Evacuation Chair Training Requirements

Monday 10th August 2015

As with any other item of fire safety equipment, there is a requirement to deliver training. If an organisation determines that an evacuation chair is required sufficient training should be provided. Evacuation chair training ensures that nominated staff members can act quickly and confidently when called to do so. Evacuation chair training is therefore required to fulfil what HSE identify as organisations’ ‘duty to provide a means of escape for disabled people’.

Evacuation chair training in a a classroom
Training can be delivered to groups of up to 4 delegates

Is evacuation chair training a legal requirement?

Yes, where evacuation chairs are installed, staff must legally be trained to use the equipment. This is required by the Equality Act 2010, which recognises the difficulties that some individuals may face during an evacuation. Under this act, organisations are responsible for providing means for safe evacuation of every building occupant. This includes both installing evacuation chairs where required, and training enough staff to use them. According to the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations (PUWER) 1998, equipment provided for use at work can be ‘used only by people who have received adequate information, instruction and training.’ This is essential for evacuation chairs, which are considered to be medical equipment. Misuse in a stressful evacuation situation puts the operator, the chair user, and those around them at risk of injury.

Why is evacuation chair training required?

There are legislative requirements for evacuation chair training. The qualification ensures the safety and confidence of both the chair user and the operator. If not used correctly, lives could be put at risk. Training is therefore essential to ensure the competence of the chair operator, who has undertaken a significant personal responsibility to evacuate a friend, colleague, or visitor to safety in an emergency.

Evacuating a pregnant lady in an evacuation chair
Individuals may need support to evacuate for a variety of reasons

Who should receive training?

Due to the significant responsibility placed on individuals who receive training, it is important to ensure that they meet the following criteria:

  • They are a willing volunteer – no one should be forced to take on this responsibility.
  • They are responsible – staff members selected should be sensible, reliable, and understand the importance of their role.
  • They work in the vicinity of the person identified as needing support. It must be practical and possible for the trained member of staff to get to both the chair and the chair user in an emergency (e.g., they should work on the same floor).
  • They are physically able. Nominees trained to use the chair don’t need to be incredibly strong, but mobility and stamina might be required.
  • There should be enough individuals trained to cover shift patterns and absence from work.

How often should training be refreshed?

Once an individual has successfully completed an evacuation chair training course, they can operate that model of chair for up to 3 years. After this time, refresher training is legally required. There are several other reasons that evacuation chair training might need to be carried out again. If a member of staff who is trained to use the chair leaves, is promoted, or otherwise becomes unable to operate it, a replacement member of staff must be trained. Similarly, if a new FRA, PEEP, or fire drill identifies an individual who would not be able to evacuate, and an additional chair is installed, another member of staff must receive evacuation chair training.

evacuation chair training on a staircase
Training provides delegates with the necessary skills and confidence to support safe evacuation

How many people should receive training on your evacuation chairs?

At a minimum, there must be one evacuation chair installed for every person who would need support to evacuate. For every chair installed, at least one member of staff must be trained and confident to operate it. However, to ensure the safety of all building users when trained staff are unavailable (on annual leave, off sick, or moved to a different office), it is sensible to train additional members of staff where possible. Enrolling a member of staff in a ‘Train the Trainer’ course can be a cost-effective way for training to be dispersed throughout your organisation.       

Fulfilling your organisation’s evacuation chair training requirements

For more information about the importance of training and maintenance for evacuation chairs visit our help guide. Book an evacuation chair training course with Safelincs to equip your employees with comprehensive theoretical and practical training from a fully qualified and experienced trainer. These on-site evacuation chair trainings courses are available nationwide, and suitable for up to 6 participants per course.

Kidde stops smoke alarms beeping at night

Wednesday 17th December 2014

Kidde Safety EuropeSmoke alarms have reduced the number of deaths and injuries related to fire in the UK dramatically over the last decades and are now an essential must-have in every household.
All these millions of smoke alarms, however, rely on batteries in one way or the other. Mains powered smoke alarms require a backup battery in case the mains power supply fails and battery powered smoke alarms use them, as the name suggests, as main source of power. When the battery comes to the end of its life the smoke alarm emits a regular beeping sound for several weeks before the battery finally expires. This gives the owner sufficient time to replace the battery.
As the voltage of a battery drops at lower temperatures, the first low battery warnings are usually emitted at night, when our houses are at the coolest, especially in autumn and winter. This can be very annoying as you are woken up in the middle of the night by a beep every 30 seconds. What can you do to avoid this? You should, of course, replace the batteries regularly before they are getting close to their expiry time and you should have spare batteries at home. However, when it comes to sealed longlife battery units, which last ten years. This situation is much harder to prepare for, as you cannot realistically have a set of complete smoke alarms in your drawer, just in case.
Kidde Fire Safety Products have come up with a brilliant concept to resolve this age old problem. Their longlife, sealed optical smoke alarm 10y29, which has a ten year lifespan, will detect the gradual weakening of its battery and then ensure that the alarm only starts beeping during daytime. This is achieved by monitoring the strengthening/weakening pattern of the battery voltage over a period of time as temperatures rise and fall during the day and nigh time. From this patterns the onboard chip of the smoke alarm will then define the day period and will only then raise the low battery alert during this time. An ingenious solution to a long standing problem.

Fig 1. Normal operation (showing the increasing and decreasing voltage pattern during daytime and night time)

kidde-10y29-info-1

Fig 2. Dropping voltage and the response of traditional smoke alarms which start beeping in the night

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Fig 3. Kidde’s 10y29 smoke alarm, which records the night time lows but only starts beeping in the daytime

kidde-10y29-info-3

A buying guide for security safes and fireproof safes

Friday 7th November 2014

Fireproof SafeThere is a huge choice of safes in the market and it is difficult and sometimes confusing to make a buying decision without some guidance. We have therefore compiled a short buying guide to help you, although you can of course ring us for advice if you prefer. We are always happy to help.

You may want to purchase a safe due to either an event that has triggered your need to buy a safe or simply because your insurance policy states that you need to have one for your property or business. Ultimately, you purchase a safe to protect an item from being stolen or damaged in the event of a burglary, fire and increasingly flooding.

Most safes will show an insurance rating designed to indicate the level of security that the safe will provide. The higher the insurance rating normally means the more secure the safe is, however you should always check with your insurance underwriter that they will actually cover you for the value you need. Just like all insurance the value may vary depending on you individual circumstances.

You may initially only need a safe to protect cash and valuables, however, many people eventually keep the following items in their safe, so it is important to chose a safe that is big enough!

  • Certificates
  • Deeds
  • Contracts
  • Passports
  • Photo’s – digital or paper
  • Videos – digital
  • Licenses
  • All items/documentation that will help you start again after a fire
  • Backup drives for computers and servers
  • HR files

When purchasing a safe consider what would happen if you lost the key or forgot the code to gain entry. Not all brands offer a key replacement or code retrieval service, which you may need very quickly to gain access to your safe. Safelincs’ suppliers provide a key replacement and code retrieval service to ensure that you can access your safe again quickly (special exceptions apply). You will need to keep some evidence, such as an invoice, about your purchase in a safe place, however this should not be in the safe itself, so that when the need arises you can quickly request a new key or a new access code.

Fireproof Safes

There is a myth that all safes will offer a level of protection against fire, however, because steel is a good conductor of heat, ordinary safes become an oven if exposed to fire and will incinerate its contents unless the safe has a fire resistant barrier in the body and door.

Fireproof safes, also called fire safes, are designed to protect the contents from fire while still providing some level of protection from theft. It’s important that all safes claiming to offer a level of protection from fire have this independently certified from a 3rd party test agency. This is important because you want to be able to trust the safe you have purchased to perform exactly in accordance with the manufacturer’s claims.

Most fire tests will offer 3 levels of fire resistant in terms of time:

  1. Good = 30 mins
  2. Better = 60 mins
  3. Best = 120 mins

The temperatures vary slightly between tests but are mostly:

  1. 843°c
  2. 927°c
  3. 1010°c

The UL (USA) Class 350 test also includes a drop test after burning to ensure the door of the safe doesn’t open if dropped from a height (simulating a floor in a burning building collapsing). The 2 drop tests are:

  1. 15ft (4.5m)
  2. 30ft (9.1m)

Some fire safes in the market also protect its contents from water. There are two grades of water protection. Protection against immersion (flooding) and protection against spray (from a fire fighter’s hose).

We offer a range of specialist fireproof safes for the permanent storage and protection of hard drives. These hard drives stay inside of a fireproof safe and are powered and linked to via a USB connection that passes through the wall of the safe. This allows you to automatically create computer backups to external hard drives which are stored in a fireproof safe without ever having to move or unplug hard drives for backup purposes.

All safes purchased from Safelincs come with free delivery to your door. An indoor delivery can be quoted by us.

Safelincs offers a free replacement after a fire should your safe be affected by a fire.

Keeping a fire door open legally… and safely

Thursday 6th November 2014

Dorgard Fire Door RetainersFire safety company Safelincs operates a website called firescout that invites visitors to submit photographs of any potentially dangerous situations they have spotted. All entries are anonymous, the idea being to educate rather than ‘name and shame’. Safelincs then offers advice as to whether the situation could incur a fine and how much, if anything, it would cost to remedy the situation.
A common misdemeanour is to prop open a fire door, sometimes with a fire extinguisher – a double transgression!

Fire doors are an essential part of the fabric of a building and have two important functions in the event of a fire; when closed they form a barrier to stop the spread of fire or smoke and when opened they provide a means of escape. They are designed to be kept closed except when people are passing through them. In some businesses, and in places such as care homes or schools, closed fire doors can act as a hindrance to general mobility and moving around to perform essential tasks. However, there is a way in which the situation can be overcome without compromising safety or breaking the law.

Safelincs provide a number of products manufactured by specialist manufacturer Fireco which allow fire doors to be kept open legally and safely. Each of these products works by responding to the sound (anything above 65 decibels) of a fire alarm; the mechanism holding the door open is released and the door closer on the fire door closes it to prevent the spread of fire and smoke spreading around the building.

Dorgard, the first innovative product from Fireco, is a wireless appliance that can be screwed to the base of a door in less than five minutes. The standalone device will then hold the door open at any angle allowing freedom of access throughout the building. Utilising acoustic technology, Dorgard ‘listens’ for a continuous alarm of 65dBA or higher which, once heard, will automatically release the door. Dorgard is available in a variety of colours and finishes which will blend in with any décor.

Fireco also produces the Dorgard Pro System which extends the versatility of Dorgard by linking several different devices and overcomes the issue of noisy workplaces. A transmitter is wirelessly installed next to a fire alarm sounder or hardwired into the fire alarm system. In the event of a fire, Dorgard Pro will wirelessly transmit simultaneously to multiple Dorgard Pro units within a 100 metre range. Safelincs will visit an organisation’s premises and undertake a free survey and make recommendations for siting an effective system.

Another product from Fireco is Freedor, a unique wire free solution that allows a door to free-swing just like a normal door and to be held open at any angle – automatically closing the door in a controlled manner when a fire alarm sounds. It utilises the same technology that is employed in Dorgard but is fixed unobtrusively to the top of the door. Using Freedor allows freedom of access throughout the building for disabled people and people less able to operate the doors, and assists businesses complying with the Equality Act 2010.

All these products have applications in a wide variety of environments and allow easy movement through a building without compromising safety or contravening fire safety regulations.

To find out more about the Fireco range go to www.safelincs.co.uk and follow the link to Fire Door and Exit Equipment or call 0800 433 4289 where there are friendly experts on hand to offer advice.

Emergency Lighting – A Guide

Friday 17th October 2014

Emergency Light - A GuideSafelincs operates a fire safety forum where people’s fire safety questions are answered by professionals. One of the frequently raised topics has been Emergency Lighting. To give you a broader understanding of emergency lighting, this blog compiles the typical queries and answers raised through the forum.

What is emergency lighting?

Emergency lighting is lighting that comes on when there is a mains power failure. Emergency lights are powered by rechargeable backup batteries which are either located inside the emergency light or in a central battery location with connections running to each emergency light. Emergency lighting is a general term and is sub-divided into emergency escape lighting and standby lighting. Standby lighting is used to continue normal work during a powercut and, as it is not a legal requirement, is not covered in this guide.

What is emergency ESCAPE lighting?

Emergency escape lighting comes on automatically when the mains power fails and gives off sufficient illumination to enable occupants and visitors to evacuate the premises safely.

Emergency escape lighting itself is sub-divided again into

  • open area lighting (bulkheads and other emergency lights)
  • escape route lighting (typically illuminated fire exit signs with a running white man on a green background)
  • high risk task area lighting (to allow the shut down of dangerous processes)

Publicly accessible buildings as well as most businesses are required by law to provide emergency escape lighting.

What key types of emergency lights are there?

There are two key types of emergency lighting: maintained and non-maintained.

Maintained emergency lights stay on constantly at all times and stay lit for the minimum emergency duration (usually 3 hours) after a mains failure. Maintained emergency escape lights are used in places of assembly like theatres, cinemas, entertainment halls but also shopping centres and similar venues. They allow the public to familiarise themselves with emergency routes and have the advantage that any failure of the emergency lighting bulbs can be spotted immediately.

A non-maintained emergency light will only light up in the event of a mains power failure and will also stay lit for the minimum emergency duration required. Non-maintained emergency lights are likely to be found in offices, shops and factories.

 

Does all escape route lighting have to be illuminated?

If sufficient open area emergency lighting is in the vicinity of a fire exit, non-illuminated fire exit signs can be sufficient in locations of minor importance. Photo-luminescent  fire exit signs would be preferable in this case, although it has to be ensured that sufficient light is reaching the photo-luminescent sign to ensure it is ‘charged’ at all times.

Considerations

British Standard BS 5266-1: 2011 provides clear guidelines about the design and installation of emergency lighting. It should be remembered that the British Standards specify the best practice for standard situations, however, a higher standard may be required for a particular installation.

The actual degree of illumination should be closely related to the nature of both the premises and its occupants.

Special consideration should be given to homes for the elderly, hospitals, crowded areas such as pubs, discos and supermarkets and to whether or not the premises are residential.

Borrowed lighting may be suitable in small premises (eg small shops) where there is light coming into the building from a dependable outside source, e.g. street lamps and will adequately illuminate escape routes. Alternatively, single ‘stand-alone’ escape lighting units may be sufficient in small premises and these can sometimes be combined with exit or directional signs.

An emergency lighting system should be installed by an electrician who specialises in emergency lighting.
They would need to be conversant with BS 5266-1- 2011 Emergency lighting-Part 1: Code of practice for emergency lighting of premises.

The question of the requirement for emergency lights in schools is a bit of an anomaly.
As a school is only occupied during the hours of daylight, emergency lighting is not therefore required. However, should the school be used out of hours, in the hall for example, then emergency lighting should be installed in the hall and the exit routes from it. The ‘responsible person’ should have the final say on this and might want to consult the local fire officer.

Toilet facilities for use by disabled people and/or any multiple closet facilities without borrowed light should have emergency escape illumination from at least one luminaire. Organisations may have to provide emergency escape lighting in each cubicle if there is no borrowed light.

What are the rules for rented properties?

For residential properties landlords are deemed to be the ‘responsible person’ for all fire safety and emergency lighting.

Single occupancy houses and houses of multiple occupancy up to two storeys high only need conventional lighting, whereas three and four storeys may require emergency escape lighting if the escape route is complex and there is no effective borrowed light.

Bedsit houses of multiple occupation of one to four storeys (with individual cooking facilities within bedsits) require conventional lighting and emergency escape lighting if risk requires such or there is no effective borrowed light. Bedsit houses of multiple occupation of five or six storeys with individual cooking facilities within bedsits require conventional lighting and emergency escape lighting

Two, three or four storey houses converted to self-contained flats require conventional lighting and emergency escape lighting if the fire risk assessment requires it.

Five or six storey house converted to self-contained flats require conventional lighting and emergency escape lighting. Importantly, common escape routes should be well lit.
There are guidelines to help understand the provision required and landlords need to be aware of their responsibilities to carry out a fire risk assessment, and make sure their property has adequate and appropriate fire safety measures in place.

How do you maintain emergency lighting?

Emergency lights have to be tested regularly unless they are self-testing emergency lights.

Emergency lights with internal backup batteries display a small green LED that indicates that the internal battery is being charged. Older models may have a red light. However, you still have to check the function of the emergency light regularly, as the LED only confirms that the unit charges rather than that the battery will last the full period required or that the bulb is in working order. 

All emergency lighting systems must be tested monthly. The test is a short functional test in accordance with BS EN 50172:2004 / BS 5266-8:2004.
The period of simulated failure should be sufficient for the purpose of this test while minimising damage to the system components, e.g. lamps. During this period, all luminaires and signs shall be checked to ensure that they are present, clean and functioning correctly. Emergency lighting key switches are available and allow for the interruption of the power to the emergency lights without affecting the power supply to the normal lighting circuits.

A test for the full duration (usually three hours) of the emergency lights must be carried out once a year. The emergency lights must still be working at the end of this test. The result must be recorded and, if failures are detected, these must be remedied as soon as possible.
Any batteries that do not last three hours should be changed immediately.
Life expectancy will vary depending on the make of the battery – with some makes it is four years, some five years. When the life expectancy date expires the batteries should be changed. It is a good idea that when a battery is changed the date of installation is written on the battery for future reference. Safelincs supply spare batteries.

If the fitting has a fluorescent tube the life will depend on whether the unit is maintained or non-maintained. Safelincs recommends that lamps in maintained bulkheads are changed every six months. If a fluorescent lamp has blackened ends / starting to turn black the tube needs replacing.

The occupier/owner of the premises should appoint a competent person to supervise the testing of the system. This person shall be given sufficient authority to ensure the carrying out of any work necessary to maintain the system in correct operation. Competent can be defined as someone who has sufficient training and experience or knowledge and other qualities that allow them to maintain the system properly. The level of competence required will depend on the complexity of the situation and the particular help that is required.

From a practical point of view, a normal caretaker would be able to use a test key to remove power from emergency lights and ensure that the emergency lights stay on the required period. When it comes to repair of failing emergency lights it would most likely that an electrician would be needed unless the caretaker has sufficient qualifications to replace batteries and lamps.

It is important, though, that all tests are recorded in the fire safety log book.

The longevity of emergency lights is better if lamps are changed before they are fully failing. However, this recommendation probably only applies if an organisation has a contractor for the maintenance of emergency lighting and the costs of a call-out were to be substantial. In such a case pre-emptive maintenance (changing while the light is still working) makes sense.

In the long run LED light are more economical than fluorescent tubes as they save electricity not only when the light is on but even during the trickle charging of the batteries. However, the real saving from LED emergency lights comes from not having to replace the tubes on a half yearly or yearly basis. The LEDs will last a lot longer, hence saving costs for maintenance call-outs and replacement tubes.

Many systems will have fish tail key switches in the power supply leading to suitable groups of emergency lights so that you don’t have to switch off the power at fuse level when you want to check them. If you have a system that can only be tested by switching the lighting power supply off altogether you would only be able to do your tests when the building is empty and if you have suitable portable light or suitable daylight in all locations you are checking. If you have dangerous processes in your company lighting might have to be on all the time, so that a central switch-off would be inappropriate.

 

Helpful new video about emergency lighting terms

Monday 12th May 2014

emergency-light-exitEmergency lighting is essential in most businesses, providing an immediate secondary source of light in the event of a power failure. When selecting emergency lighting you will, however, come across confusing terms such as maintained, non-maintained and switchable emergency lights. Our short video explains the differences in an easily understood way.

Safelincs also offers other guides about emergency lighting:

Our friendly staff are always happy to help you with your emergency lighting planning.
Please email support@safelincs.co.uk

 

Fire at National Archives highlights need for document protection

Thursday 6th March 2014

Sentry-SFW123CSB-fire-and-waterproof-safe-1A recent fire at the National Archives in Kew, home to some of the UK’s most important historical documents, was tackled by 20 firefighters. The blaze was caused by two disused water towers at the site in Richmond, South-West London.

The National Archives is the official UK government archive and publisher and holds 11 million historical documents of national importance, some dating back more than 1,000 years. Among its collection are the Domesday Book, parchments, electronic records, photographs, posters, maps and paintings.

Fortunately everyone was evacuated from the building safely and no documents were damaged although the building was closed to the public for a short period for recovery.

This type of incident focuses people’s attention on the importance of preserving key documents and items of irreplaceable value, not just for large national institutions but also for businesses and individuals. For this reason more and more people are looking at ways to preserve such items in the event of a fire.

Safelincs has a range of solutions ranging that start with fireproof document boxes for under £30 and go right up to high capacity fire safes for storing computer media and files.

And, in the light of recent floods we are increasingly being asked for safes that will provide water protection as well. We have a range of fire and waterproof safes for paper documents and digital media that start at under £200. These fireproof safes with water protection have UL certification and have passed submersion testing to ensure their suitability.

Free fire extinguishers for customer

Wednesday 30th October 2013

free-replacementsSafelincs supplies Handelsbanken,  a leading Swedish Bank with over 700 branches in 24 countries, 147 branches of which are in the UK, with fire safety products such as fire extinguishers.  Purchasing fire extinguishers from Safelincs gives Handelsbanken full protection. Should the extinguishers ever be used, Safelincs will immediately replace the extinguishers. So, when on the 21st of October a CO2 fire extinguisher was used by the fire brigade in one of the Handelsbanken branches, Safelincs immediately replaced the extinguisher, free of charge.

We want our customers to use their fire fighting equipment without ever having to worry about the aftermath. This applies not only to extinguishers – all fire safety equipment bought from us used on or affected by fire is covered by our free replacement guarantee.

Extinguisher run over by van – still pressurised!

Thursday 17th October 2013

We were always convinced that our P50 service free extinguishers made from a Kevlar-type aramid were almost in-destructable. Nevertheless, when one of our engineers was visiting one of our customers, a refinery on the east coast, he was surprised when he was handed a fire extinguisher that had been run over by a van and that it was still fully pressurised!

crushed-p50-1crushed-p50-2crushed-p50-3

This is not that surprising when you know that 1 in 500 of these extinguishers are tested by pressurising them 12,000 times from zero bar to 25 bar. And after they have undergone this harsh test, they are crushed flat by a steel blade before being re-inflated without being allowed to leak at 55 bar!

The P50 service free extinguisher is suitable for the harshest of environments, including outdoors.

Locking Bedrooms for People with Behavioural Problems

Monday 14th October 2013

Safelincs has worked in conjunction with a local authority and the fire service to solve an issue that arose with a child suffering from severe emotional and behavioural problems.

The child resides with a foster family and everything in his bedroom has to be padded with any sharp objects removed to prevent him from harming himself. The same degree of prevention could not be carried out in the rest of the house which meant that the child needed to be confined to his bedroom at night.

The concern with locking a child or a person with behavioural problems in their bedroom is that if a fire should break out, the person would be trapped and unable to escape.

The solution was to fit a magnetic lock outside the child’s door. The strong electromagnet keeps the door closed, but if a smoke alarm anywhere in the house is triggered the electricity fails and the magnet loses power; releasing the door which can then be opened. There is a switch next to the bedroom door for opening of the door, as well as an override in the kitchen, so that the lock can be released manually at any point in time and from different parts of the building.

The bespoke solution was put together by Safelincs utilising existing products. The foster parents are now able to sleep in the knowledge that the child cannot come to harm in his own room.

“We worked closely with the fire service and the Children’s Services at the local authority,” explained Stuart Baxter. “Our solution could easily be replicated for people in similar circumstances.”