Access All Areas

Disability evacuation planning is a key infrastructure component, says James Shannon, President of the National Fire Protection Association.

“Evacuation and relocation of occupants during a building emergency is a fundamental action and any emergency planning component should account for that eventuality”
-James Shannon

At NFPA, we have a compendium of codes and standards as well as various public education resources available that address any number of infrastructure concerns-regardless of your perspective or your particular interest. One area of interest to NFPA relates to the availability and use of resources in the personnel category. NFPA standards provide a series of personal protective equipment criteria for the nation’s first responders-those very individuals that we expect and rely on to come to our aid and support during any number of emergences. Whether it is a fire, a hazardous material incident or an anthrax attack, our requirements set the bar for protecting those who put themselves in harm’s way in order to help the rest of us.

Safety and resiliency of building systems and features is another critical area of interest to NFPA. Many of our codes and standards establish the requirements and protection measures for everything from building exits, electrical systems and components, fire alarm systems and automatic sprinkler systems. This collection of requirements makes the stock of buildings in the US as well as in many other countries where NFPA codes are used, safe, secure and functional on a day in and day out basis.

A third area of concern at NFPA relates to the disability community. In the last 18 years since the Americans with Disabilities Act was signed into law, tremendous progress has been made at increasing and improving upon the accessibility to, and barrier free use within, the nation’s stock of buildings. NFPA codes have worked to integrate the federal accessibility criteria as promulgated under the Americans with Disabilities Act/Architectural Barriers Act (ADA/ABA) Guidelines that were published in 2004. These guidelines which are at this moment being updated, establish the level and criteria for accessible use in buildings. Although not perfect, the ADA/ABA Guidelines are a dynamic set of rules that are subject to interpretation and change.

While providing access to a building is important, the critical need to provide a means of egress for persons with disabilities (PWD) is a responsibility that cannot be overlooked by those entities which own, operate and manage the buildings that we all live and work in. Evacuation and relocation of occupants during a building emergency is a fundamental action and any emergency planning component should account for that eventuality. In very recent years, we have also been paying more attention to the need not only to evacuate buildings, but also in extreme cases to evacuate localized and even wide spread geographic regions during large scale events such as the September 11th terrorist attacks and Hurricane Katrina.

That planning component must also account for individuals with a disability-and it is important to remember that disabilities come in a variety of forms. Mobility, sight and hearing are the ones we think of most often. Cognitive and speech impairments can also present special challenges and will require that measures be taken to address those needs as well. Since the historic legislation that promulgated the ADA in 1991 was signed into law, we have seen an ever increasing level of change to codes, standards and other regulations that make buildings easier to use. Detectable warnings at edges of subway and train station platforms, level floor surfaces and use of ramps to transition between elevation differences are the types of architectural features that help to provide a more independent living approach for PWD.

The use of a visible signaling component (strobe) that is activated when the building fire alarm is triggered is another safety feature that is of benefit to those individuals who are hearing impaired. Modern era buildings are also designed with features that we all use or pass by but that we seldom notice. In some buildings, stairway landings at exit doors from each floor may be slightly wider. This is done in order to allow two wheel chairs to be staged side by side until the occupants can be safely brought down in the elevator or with a stair descent device.

In most countries, the elevators in a building are not kept in service during a fire event. While that restriction is being reconsidered in the US, these same elevators that all of us rely on day in and day out have been a key component in the evacuation strategy for individuals with mobility impairments. These elevators can be used by first responders to evacuate individuals who otherwise could not negotiate the stairs. Such features and procedures broadly fall under what in code parlance is referred to as the accessible means of egress. The disadvantage associated with this approach is the reliance on assistance that is necessary when a building emergency occurs. While other occupants can freely move down stairs, those occupants with mobility impairment are forced to await rescue and assistance. All of the actors are responsible for planning. Lack of planning and awareness will easily make a bad situation worse and can be catastrophic and possibly deadly.

At present, many federal government organizations including the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the US Access Board and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) as well as private sector organizations including NFPA are working to formalize and standardize the need to include the population of PWD in their planning strategy. In 2007, NFPA published and issued the Emergency Evacuation Planning Guide for People with Disabilities. This guide, available as a free download from the NFPA website, provides information on the five general categories of disabilities and the four elements of evacuation information that occupants need. The guide also includes a checklist that building services managers and people with disabilities can use to design a personalized evacuation plan.

This past November, the US Access Board heard a report from a federal advisory committee dealing with Emergency Transportable Housing issues for the disability community. It is anticipated that these recommendations will be put forth into the federal rule making process and allow for changes to the ADA/ABA Guidelines. This will help to insure that temporary housing arrangements for those individuals with disabilities who have to be evacuated and relocated as the result of a natural or manmade disaster will be provided with useable living accommodations.

In February of 20009, the ANSI Homeland Security Standards Panel-HSSP-hosted a workshop to review the current needs of the disability community with regard to evacuation planning. Themes of the workshop addressed what standards are already in place, what standards need to be updated and what standards need to be developed in order to codify the planning and preparation needs of the PWD population. The scope of the workshop objectives discussed the evacuation of buildings, campus environments, large geographic spans and everything in between.

Infrastructure cannot always be limited to bricks and mortar, steel and concrete, or roads and bridges. Proper and adequate evacuation planning for those with a disability or special need must be part of the infrastructure planning process, and if we all do our job, it will be much easier to manage those unlikely but foreseeable events that we all may face.

The big questions
Key factors in disability evacuation planning

Individual with disability
What is the nature of the disability; what are the limitations of evacuation; what special equipment is needed?

Building owner or manager
Who and where are the PWD in my building; what is the nature of their disability; what special equipment and planning procedures do I have in place?

First responders
Who is the contact at the building for any special assistance or evacuation procedures; who are the team members that will be assigned to this task; what equipment or systems are available for this task?