Evacuation chairs are a vital lifeline, used to transport less able bodied persons located anywhere from the first floor upwards out of a building in the event of an emergency. So it is somewhat surprising to find that in many educational organisations and public sector establishments, there are few people who are competent in operating them.
In many such establishments, good intentions saw chair operators initially trained, but this unfortunately was rarely followed up. So it is common to find that evacuation chair operators have not had their training refreshed for anything up to 10 years, if indeed they are still employed by the establishment: a scenario that will leave an organisation in a precarious position health and safety wise.
The fact that evacuation chairs are not used on a regular basis is probably the reason behind this issue. However, just because something is rarely used does not mean a need won’t arise to employ it at some point. An evacuation chair could be required at any time to transport a disabled person out of the premises in the event of a fire, a flood or a police alert for example, or if a patron falls ill or is injured.
Disabled Persons Could be on the Premises at any Given Time
The Equality Act 2010 makes it a legal requirement for organisations to allow people of all abilities onto their premises. So at any given time, a university, college or school could have a teacher, visitor or student onsite who may be disabled. The same goes for establishments where you will find members of the public, such as council offices, libraries and leisure centres.
Evacuation chair operators should be competent and feel confident in safely handling a person into the chair and also in working it, again safely so that both the person being transported, and the operator themselves, are protected from injury. Leaving great gaps of time in between training and using the chair in a real life situation may lead to disastrous consequences for everyone involved.
Evacuation Chair Train the Trainer
Ideally practice sessions in evacuation chair operation should be held at least every three months. A good way of doing this – and one that is cost effective – is to have in-house trainers who hold the IOSH Evacuation Chair Train the Trainer certificate.
That way you will have competent persons on the staff who can operate the chairs themselves, and also train others without additional outsourced training expenses. As operators leave for new jobs or become unable to continue their duties for whatever reasons, then trainers can put new members of staff through the programme, so there are always competent operators available.