Evacuating the Disabled

It is the intent of the emergency evacuation program to ensure the safe removal of all individuals from the building. The Fire Marshall recognizes that some employees are in wheelchairs and cannot walk down the stairs. Those employees will be evacuated under the following conditions:

• Tenants not requiring assistance and that are not going to assist will evacuate first. This avoids the possibility of persons in need of assistance being bumped and falling down, thus slowing evacuation and/or causing injury. If there is evidence of fire, persons having mobility impairment should be positioned in an area of refuge located farthest away from the fire.  In Benson Tower, this would be the freight elevator lobbies on each floor. (Please note that the freight elevator lobby is different than the passenger elevator lobby and is located in a separate area of the building.)  If fire conditions begin to pose a personal threat, the buddies should enter into Stairwell A adjacent to the freight elevator lobbies with the mobility impaired and relocate two floors below the fire floor.  Move the disabled employee to the door of the nearest stairwell and wait until traffic from upper floors is clear before moving employee into the stairwell. 
  
• The Fire Marshall recommends that you use the Buddy System to notify emergency personnel in the lobby.
  
• Special Provisions: Where necessary, all responsible team members will identify those employees whose physical condition may require special or additional assistance. For example, the employment of a deaf person may require some visual signaling device, located on his desk or on the office wall, indicating that the general alarm sounded.