Evacuation Chairs and the Law: Enhancing Safety in Multi-Storey Buildings

Evacuation chairs are essential safety devices designed to help individuals with limited mobility, disabilities, or injuries safely navigate stairs and exit a building during emergencies. They are typically installed as a precautionary measure in multi-storey buildings, residential flats, commercial premises, schools, hospitals and workplaces.

When conducting a fire safety risk assessment for commercial or public buildings, it is crucial to ensure the premises are fully accessible. In the event of an emergency—such as a fire, explosion, power outage, or other critical incident — everyone must be able to evacuate the building quickly and safely.

Evacuation chairs are not legally required however those responsible for a building, such as the building owner or landlord, are required to regularly undertake a fire risk assessment. Within the assessment, it is important to identify what is required to keep people safe in the event of a fire or emergency. 

Within a fire risk assessment, risks should be evaluated, removed or reduced. An emergency plan should be created and training should be provided to deal with emergencies.

Within the fire risk assessments, considerations need to be made such as emergency routes, warning systems and staff training. 

As part of the evacuation plan, it is important to ensure everyone in the building can safely exit. Evacuation chairs are one tool which can be used to assist in meeting these obligations, especially when seeking to ensure the safe exit of those with limited mobility in multi-storey buildings. The UK government website provides guidance on creating a fire safety risk assessment for those with disabilities. The HSE also provides guidance on planning for incidents and emergencies. 

In the UK, under The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, those responsible for a building, such as the landlord or owner, is responsible for ensuring all individuals within the building are able to have a safe escape route in the event of an emergency. As lifts are often unable to operate in an emergency due to power cuts, it is essential those with limited mobility can still reach ground level safely. Evacuation chairs for stairs are just one tool which can be used to safely evacuate those in the building. 

Under the Equality Act 2010, it is important to make reasonable adjustments for those with disabilities.

Within the workplace, the Health & Safety at Work Act 1974 requires employers to take reasonable steps to protect their employees. 

In addition to the above, it is also important to consider the operator of the evacuation chair and ensure they are safe. For example, under the Provision and Use of Equipment Regulations (PUWER), companies should ensure evacuation chairs are suitable, safe and regularly inspected.

In line with manual handling guidelines, operators should be trained to safely use the evacuation chairs. Disability evacuation etiquette training should also be undertaken. 

Plans should be undertaken to consider the safe evacuation of those with limited mobility or disabilities in the event of an emergency. The plans should consider whether the person may be in a building, the types of escapes available and the buildings systems such as their fire alarm. 

For sites where there is a known individual who may require assistance during an evacuation, a Personal Emergency Escape Plans (PEEPs) should be created. For example, this may be a staff member who is regularly located on site or an individual who regularly visits the premises. Generally the HR department or building manager will work with the individual to create a PEEPs. The plan will be tailored to the individual and may include an emergency stair chair.

A standard plan should also be created for buildings where there are visitors or casual users of the building. These are generally written procedures that are provided at the building's entry or reception point to ensure the disabled person knows how to exit the building in an event of an emergency. 

Plans should also be made for unknown or uncontrolled visitors, for example in public buildings such as shopping centres, restaurants and retail parks. Staff should be trained to provide assistance to disabled users if an evacuation is required. 

When choosing an evacuation chair, firstly, it's important to check the chair is fit for purpose. We would suggest checking the emergency chair is registered as a class I medical device and / or complies with the EU Medical Device Regulations (MDR).

• Check the chairs capacity, for bariatric use you may prefer to select an option with a 250kg capacity such as the Spencer PRO SKID-E Evacuation Chair.
• Consider where the chair will be used, if it is for narrow staircases, consider selecting a chair which is narrow enough for the area it will be used in.
• Check the stored size and ensure this is suitable for where you wish to store the chair
• Consider whether it can be operated by one or two people and whether you have the staff available to operate the chair
• If you require the chair to be used to go up and down stairs, for example, if you have rooms located in the basement, you will need an Evacuation Chair which can go up and down staircases such as the Spencer PRO SKID-E Evacuation Chair
• Additional considerations are the comfort of users, for example, some evacuation chairs, such as the Versa Elite Evacuation Chair and Spencer SKID-OK Evacuation Chair, offer footrests and armrests

Different models of evacuation chairs offer a range of features. Below shows the features found in the Spencer PRO SKID-E Evacuation Chair, a compact folding chair designed to safely evacuate users in the event of an emergency. 

For advice on choosing the right Evacuation Chair for your workplace or building, please contact The Ramp People by calling 01372 569 051 or email hello@theramppeople.co.uk