Perhaps the most significant change in evacuation practices since you first learned about fire drills and home safety in grade school is the emphasis that we now place on accessibility. While the best options for getting people with mobility issue to safety in an evacuation have not always been available, that is changing with the help of new technology.
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The Challenge of Inclusivity
The fact is that none of us have ever lived in a one-size-fits-all world. Every person has unique needs, and that means that confronting the challenge of emergencies must involve thinking through inclusivity and remaining vigilant to differences that those solving the problems of emergency procedures may not have considered in the past.
While a positive outlook towards the rights of all people is always a good thing, the need for inclusivity in emergencies isn’t just about language and personal liberties; that’s because understanding and responding to special needs in the case of mobility can directly result in saving lives.
Introducing the Stair Evacuation Chair
Evacuation chairs, or escape chairs, were invented in 1982to allow a single person to assist someone with mobility issues in descending stairs. Still, they are only seeing greater widespread use today.
Part of the reason for this is that people finally recognize the enormous value of a device that can allow anyone with mobility issues to descend a staircase with the help of just one person.
Who Should Install an Emergency Chair?
While emergency services teams commonly use evacuation chairs in situations that call for the specific type of assistance that only an escape chair can offer, there are also many public and private environments wherein keeping an evacuation chair on hand at all times could prove vital.
Any organization that has a clear affiliation with people with mobility issues would be wise to invest in an evacuation chair or even a few. More importantly, however, there is no public space that shouldn’t already provide proper accessible access and, therefore, entail the possibility of an evacuation of someone with mobility concerns.
Making Escape Chairs Available
About twenty-four percent of the world’s general population includes people living with disabilities who deserve every bit as much care and attention in emergencies as everybody else. That’s why it is becoming more common for all public places that include stairways to equip a proprietary escape chair in case of emergency situations.
When a device is available that can change the odds for someone with a mobility issue in an emergency, it should always be available. This challenge isn’t just about inclusivity and acceptance; when you’re devoted to saving lives in emergency scenarios, foreseeing these differences becomes a matter of life and death.
If you are involved with managing a public space or on the committee or a residential building, consider contacting a company that manufactures escape chairs to find out your options in acquiring one for your building.
