Is an evacuation chair needed in our company?

[Guest SarahPar]

Good Afternoon,

I wonder if you would be able to assist or point me in the right direction. I need to understand the current legislations surrounding evacuating mobility impaired staff in the office. I do not have an evac chair as the bilding is only 3 floors high (including ground) and our stairwells are fire safe for 2 hours. In the event of an evacuation I would buddy a disabled person and ensure their safe access to the stairwell where I would presume after notifying the fire department they would proceed to resuce. Is this correct procedure or are we as a company expected to always have an evac chair or carry staff out of the building?

regards

Sarah

[Tom Sutton]

The guidance for conducting a fire risk assessment in an office is Offices and shops and for evacuating mobility impaired staff the guidance is Means of Escape for Disabled People (Supplementary Guide). As for relying on the fire and rescue service to evacuate the premises this is your responsibility and you should have procedures in place to effect a full evacuation without the need of the FRS to assist.

[Guest Andrew Gold]

Hi, who told you that your stairwell is fire safe for 2 hours ?