Hi Karen
Thanks the document is interesting and I'll pass it along to some people it
will apply to,
Yes this ruling and explanation cover carers etc. my question is related to
those people who are assigned/volunteer to assist people with disabilities
i.e. wheelchair riders, or people with mobility impairment who may need to
be carried downstairs or lifted into an evac chair during an emergency
evacuation.
Many people with disabilities are fairly heavy weights to move and during an
evacuation 'assistants must be found to help evacuate disabled people from
upper or lower floors. The assistant is likely to have received little or no
training (especially amateur opera societies or a one off dance organiser)
in lifting people who may have little upper body strength or require special
handling to prevent pain or injury. Lifting people cannot be regarded as
forming part of the assistants normal work duties as can be argued for a
carer as they will only do so either during an emergency or a practice for
an emergency.
What I am interested in finding out is how such situations will be handled
not just as relates to the Health and Safety of the disabled person but to
the assistant. While judges may make rulings and the HSE regulations for
manual handling, the bottom line is the employers insurer and how they will
regard any claims for injury in these circumstances. Health and safety is
often quoted as the reason for refusing to manually handle people but I
think it is more likely fear that the insurer will disallow a claim for
injury causes companies to make their no manual handling rules.

But to return to the basic line, you originally brought up your personal
problem with evacuation which has left you working from home since
September. I was thinking about the subject more widely,
if your council cannot organise your safety in this time what has been done
about other disabled people who use your building and how are they to be
evacuated. The manual handling question forms part of the approach but my
worry is about the DDA pushing for open access while organisations are
unprepared and appear to lack the willingness to plan and prepare for
evacuations.

two examples -
I have been involved with a school for extensively disabled children, the
building has a secondary evacuation route, however, this is too narrow for a
standard wheelchair, the school proposes to purchase one narrow pushchair to
evacuate the children, there can be ten children in the school with one
female teacher. They plan to leave the children in a kitchen and load them
one at a time onto the pushchair and take them out to the road. I suppose
the child will then be placed on the walkway while the next child is
evacuated. The Fire Service has approved this building's use as a school.

the other is a municipal theatre which is used by many amateur groups, one
dance or wedding party organisers. The main floor is the equivalent of being
the fourth floor. Amateur theatre and musicals attract many older and
disabled people, dances and weddings are likely to have a wide mix of
people.
Now suppose (as happened last year) there are thirty wheelchair riders, plus
many be two hundred older people with mobility impairment. How are these
people to be evacuated (remember fire regs a call for everyone to be
evacuated in thirty minutes). To carry one person downstairs requires two or
three assistants and will take an average of ten minutes per floor. The
escape has one platform which will permit a rest at the second floor level,
this could accommodate one person being carried plus their assistants. The
same stairs will also be used to evacuate the remaining 700 people form the
auditorium.
Amateurs will probably lack the number of fit assistants needed (they tend
to be older people themselves), will lack the knowledge to plan the
evacuation, they will be unable to afford to purchase or hire evac chairs,
are unlikely to have the manual handling skills to handle a body on a
staircase, etc. etc.
So who is responsible? what regulations that exist only apply when the
occupant is there for a few weeks or more,
who plans, provides assistants, provides training, provides equipment - the
owner of the building or those who hire it?

Similar situations exist in many buildings especially older 'heritage'
buildings,

Regards
Dave

----- Original Message -----
From: "Karen Tuff" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Thursday, April 29, 2004 7:47 PM
Subject: Re: Evacuation for Disabled Employees and visitors


> Ingenta Select Automatic Email: The British Journal of Occupational
Therapy
> David
> I'm not sure if it was the Sussex case that you were refering to and how
this ruling would apply to colleagues lifting a disabled person in an
emergency. The attached article may help explain some of the rulings, it
does mention emergency situations.
>
> Title: Disabled People, Manual Handling and Human Rights
> Author(s): Michael Mandelstam
> Source: The British Journal of Occupational Therapy      Volume: 66
Number: 11 Page: 528 -- 530
> Publisher: The College of Occupational Therapists
> ----------------------------------------------
>
http://www.ingentaselect.com/cgi-bin/linker?reqidx=/cw/cot/03080226/v66n11/s
6/p528.idx&lkey=-497346843&rkey=758631682
>
> ----------End of Message----------
>
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