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FIRE SAFETY AND DISABILITY
– A BURNING ISSUE
Tom Welland, Conformance
and Regulatory Affairs
Manager, Fireco, examines the
issues behind fire safety and
disability.
Providing for disabled and
hard of hearing building
occupants should be high on
the fire safety agenda. The
Equality Act 2010 sets out to
legally protect people from
discrimination in the workplace
and in the wider society
including through ‘reasonable
adjustments’ for disabled
building occupants to be aware
of a fire alarm sounding and
be able to safely and quickly
evacuate a building.
For locksmiths in particular,
having knowledge of this
issue and being able to offer a
solution will not only ensure
the safety of disabled building
occupants but could also
provide a business opportunity
to offer additional advice and
product sales.
Fire Safety Regulation
The Regulatory Reform (Fire
Safety) Order 2005 (FSO) is
the current fire safety law in
England and Wales. The FSO
nominates one individual as
the ‘Responsible Person’ for a
building – generally deemed
to be the owner, occupier or
employer.
The ‘Responsible Person’ has a
duty to fulfil the requirements of
the FSO. Those requirements all
stem from having a suitable and
sufficient fire risk assessment.
The Responsible Person also
needs to provide an emergency
evacuation plan for all people
likely to be in the premises
and instructions for how the
plan will be implemented.
Knowledge of the occupant’s
potential disabilities and how
that can affect them is vital.
Locksmiths could potentially
assist with compliance to the
Equality Act which replaced the
Disability Discrimination Act
1995 and 2005 (DDA) on
October 1st 2010. Where
an employer does not
make provision for the
safe evacuation
of disabled
people
from its
premises,
this may
be
viewed as discrimination.
Locksmiths can offer adequate
fire safety products to ensure
a safe environment and make
certain that disabled and
hard of hearing guests are
made aware of a fire alarm
sounding and are able to
evacuate the establishment
quickly and safely. It is often a
combination of equipment used
for compliance as beacons, for
example, cannot be relied upon
in bright light.
Evacuation Strategy
& Fire Doors
Locksmiths need to be aware
that in the situation where
staff or regular visitors to a
building have disabilities, the
HR department or building
manager must create an
evacuation plan tailored to their
individual needs, called a ‘PEEP’
14
THE SEP/OCT 2014 ISSUE
SPONSORED BY ADVANCED KEYS
(Personal Emergency
Evacuation Plan). This does
not only apply to permanent
disabilities, temporary injuries
such as sprained ankles
and mobility difficulties as
associated with pregnancy also
need to be addressed.
Products should be installed
to ensure that those with a
hearing impairment are made
aware of a fire alarm. This
could be a product that vibrates
and/or uses light to alert to a
fire alarm, such as the
Deafgard, or the
DMS system which
alerts deaf or hard
or hearing
people
via text
message.
Ensuring
these
sorts of products are in place
will offer deaf and hard of
hearing people the freedom to
move around buildings without
the worry of not being aware of
an emergency situation.
Should the building that
you are working in or with
host occu [