All tourism venues could easily be wheelchair accessible
05 September 2014
The recent survey* of Britain’s most visited tourism venues which found that 63% are not fully wheelchair accessible, is of no surprise to SwallowEMP, the UK leaders in powered mobility and evacuation chairs.
The recent survey* of Britain’s most visited tourism venues which found that 63% are not fully wheelchair accessible, is of no surprise to SwallowEMP, the UK leaders in powered mobility and evacuation chairs.
“We come across organisations all the time which won’t provide solutions for disabled people as they don’t think they have to”, comments Julia Hampson, Director at SwallowEMP, “Unfortunately many organisations often put in the minimum for fire regulations claiming that they have an old building and don’t need to provide access, or that they don’t have any wheelchair users who use them!”.
She continues, “In our experience many businesses provide a duty of care to evacuate people from buildings and have one design of chair for downward evacuation only, expecting wheelchair users to transfer into these in an emergency. Very few companies like ourselves have always focused on access as well as egress and cater specifically for wheelchair users.”
As the survey suggests, by providing proper access for people with disabilities, tourism businesses could help the huge 11 million population of people with disabilities and at the same time benefit from their custom.
The same survey also found that 25% of venues did not have accessible approaches to doors, including parking areas. This is where powered stair climbers for wheelchairs provide the ideal solution. SwallowEMP has one of the largest ranges of such equipment on the market, these products allowing a person in a wheelchair to be directly transported on a powered stair climber. This means there is no need to transfer out of a wheelchair and one person can move people in wheelchairs both upstairs as well as downstairs.
These powered products for wheelchair users include the Stair Mate which takes standard wheelchairs, Super Trac designed for powered wheelchairs and its latest product, the LG2030 designed to hold all types of wheelchairs.
Fully powered, the LG2030 is designed to hold all types of wheelchairs and to navigate straight, curved or spiral staircases. The product’s powerful 500W motor allows a small attendant to safely transport a larger person up and down stairways with no risk of overturning due to the equipment’s innovative weight balancing system where front and rear support wheels are automatically activated for ascent and descent.
Ideal for public and residential buildings, the LG2030 can carry a person and wheelchair of up to 180kg, is simple to operate, robust and incorporates many safety features. The wheelchair ramps are fully extendable and the three dimensional anchoring system ensures that all types of wheelchair can be carried with fast hooking and un-hooking.
One of the other benefits of all these powered stair climbers is that they are fully portable so there is no need to have equipment permanently attached to buildings and spoiling the building’s appearance.
“One irony which we come across is where we often hire stair climbers to clients who have paid to hire a venue and then can’t access the event because there are stairs with no provisions for wheelchair users”, adds Julia Hampson.
Other Press Releases By This Company
- 05/08/2020 - Help Evaccess To Support You By Thinking Ahead Now
- 06/04/2020 - Evaccess are ‘Business as Unusual’ – Lending a Helping Hand from Home
- 11/02/2020 - Strategic cooperation Evaccess with Escape Mobility Company LTD
- 24/02/2017 - Swallow Evacuation & Mobility Products
- 20/02/2017 - Another STEP forward for Swallow Evacuation & Mobility Products Ltd.
- 07/01/2015 - Stairclimber Solves Lift Breakdown For Care Home
- 17/11/2014 - Surrey Schools Ensure There Is No Obstacle In Education
- 10/07/2014 - Evacuation Chair company realises relentless growth
- 19/06/2014 - New Powered Stairway Climber carries any wheelchair & user safely
