Disabled people fire deaths – could it happen here?

14 December 2012 — Are we really doing enough to consider the safe evacuation of disabled people in the event of fire? asks Bob Docherty (chairman of the Institute of Fire Safety Managers, UK).

Sad news the previous month: 13 disabled people and a supervisor perished in a workplace fire in Germany (info4fire.com). This is not supposed to happen when we are meant to have "taken care" of everyone's safety. The UK has the Equality Act and the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 (RRO), plus 2007 supplementary guidance "Means of Escape for Disabled People".

Docherty and colleague Alan Stoker started a company specifically for evacuation of disabled people (PEEPs); colleague Elspeth Grant ran TripleAConsult. Despite the guidance, training and experience, when they delivered fire risk assessments recommending PEEPs they were "almost totally ignored." Typical responses: "I have refuges in the staircase… the fire brigade will come up"; "the fire brigade know how to use these chairs"; "we don't let disabled people above the ground floor"; "we don't have any disabled people working here." Most were reluctant to pay.

After nearly five years, enquiries specifically for PEEPs could be counted on two hands, and the company was put on the back-burner. Why? Not a lack of knowledge but apathy and cost-aversion — organisations "just can't be bothered." A straw poll of fire and rescue services suggested most do not check PEEPs for disabled people; if they did, why no prosecutions? Per a London Fire Brigade report, at least one person a month in the care system dies within their area. A tragedy could happen unless responsible persons are made aware of their duties — one of the most effective levers being fire-and-rescue audits and enforcement.