Emergency Evacuation

In the event of an emergency, employers and building managers have a legal responsibility for the safe and swift evacuation of every person in the building; this will include employees, visitors, contractors etc. Regular fire evacuation drills are of paramount importance to ensure employeescan follow the evacuation procedure and any potential issues with the procedure can be highlighted and addressed.

All emergency evacuation plans should ensure that people with mobility impairment either visible (e.g. wheelchair users) or hidden (e.g. asthma sufferers, back injuries, arthritis, heart conditions) are able to evacuate the building at the same time as other occupants. If some people are left in a refuge area while the rest of the building is being evacuated, the evacuation plan must have a procedure to transfer them from the refuge area to safety without relying on fire brigade intervention. Since its introduction in 1982, Evac+Chair has become the market leader with thousands of chairs installed in offices, hotels, shops around the world. The Evac+Chair is a lightweight, foldable type of wheelchair which requires one operator. The secret of how it works is the endless friction belting system which rotates around two ski type undercarriages, creating the continuous braking system required to slow the descent of the chair. The heavier the patient the greater the force on the „brakes", thus slowing the chair in proportion to the weight of the passenger. The Evac+Chair is designed to work on straight stairs between 280 and 390 gradient. It is CE compliant under the Medical Devices Directive and also independently tested by TUV.  At the A+A show in Dusseldorf, the Evac+Chair will be presented at the stand of ESE International.