FIRE SAFETY | EVACUATION LIFTS ALTERNATIVE ESCAPE ROUTE Evacuation lifts have the potential to offer a safe route out of a building. Arups Eoin OLoughlin and Harry Wiles, and Matthew Ryan of The Fire Surgery, look at the challenges and opportunities of incorporating them in fire strategies I n the UK, fire safety legislation and associated guidance are currently undergoing an unprecedented process of scrutiny and change. As part of this, many of the common assumptions and norms relating to the design of buildings are being reviewed. Opportunities to improve and develop safer, more inclusive, and more sustainable approaches are being identified.1,2,3 With increasing numbers of mid/highrise buildings, and growing numbers of people that may have difficulty getting out of a building, the traditional solutions for vertical evacuation need to be reconsidered. In residential apartment buildings especially, people should be able to safely evacuate regardless of their physical, cognitive or sensory capabilities to navigate stairs safely. An obvious strand of tackling this vertical evacuation challenge would be to increase the use of lifts in emergencies. However, the public have generally been taught that: in the event of fire do not use the lift. This article aims to highlight some primary considerations about the use of lifts for the evacuation of people who cannot use stairs. It identifies a number of challenges and opportunities to be addressed as part of enabling their incorporation in fire strategies. What are we aiming for? When a building is designed/constructed, or significantly refurbished or extended, it must be demonstrated that the building can satisfy the relevant functional requirements of the Building Regulations 2010 (as amended). The design must also enable the responsible person for the building (typically a building manager or owner) to comply with fire safety management requirements imposed under legislation such as the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 (FSO). Further explanation on the intent of the Building Regulations is provided in Approved Document B (ADB), the statutory guidance to the legislation, with ADB Volume 14 for dwellings and ADB Volume 25 for buildings other than dwellings. ADB Vol 1 and 2 clarify that building designs and building management plans should not rely on the fire service or other emergency services to evacuate residents who need assistance. ADB Vol 1 and 2 also state that the fire safety measures in a building should take account of the needs of everyone who may access the building. (See the version of this article at www.cibsejournal.com to see a summary of applicable legislation and guidance in England and Wales. Similar regulatory frameworks apply in Scotland and Northern Ireland, and elsewhere.) The status quo In buildings other than residential apartments (for example, offices, places of assembly, and hotels), persons for whom using stairs is not possible or safe are typically expected to wait at a protected refuge position. The responsible person(s) is expected to address responding to refuges and assisting those using them as part of their emergency plans and personal emergency evacuation plans (PEEPs). [The latest Home Office consultation on Personal Emergency Evacuation Plans can be found at bit.ly/CJJul21PEEP]. Manual carrydown equipment/procedures are typically implemented to assist with the onward evacuation of wheelchair users from these refuge areas. In apartment buildings, refuges are not typically provided, nor are they included in current UK guidance. The only means of vertical escape is usually via stairs, as standard passenger lifts would typically be grounded and therefore discounted for emergency escape. Those who cannot use a stair The traditional solutions for vertical evacuation need to be reconsidered therefore have no means of self-evacuating or communicating with management (if there is any on site). (See full article for information on guidance for non dwellings). ADB Vol 1 (for dwellings and flats) mentions neither refuges nor evacuation lifts. The alternative UK standard for fire safety of apartments, BS 9991:20156 notes that: Providing an accessible means of escape should be an integral part of fire safety management which should take into account the full range of people who might use the premises, paying particular attention to the needs of disabled people. BS 9991: 2015 notes that responsibility for achieving these objectives rests with building management but provides only high-level 40 July 2021 www.cibsejournal.com CIBSE July 21 pp40-42 Evacuation lift.indd 40 25/06/2021 16:43