Emergency Evacuation Planning Guide For People with Disabilities

PREFACE

The first version of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) that went before Congress was crafted by President Ronald Reagan’s appointees to the National Council on Disability. Even at that time (late 1980s), the disability movement included conservatives as well as liberals and was unified in the view that what was needed was not a new and better brand of social welfare system but a fundamental examination and redefinition of the democratic tradition of equal opportunity and equal rights.

In just two years, Congress passed the ambitious legislation, and in 1990 President George Bush held the largest signing ceremony in history on the south lawn of the White House, a historic moment for all people with disabilities. To some degree, passage of the ADA was brought about by members of Congress realizing their obligation to ensure civil rights for all Americans. The benefits of the ADA extend to a broad range of people by cutting across all sectors of society; virtually everyone has already experienced positive benefits from the law or knows someone who has. According to some studies, as many as two-thirds of people with disabilities are unemployed. This is largely due to attitudinal and physical barriers that prevent their access to available jobs. With a labor-deficit economy, the national sentiment opposed to long-term welfare reliance, and the desire of people with disabilities to be economically independent and self-supporting, employment of people with disabilities is essential.

The ADA is historic not only nationally but globally as well. No other mandate in the world has its scope. Other nations may provide greater levels of support services and assistive technology, but the United States ensures equal rights within a constitutional tradition. The ADA has unique appeal for all Americans because, unlike other civil rights categories such as race and gender, any one of us could become a member of the protected class at any moment in our lives.

The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) is a codes and standards development organization, not an enforcement agency. The purpose of this Guide is simply to help people with disabilities, employers, building owners and managers, and others look at some of the issues that are relevant to a person’s ability to evacuate a building in the event of an emergency. This document is not intended to be a method or tool for compliance, nor is it a substitute for compliance with any federal, state, or local laws, rules, or regulations. All proposed alternative methods or physical changes should be checked against appropriate codes and enforcing authorities should be consulted to ensure that all proper steps are taken and required approvals are obtained.

It is important to note that employers and building/facility owners and operators have certain legal responsibilities to prevent discrimination against people with disabilities in areas within their control, including but not limited to employment, transportation, housing, training, and access to goods, programs, and activities. Equal facilitation is required for any service provided. Employers and building/facility owners and operators are strongly encouraged to seek guidance from qualified professionals with respect to compliance with the applicable laws for individual programs and facilities. See Annex C for areas covered by the ADA and the ADA Amendments Act.

NFPA may not be able to resolve all the accessibility issues that we face in our lives, but it certainly can provide for accessibility in the built environment where it is regulated through codes and standards.

This Guide has been written to help define, coordinate, and document the information building owners and managers, employers, and building occupants need to formulate and maintain evacuation plans for people with disabilities, whether those disabilities are temporary or permanent, moderate or severe.

USING THIS GUIDE TO DESIGN AN EVACUATION PLAN

This Guide is arranged by disability category. Use the Personal Emergency Evacuation Planning Checklist to check off each step and add the appropriate information specific to the person for whom the plan is being built.

Once the plan is complete, it should be practiced to be sure that it can be implemented appropriately and to identify any gaps or problems that require refinement so that it works as expected. Then copies should be filed in appropriate locations for easy access and given to the assistants, supervisors, co-workers, and friends of the person with the disability; building managers and staff; and municipal departments that may be first responders.

The plan should also be reviewed and practiced regularly by everyone involved. People who have a service animal should practice the evacuation drills with their service animals.

The importance of practicing the plan cannot be overemphasized. Practice solidifies everyone’s grasp of the plan, assists others in recognizing the person who may need assistance in an emergency, and brings to light any weaknesses in the plan.

While standard drills are essential, everyone should also be prepared for the unexpected. Building management should conduct unannounced as well as announced drills and vary the drills to pose a variety of challenges along designated evacuation routes, such as closed-off corridors/stairs, blocked doors, or unconscious people.

Practice and planning do make a difference. During the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center, a man with a mobility impairment was working on the 69th floor. With no plan or devices in place, it took over six hours to evacuate him. In the 2001 attack on the World Trade Center, the same man had prepared himself to leave the building using assistance from others and an evacuation chair he had acquired and had under his desk. It only took 1 hour and 30 minutes to get him out of the building this second time.

In the case of Brooklyn Center for Independence of the Disabled, a nonprofit organization, Center for Independence of the Disabled, New York, a nonprofit organization, Gregory D. Bell, and Tania Morales vs. Michael R. Bloomberg, in his official capacity as Mayor of the City of New York, and The City of New York, II Civ. 6690 (JMF), in the United States District Court, Southern District of New York, the Court concluded that the City violated the ADA, the Rehabilitation Act, and the NYCHRL by failing to provide people with disabilities meaningful access to its emergency preparedness program in several ways. In particular:

(1) The City's evacuation plans do not accommodate the needs of people with disabilities with respect to high-rise evacuation and accessible transportation;

(2) its shelter plans do not require that the shelter system be sufficiently accessible, either architecturally or programmatically, to accommodate people with disabilities in an emergency;

(3) the City has no plan for canvassing or for otherwise ensuring that people with disabilities - who may, because of their disability, be unable to leave their building after a disaster - are able to access the services provided by the City after an emergency;

(4) the City's plans to distribute resources in the aftermath of a disaster do not provide for accessible communications at the facilities where resources are distributed;

(5) the City's outreach and education program fails in several respects to provide people with disabilities the same opportunity as others to develop a personal emergency plan; and

(6) the City lacks sufficient plans to provide people with disabilities information about the existence and location of accessible services in an emergency.

Emergency evacuation plans should be viewed as living documents. With building management staff, everyone should regularly practice, review, revise, and update their plans to reflect changes in technology, personnel, and procedures.