The ABCB has made three very pertinent statements in the document ‘Emergency Egress for Occupants with Disability Consultation Regulation Impact Statement September 2014’: [1]

The current D-t-S provisions do not prescribe accessible solutions for occupants with disability despite the mandatory ‘Performance Requirements’ requiring exits and warnings being appropriate to the number, mobility and characteristics of occupants

The primary limitation with emergency egress for people with mobility disabilities is the inability to independently manoeuvre stairs. The report also highlights the difficulties people with vision and hearing impairments experience in recognising safe paths of egress and traditional warning cues in the event of an emergency

Every Australian has the right to expect that reasonable provisions will be made to allow them to leave buildings safely in the event of an emergency. Moreover, it is crucial for equitable, dignified, and independent access to buildings that people with disability can be confident that they will also be able to evacuate from a building in a safe, dignified and independent fashion in the event of an emergency. Australian Building Codes Board, 2014

[1] Australian Building Codes Board 2014, Emergency Egress for Occupants with Disability Consultation Regulation Impact Statement, pp.10-11, http://www.abcb.gov.au/~/media/Files/Download%20Documents/RIS%20docs/Consultation_RIS_Emergency_Egress_for_Occupants_with_Disability.ashx?la=e, viewed 27 August 2015