Lee Wilson researched the area of evacuation considerations for people with disability for over 12 months. Following this, a Guide was produced titled “Evacuation of People with Disability & Emergent Limitations: Considerations for Safer Buildings & Efficient Evacuations”.

The video can be downloaded by clicking the ‘Share’ link on the top right hand corner of the video frame, then select ‘Download’ from the left hand corner of the video frame.

Lee Wilson researched the area of ‘evacuation for people with disability’ for over 12 months.

Following this research a Guidebook was produced titled “Evacuation of People with Disability & Emergent Limitations: Considerations for Safer Buildings & Efficient Evacuations”.

The Guidebook suggests that a gap exists in legislation relating to the evacuation of people with disability under current disability discrimination, building and workplace safety laws.

This gap exposes members of the community with disability, particularly those with sensory or mobility disabilities to:

• the risk of being delayed in their ability to evacuate a building;
• and the risk of being trapped within a building that’s been evacuated.

To date, this Guidebook has been available as a FREE PDF download only, but there has been so much interest in this Guidebook that we need this information available to as many people as possible, in various file formats.

This includes Accessible formats.

It’s now time to convert this Guidebook to large print, plain text, audio and various eBook formats. The information also needs to be loaded onto an accessible website for screen reader use.

Whilst undertaking the research to prepare the Guidebook it became evident that:

• Building owners, building managers and employers need to take a holistic and pro-active approach to ensure they have met the needs of all building occupants and have plans in place for the evacuation of their building; and
• A significant proportion of people entering these buildings could be exposing themselves to an unacceptable risk every time they enter – unless their needs have been considered and the necessary plans for their safe evacuation are in place.

The primary objectives of the Guidebook are to:

• Help workplaces and employees work collaboratively to develop personal emergency evacuation plans.
• Provide guidance to employers and facility managers, so that they may identify opportunities to reduce risk and provide a safer built environment.
• Assist building occupants, including people with disability to identify strategies to:
  • Reduce their own risk exposure
  • Understand legislative requirements
  • Determine who is responsible for their personal safety and evacuation planning
  • Equip them with the knowledge and resources to ask the right questions about their own safety
  • Work with their employers to develop an individual personal emergency evacuation plan

Your financial support to complete this important project is greatly appreciated.

Thank you