25
PRO INSTALLER SEPTEMBER 2014
PRO NEWS
@proinstaller1
Fire Safety & Disability:
A Burning Issue
for Installers
Providing for disabled and hard of hearing building occupants should
be high on the fire safety agenda. Installers need to recommend
fire safety products to be able to guarantee compliance with
the Equality Act 2010, which sets out to legally protect people
from discrimination in the workplace and in the wider society.
Fire Safety
Regulation
Installers need to be aware
of the Fire Safety Order
(FSO); the current fire safety
law in England and Wales.
The FSO nominates one
individual as the ‘Responsible Person’ for a building – generally deemed to
be the owner, occupier or
employer.
The ‘Responsible Person’
has a duty to fulfil the
requirements of the FSO.
Those requirements all stem
from having a suitable and
sufficient fire risk assessment. The responsible person also needs to provide
an emergency evacuation
plan for all people likely
to be in the premises and
instructions for how the
plan will be implemented.
Knowledge of the occupant’s potential disabilities
and how that can affect
them is vital.
Installers can also assist
with compliance to the
Equality Act which replaced
the Disability Discrimination
Act 1995 and 2005 (DDA)
on October 1st 2010. Where
an employer does not make
provision for the safe evacuation of disabled people
from its premises, this may
be viewed as discrimination.
Installers should recommend adequate fire safety
products and solutions to
ensure a safe environment
and make certain that disabled and hard of hearing
guests are made aware of a
fire alarm sounding and are
able to evacuate the estab-
lishment quickly and safely.
It is often a combination
of equipment as beacons,
for example, can’t be relied
upon in bright light.
Evacuation Strategy
& Fire Doors
Installers need to be aware
that in the situation where
staff or regular visitors to
a building have disabilities, the HR department
or building manager must
create an evacuation plan
tailored to their individual
needs, called a ‘PEEP’ (Personal Emergency Evacuation
Plan). This does not only
apply to permanent disabilities, temporary injuries
such as sprained ankles and
mobility difficulties as associated with pregnancy also
need to be addressed.
Products should be installed to ensure that those
with a hearing impairment
are made aware of a fire
alarm. This could be a product that vibrates and/or uses
light to alert to a fire alarm,
such as the Deafgard, or the
DMS system which alerts
deaf or hard or hearing people via text message. Ensuring these sorts of products
are in place will offer deaf
and hard of hearing people
the freedom to move around
buildings without the worry
of not being aware of an
emergency situation.
Should the building that
you are working in or with
host occupants with physical disabilities, the evacuation procedure should
take these into account.
Keeping means of escape
routes clear at all times is
an all-important part of fire
safety and becomes even
more vital when considering the space required for a
wheelchair to get around. If
wheelchair users are located
above the ground floor,
adequate systems and facilities such as ramps or carry-down procedures should
be put in place to ensure
these people are able to
evacuate the building without using the lifts.
Fire doors are one of the
most important fire safety
features in a building and
also, sadly, the most commonly abused. Research carried out by Fireco showed
that 64% of premises visited
by the fire service found fire
doors wedged open. Being
aware of this issue and
offering a solution
could help keep all
building occupiers
safe in the event of
a fire.
Fire doors are most
often wedged open to
aid the free-flow movement within a building
and to facilitate cleaning.
With this in mind, there are
products available such as
the Freedor, a wireless freeswing door closer which
allows a fire door to be held
open but ‘listens out’ for a
fire alarm and safely closes
the door in this instance,
protecting those behind it
from the dangerous spread
of smoke and fire for 30
minutes.
The
most
important piece of advice
we can give to installers is
ensure that adequate adjustments have been made
to accommodate disabilities
and that fire safety has been
made part of everyday life.
Tom Welland, Conformance and Regulatory Affairs
Manager, Fireco
www.firecoltd.com