Fire Escapes & Disabled Access – is your site compliant?
09 February 2022
Employers have a legal obligation to ensure their fire evacuation plans comply with various legislation including the Disability Discrimination Act, Fire Regulations & Fire Precautions Act, Building Regulations and Fire Reform Order.
Employers need to;
- Make “reasonable adjustments” so that can leave safely in the event of fire.
- Provide means of escape for disabled people.
- Carry out Fire Safety Risk Assessments and include provisions for employees and visitors with impaired sight or hearing.
There are a number of possible strategies for making a workplace's fire safety arrangements easier for disabled people to use. These may include;
- Consulting and making plans with disabled employees.
- Creating temporary refuges (fire-proof areas with their own escape routes) on each floor, as an alternative to stairways for wheelchair users.
- Familiarising vision-impaired people with escape routes.
- Create Personal Emergency Evacuation Plans ('PEEPs') for each disabled member of staff, tailored to their individual needs.
- Having visual ways of alerting hearing-impaired staff that an evacuation is underway.
