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Editor's Notes

• #2: Thank you My name’s Lee Wilson I’m an access consultant with Equal Access here in Melbourne, And I’m also an advocate for introducing accessibility concepts into building evacuations and emergency planning Today I’m here to talk about how we can provide Safer Evacuations for all And to provide a brief outline on Personal Emergency Evacuation Plans or PEEPs And Generic (or Group) Emergency Evacuation Plans or GEEPs
• #3: So before I begin I’d like to read a very important message: “The focus on access into premises to enable people with disability to fully use a building, needs to be matched with arrangements for their safe egress in the event of a fire” And these requirements are reflected in the cartoon on the screen showing a lady who uses a wheelchair staring at the sign on a passenger lift, whilst there are flames behind her. The sign says “In case of fire do not use elevator use stairs”.
• #4: So when we consider planning for the needs of all building occupants, there’s a great quote I like: “History has shown that planning for emergency evacuation dramatically increases the chance for successful evacuation” This means we need to provide an equitable approach to planning for emergencies and plan for everyone. That is reflected in the cartoon on the screen showing a fire fighter standing in the doorway of a lift that can be used during emergencies. The fire fighter is calling out to a person with a guide dog and telling him to walk towards the lift.
• #5: Now today I’ll be quickly going through a few areas: How I came to be here today The ‘gap’ in legislation Personal Emergency Evacuation Plans (PEEPs) Group (or Generic) Emergency Evacuation Plans (GEEPs)
• #6: Enhanced measures for safe evacuation Enhanced wayfinding concepts Occupant warning system considerations Conclusions & Recommendations
• #7: This journey all started in 2013 as part of a research thesis for university. What I thought would be a relatively easy topic turned out to be complex, in fact it’s been described as a “can of worms” by a building code group in the UK 20 years ago. After I completed the 8,000 word thesis, I kept writing. In I ended up with over 40,000 words and turned this into an industry guidebook titled “Evacuation of People with Disability and Emergency Limitations” At the very least, I hope it can get some important discussions going in Australian workplaces.
• #8: One critical issue I identified is that this area seems to falls between the regulatory cracks, and though the DDA provides an overarching obligation to provide equitable access into buildings, getting people is often overlooked. This therefore throws the bulk of the responsibility onto the manager of a workplace to ensure a safe work environment. What’s even scarier, is that the building code and premises standards under the DDA have for almost 5 years increased the level of accessibility into buildings, without thinking about getting everyone out in an emergency.
• #9: PEEP considers individual needs Assesses characteristics of specific building Essential document for each employee who may be delayed in their ability to respond, react or evacuate A generic type plan will not address everyone’s unique needs
• #10: Generic arrangements that cater for EVERYONE It’s more complex to manage public buildings People in unfamiliar environments Not aware of evacuation arrangements Don’t follow cues or instructions Ignoring members of public or visitors = significant risk
• #11: Buildings need to provide better provisions, and some of these concepts are being implemented overseas, but adoption in Australia is very slow: Accessible evacuation routes (or accessible means of egress) Emergency Evacuation Lifts Larger fire stairs with refuge areas, & with communication Emergency information in tactile, audible & visual formats Evacuation chairs and other devices
• #12: Wayfinding is an important aspect to how people can navigate their way out of a building during an emergency: Accessible exit signs: Refuge Area Evacuation lifts Evacuation chairs – example signs Increased contrast of exit route features Photo-luminescent markers around features Tactile evacuation diagrams Accessible exits routes on evacuation diagrams
• #13: There’s a few simple things we can do to help occupants in buildings who might be delayed in responding to an alarm: Accessible ‘break glass’ alarms Refuge communication systems Visual warnings / alarms Vibrating pads and pillows Exit point sounders Mass notification systems (mobile phones & pagers) New technology (smart phone apps, computer notifications)
• #14: So in summary, I believe We need more industry guidance Changes in social and attitudinal factors Changes to legislation and AS 3745 Adopt an ‘accessible means of egress’ concept Better and more intuitive wayfinding systems Everyone needs to work together to develop plans
• #15: Please also download my little evacuation guidebook I have to apologise though at this stage this is only available as a PDF document. I have tried to source funding on two occasions to convert this to accessible formats, but do date I’ve been unsuccessful. The guidebook is also being updated at present and I hope to release a revised edition by mid-year.
• #16: you have any questions my contacts have been provided above and in the accessible version of presentation