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Disabled person deeply concerned with fire from his second floor flat?
trinidadone
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A work colleague lives in social housing on the second floor of a block of flats. He uses a wheel chair to get about inside the flat, and walking aids while outside.
In light of the recent fire in West London, he is deeply concerned about fire in his block. The current advise is to stay in your flat, as fire is expected to be contained in a block.
His only escape would be a lift, which is usually not used in the event of a fire.
His block as gone through a regeneration scheme in the last few years.
Should he bring his concern to the landlord on how best to exit a fire in an emergency, or simply not worry, as blocks are extremely safe?
In light of the recent fire in West London, he is deeply concerned about fire in his block. The current advise is to stay in your flat, as fire is expected to be contained in a block.
His only escape would be a lift, which is usually not used in the event of a fire.
His block as gone through a regeneration scheme in the last few years.
Should he bring his concern to the landlord on how best to exit a fire in an emergency, or simply not worry, as blocks are extremely safe?
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OP, can your colleague check to see what type of cladding is on his building? I understand that Grenfell was clad using Reynobond PE, but there is another type of cladding called Reynobond FR, which is fire resistant and only costs £2 more per square metre. It's possible that the flats have been clad in a fire resistant material and he isn't aware. However, he should still consider his options in the event of a fire.
This link is quite interesting, and refers to landlords needing to have a fire risk assessment - I don't know if it is any help, but it might be worth reading.
http://www.elitefire.co.uk/fire-escape-guide-for-wheelchair-users/
And are you aware of how long the person has lived at the address? and are you aware when the persons disability occurred? Do you know if the disability has now affected how the individual can leave the building? do you know if the regeneration work has affected the exit of the building?
You seem to be aware of quite alot with the little information shared on here!!!
Thank you for the "non-judgement" information. I found the link very interesting. I am assuming the colleague can check with the landlord on the type of cladding used on the block as he may not know.
I did find the following information helpful from your link, thank you:
"Lifts are usually prohibited during an emergency evacuation, which means alternative methods must be arranged for transporting wheelchair users safely out of the building. This can involve using specific evacuation lifts, moving wheelchairs users horizontally to another fire compartment within the building, using evacuation chairs or employing ‘carry-down’ procedures, which involve carrying someone in a wheelchair up or down a set of stairs".
I think i will discuss your link with him later this morning.
How certain is he that his flat is fully seperate from neighbouring flats? This is something he could raise with the landlord.
Does his flat have a 60 minute fire door at its entrance? The landlord may be prepared to upgrade to 60 minutes if the current door is only rated to 30 minutes. Are the smoke seals on any fire door in good order?
Most private landlords are not fire safety experts and might only assess the risks from an able-bodied person's point of view.
yes you are being judgement, and I am "surprised" your doing that!! no idea why, maybe your trolling. Its a colleague, not a friend, and yes it does have a baring on how long the disability is, and how long he "loved" there. Let me educate you............ His needs are different from before, so his fire exit plan has now changed, base on his disability. What he could do before, he is unable to now. As you can read from the first post, he uses crutches when exiting his home. Because of this, he is currently unable to use stairs, and again as mentioned before, he has been advised not to use the lift.
This is why I thought I would post here on his behalf.