Hi Terry
thanks for those comments these summarise arguments I and others have
put forward., I hope you will not object to me including them in a
report I am preparing about problems with access for the Welsh Assembly,
(copies will be going to other relevant depts, ODPM, DRC, HSE).
Regards
Dave
Terry Warren wrote:
>Dave and everyone,
>Some good points on a subject that has been bothering me and my Fire Dept
>colleagues for years.I'd like to add some personal thoughts, though they
>may not prove popular.Bear in mind that the ultimate responsibility for
>Fire Safety rests with the Occupier.
>1.There are limits to what Building Control and Fire Brigade Consultations
>can insist on in terms of design for disabled evacuation.
>2.There are practical limits to what designers can achieve: Fire-fighting
>lifts are beyond the budget of anything but very large projects.Sure, you
>can design massive refuges,compartments or plan phased evacuation such as
>in Residential Care Homes but you need a very large space and an awful lot
>of fit staff to assist with the evacuation of a lot of non-ambulant
>people. Again, bear in mind that the Fire Brigade have no obligation to
>assist people from refuges.
>3.Passenger lifts are normally designed for easy access, i.e. not in fire
>protected areas that lead outside. Therefore, although in theory, with a
>separate power supply, they can be designed to take people down to the
>ground floor in case of fire, they are often likely drop them out
>precisely where the fire may be.
>4. It is a fact that numbers of people are often restricted in different
>types of buildings according to usage, stair widths etc. In private, the
>majority of Fire professionals that I know believe it is madness not to
>restrict the number of people who would require assisted escape to the
>number that management know they can safely handle.This is not out of Ryan
>Airish ignorance but because they know fire and have a healthy fear of it.
>>From the Great Fire of London to the present day it has often been
>terrible tragedies that have driven Fire and Building Regs. Occupiers in
>a sense will be damned if they do, damned if they don't - or perhaps a
>frying pan and fire analogy might suit better.In the meantime, I think we
>should all be writing to ODPM and the Chief Fire Officers Association to
>get it top of the agenda. Sorry to be so long-winded.
>Terry Warren
>Inclusive Design Manager
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