the information it contains with others who may be involved in thier evacution but ensure the information is controlled so that it remains fairly confidential expecially when the disability is of a personal nature. Remember the person indvolved also have a duty to cooperate with you to draw up an evacuation plan.

John, As I see it what you have are not PEEPs they are of a generic type of evacuation arrangement according to the level of disability the individual has. By grouping them into one of three categories you have avoided the need for specific PEEPs. There is nothing wrong with your system as it catogorises the individual into a group which requires specific evacuation actions to take place and staff are trained (hopefully) in implementing them should the need arise. A PEEP is personal to the individual concerned and must be agreed with them before they are required. In a hospice or hospital there would be a lot of work required to develop a PEEP for every patient, therefore a grouping according to the amount of help each would need in an evacuation is sound. Your systeem sounds as if it works well, have you had need to implement them at all if so how well did they work?

Thanks all for your contributions to date. I have to say that, in some instances, there is little prospect of agreeing with the subject of the PEEP due to the extent/type of the disability - so clearly it must be shared with carers and those charged with assisting in the evacuation. There is also very little mileage to be had in getting the individual (the subject of the PEEP) to cooperate, both in drawing up a plan and in being evacuated. WRT sharing the PEEP with the fire service, surely enforcement officers will want to see PEEP's as part of their inspection role? If it is felt to be the case that fire officers will not want to see them – then that solves one part of the problem of confidentiality.

An inspecting officer would not be interested in sieing individual PEEPs unless he was looking for examples as to how it was being aplied with. He would have no interest in the specific details of the person, only that the process was understood and applied. I still feel that in a hospital situation the need for a PEEP is somewhat over riden by the need to have a process that caters for all eventualities. therfore individual PEEPs are rather redundant.