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What are wheelchair-bound people to do when a building alarm disables elevators? (lemmy.sdf.org)

submitted 4 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

16 comments fedilink hide all child comments

We had a false alarm go off in the building where I work last week. The elevators automatically shut down forcing the use of the fire escapes. The building is 22 floors. I was lucky in that I’d just taken the elevator to the first floor to step outside on a break. When they finally let us back in, I wondered what someone with mobility issues is expected to do had the building been on fire. Just die? Have a kind soul carry them? With most people wfh at least a couple of days per week, this seems really dangerous for anyone who might get stranded.

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[–] [email protected] 4 points 4 months ago (1 children)

The building manager should (and may be legally required to) have a fire department approved emergency plan that specifically addresses this question. Usually, the plan will be for you to await rescue.

A modern, up-to-code high rise building will have designated "places of refuge" that are designed to withstand heat and smoke, such as a pressurized stairwell with fire doors. In older buildings that don't have something like that, the plan might call for disabled people to go to the nearest (unprotected) stairway, or it might call for them to remain in their office/apartment and "defend in place". If possible, call 911 (or equivalent) to notify rescuers of your location.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 months ago (1 children)

I've been to a few older office towers where the plan was basically "in the event of a fire, people who can't walk down stairs will die horribly, so those people are not allowed above the ground floor."

Having a coworker with one leg, it meant a lot of shuffling meetings around to get the meeting room on the ground floor, but they were very meticulous about it.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 months ago (1 children)

That's not a terrible emergency plan honestly

[–] [email protected] 0 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Kind of limits their upward mobility, I would imagine.

And I absolutely intended the double entendre, because I can see how that could limit the ability to get into more executive positions, if the ceo or vp is required to come to the ground floor in order to talk to them, instead of two doors down the hall.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (1 children)

Maybe in a better society the CEO wouldn't be a shiny rarity who can only exist in the topmost floor, as far away from lower employees as possible.

I know the discussion goes much deeper than that, but, y'know.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Ok but it’d also be awkward if the ceo can’t visit other floors

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Sorry, I can't tell if that's a really funny joke, or an actually serious point.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 months ago (1 children)

It’s kinda both. Like it’s humorous, but also a lot of the frustrations of disability are. It’s funny to think about but it must be infuriating to actually reach the top of your career potential not because you can’t do the jobs, not because you aren’t willing to put in the work, and not because people aren’t willing to give you a shot, but because the board of directors meets on a high up floor and the fire code says it’s too dangerous for you to not be on the ground floor. You probably prepared for a lot of frustration and limitations by not being able to walk, I know my own disability has taught me that, but you probably didn’t think that was one of the dreams you don’t get to have.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 months ago

Thank you for sharing this insight.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

In my workplace, there are a few options: When a disabled person is on a certain floor above ground floor, there will be a special chair they can be put in, that allows one person to maneuver them down the fire escape. Multiple people in the company are trained on the use of this contraption and are notified before the evacuation is necessary.

When there are more wheelchair bound people in the building than there are evacuation chairs available, they'll have to be taken to the fire escape behind double fireproof doors, where the area is pressurized with clean air. There the firemen will evacuate them.

A third option is the area where the elevators are. It closes automatically and has a fireproof door where you can wait in front of the elevators for the firemen to evacuate you using the elevators (or otherwise).

Normally there aren't that many wheelchair bound people in the building that need those chairs, because visitors are normally confined to the ground floor. On a floor where a disabled person used to work (now retired), one of those chairs was permanently available.

Edit: the ones we have resemble these https://evac-chair.com/

[–] [email protected] 0 points 4 months ago (1 children)

I used to work in a school with disabled kids, so I did a few fire drills.

As other people here have said, there are areas like stairwells where the kids with mobility issues waited (with adults, of course!) during fire alarms. Fire crews would've been told about us and come and got those kids first in the event of an actual emergency.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 months ago

there are areas like stairwells where the kids with mobility issues waited (with adults, of course!)

Lol imagine if the adults were like "ok good, you stay here, I'm out, bye"

[–] [email protected] 0 points 4 months ago (1 children)

What a depressing thread. Fuck people who can't walk I guess.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 4 months ago (1 children)

We required (pretty sure it was fire code) designated people to carry immobile people down the stairs.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Is it like security or just random employees? I wonder if they require people to stay in shape, otherwise they might find themselves unable in an emergency.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 months ago

just a random employee. We could volunteer. And we had drills all the time.