Lift broken in rented office with wheelchair bound employee

katieh86

Hello,

At my office the lift broke yesterday and we have a guy who works here who is in a wheelchair. Our office is on the first floor and the only way he could get in was if we carried him up the stairs.

I called the Estate agents yesterday who promised they would get an engineer out that day to look at it. I told him that it was urgent because of the guy in the wheelchair and that he was pretty much stuck in the office. By 3pm nobody had come to look at it so I called again. He said that somebody would be there by 6pm and could I wait around. Nobody turned up and some of us were here until 8pm!

I called again first thing this morning and he said "well I can only work as fast as they work!" and that they should be out today!

What I need to know is, are there are laws or regulations that landlords have to comply with in regards to accessibility? Or have we just got to hope the engineer turns up today and keep on carrying the poor guy up and down the stairs?

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

poppysarah

How did they get downstairs?

What happens in case of a fire (when you're not supposed to use the lifts anyway)

There should be terms in the lease maybe...

tyllwyd

Are you sure you should be expecting this employee to work in the office if the lift is broken? What about health and safety if there was a fire? (I can't help thinking about The Office ...) I do think you should be considering allowing him time off or to work from home while the office is not accessible to him.

theartfullodger

This is a commercial renting issue, you might want to try asking over at Landlordzone....
http://www.landlordzone.co.uk/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=8

A couple of days to fix a lift wouldn't be surprising, even if unwelcome..

Don't think it is a safety issue as if there was, say, a fire, guy in wheel-chair (& everyone else) would have to come down stairs anyway..

Cheers!

Lodger

lee636

In a case like this the office should have some sort of an Evac Chair to assist in emergencies with helping disabled or partially immobile people.

N79

Its a commercial tenancy and so is bound by the terms of your lease. I suspect the term "reasonable timeframe" or equivalent is included. A couple of days to repair a lift is not unreasonable.

katieh86

Hello,

We did ask him if he wanted to work from home but he didn't! He wanted to stay here. He's been getting down the stairs via piggy back! To be honest if there was a fire i'm guessing that would be the way he would get the down the stairs again. I hadn't actually thought of that so thanks guys!

I don't know what's in the terms of the lease, i've also emailed my directors and had a whinge as well so hopefully they will dig that out.

Thanks for all your replies! Our estate agents are so slow at doing anything I just wanted to see if there was a way I could give him a kick up the backside and make him actually do what he said he was going to do!

kelda_shelton

http://www.evac-chair.co.uk/- you may want to invest in one for future things like this.

katieh86

kelda_shelton wrote: »

http://www.evac-chair.co.uk/- you may want to invest in one for future things like this.

Thanks for that. I will pass that on as a suggestion!

lucylucky

What does your local risk assessment say for fire evacuation procedures for those who are unable to walk?

Have those that are assisting in the lifting and carrying of the wheelchair user been suitably
trained in manual handling techniques?

PasturesNew

This would be better in the Employment Forum - where they will know about Disability and Employment.

My first thoughts are that it is your responsibility under the DDA to make reasonable adjustments to enable a disabled person to work. Offering them home working is a reasonable adjustment imho. A reasonable adjustment doesn't mean you have to make the environment OK for him to work in, just that you consider all options and decide if it's something the firm can control/change... and if it isn't then it isn't.

I don't believe it is the LL's responsibility to make every building accessible to every kind of disability. I could be wrong, but look at how many buildings there are around the country that are completely inaccessible... it's just not doable.

It's for your management to decide what is a reasonable adjustment.

You should, however, know what you'd do in a case of fire - and everybody should be made aware of the fire evacuation procedures. It's no good you all standing on the street, looking up, saying "oh, I forgot about him.... wonder how he's getting out".