Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Elevators,
Fire, and
Accessibility
Papers presented at; The 2nd Symposium on Elevators, Fire, and Accessibility
Baltimore, Maryland
-
April 19 21,1995
certain kinds of buildings (large scale, high-rise, to have difficutties using emergency stairs. They
etc.) that they must be taken as examples of both use outdoor balconies as the area of refuge. in
advanced, well-thought-of design, not the normal addition to the protected lobby of emergency
practice. elevators, because the lobbies are primarily
intended for use by fire fighters and thus they can
Ideas include: To make elevator design similar to be narrow if there are more than a few number of
high rise buildings (even for low or medium rise) by persons with disabilitieson specific floors, or if such
separating elevator and lobbiesfrom the occupiable lobbies have to be the crucial space for fire fighting
space to the far side of the building, to be exposed operations.
to outside air; To make floor plan completely
separable to two (or more) identicalcompertmented The two examples shown here differ in its concept
areas, etc., and making every area to be countable on the assignment of emergency stairs. It seemsto
as an area of refuge from other parts. The idea has be based on the assumption of occupant load,
long been used for larger-scale hospital buildings. apparently rehabilitation roomsbeing morecrowded
Generally,this allows extended evacuationtime, and when training is in progress. The size of the
the elevators could be used for evacuation if they outdoor balcony also reflects such possibilities.
are reliable (i.e., no fear of power failure, orderly
use, overriding possibilities, etc.).
UNDER WHAT CONDITIONS CAN
The following two examples show schematic ELEVATORSBEUSEDFOREGRESS?
diagram of such arrangements for recent proposed
buildings. Both buildings house spaces for use by There is another new move, from the side of the
-
people with disabilities a rehabilitation mom (Fig. elevator manufacturers. After detailed examination
1) and a technical aids showroom (Fig. 2), etc.- of the ways matters are handled in the States and
that some of the building occupants are expected
EMERGENCY ELEVATOR
; FOR PEOPLE WITH
DISABILITIES
I I
EMERGENCY ’
STAIR
pr
CORRIDOR
,EMERGENCY L.
LOBBY ’
,’ELEVATOR
FOR FIRE BRIGADE v
REHABILITATION ROOM
TECHNICAL AIDS
SHOWROOM
I . L 1
BALCONY AS THE AREA OF REFUGE
I
154 Elevators, Fire and Accessibilrty
in England, they are trying to present Japanese between floors upon power failure. Even though
proposals for elevators to be used for egress of the operation be limited to the initial stage, the risk
people with disabilities. The principles as I am told of power failure shouldn’t be underestimated. After
are not so much different from what are accepted in all, fatal fires have almost always been triggered by
other countries. Their draft report (Technical the occurrence of unthought of incidents, that we
Committee on Elevators, 1994) states that the should take into account the merits of
followings are basic requirementsfor elevatorsto be redundancies. The provision of emergency power
usable for egress of people with disabilities: supply and its robustness is crucial to safeguard
elevators in operation.
Call from elevator lobbies should be negated
during emergencies. Rather, specially trained The incident at the New York WTC demonstrated
and designated staff with assistant be ready to that thoughtful planning of emergency power supply
operate elevators for rescue of people with is essential for effective operation. A more recent
disabilities. To enable this to occur, incident at the Osaka Airport during flooding of
communication devises be provided in elevator underground emergency power station in
lobbies. Vieo cameras installed in lobbies will September 1994 (just after the moving out of its key
assist to check the status of urgency in these functions to the New Kansai International Airport),
lobbies. Temporary area of refuge (elevator which paralyzed the function of the airport, again
lobbies) be provided. Emergency power Wpply demonstratedthe issue. Completely separated two-
is advisable. way power supply may reduce the risk to a
In order to make the above workable, the negligible degree, but this requirement should at
following features will be necessary: least clearly be stated. The use of emergency
Elevator lobbies specially for people with elevators to evacuate people with disabilities until
disabilities (areas of temporary refuge) be the Fire Department arrives will cause no troubles,
provided (this means that if the number of provided that appropriate communication systems
disabled occupants is large, in such buildings are installed in the lobby.
as rehabilitation centers, they have to be wide
enough to hold all occupants who have
difficutties in negotiating stairs); the hoistways CONCLUDING REMARKS
and lobbies be pressurized against smoke
intrusion; lobbies be connected to emergency The emergence of a highly aged society, and easier
stairs, or safe route be provided; fire control access for people with disabilities is sure to unveil
center be provided for operation; elevator the crucial problems in Japan as well as in other
operator and assistant should work for rescue countries. The above proposal would be a first step
operation; elevator operator should be directed toward accessible“and egressible” built environment
from control center for operation; emergency in Japan. As researchers specialized in human
operationof elevators be call-back and operator factors, and building users among the Japanese
controls; elevator lobbies at each floor should baby-boomer and its succeeding generation, the
be provided with communication systems for authors wish to have suggestions from experts
request of operation; clear signs be provided around the world and to see the situation in Japan
that the elevators will be out of operation for changed for a better future.
those who can climb down stairs.
The above operation should be basically under
the control of building management, and only
be done at the initial stage of a fire. It is also
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
possible that emergency elevators be used for
The authors would like to express their gratitude to
egress of people with disabilities, but
the Technical Committee on Elevators of the Japan
communication system will be needed.
Society of Industrial Machinery Manufacturers for
The authors basically agree what ate stated above. permission to use its draft proposal as a basis of
One dilficulty the authors noticed is the concept of present discussion.
emer~mcypower supply. Their draft proposal
states that emergency power supply is advisable,
not mandatory. It can lead to a cage being trapped NOTE
Elevators, Fire and Accessibility 155
The word "egress" is originally to be paired with Hill, Chapter 2, pp. 15.26.
"ingress," not with "access." However, for me, a
non-native speaker of English language, "access" Kose, S. (1992b) Lifesafety Design of Buildings
and "egress" sounds a good pair, thus Idecided to for the Aged Persons: Recent Developments in
use the words "egressibility" as a term having the Japan. In Socio-Environmental Metamorphoses:
meaning of "(outbound) accessibility during I N S 12 International Conference Proceedings, Vol.
emergencies." It appears in page 329 of IAPS12 V: Buittscape, University of Thessaloniki, pp. 324-
Proceedings, Vol. I, in a convener's foreword to a 327.
Symposium "Lifesafety Design of Buildings for the
Disabled and Aged Persons: A Cross-Cuhural Kose, S. (1992~)Life Safety of the Aged and the
Comparison." When I suggested Dr. Jonathan Sime Disabled: Recent Move in Foreign Countries. in
of JSA in the U.K., he accepted the expression and Preprint of 6th Symposium on Safety of Buildings,
his presentation title was, "From Access to Egress: Building Safety Planning Subcommittee of the
Life Safety of People with Mobility Difticulties in Architectural Institute of Japan, pp. 3.9 (in
Buildings." page 333, lAPSl2 Proceedings, Vol. I: Japanese).
Book of Abstracts, 1992. I also used the word
egressibilw in my own abstract, page 330,and its Kose, S. (1993) Emergence of Aged Populace:
full paper, "Lifesafety Design of Buildings for the Who is at Higher Risk in Fires? in Proceedings of
Aged Persons: Recent Developments in Japan," in CIBW14 International Symposium and Workshops
IAPS12 Proceedings, Vol. V: pages 324427. Up Engineering Fire Safely in the Process of Design:
until now, I have not yet heard any strong Demonsttating Equivalency, Part 1, University of
objections; instead, I found someone other than me Ulster, pp. 5 M 4 .
using the Same word, egressibility.
Kose, S. (1994) Accessible Environment for the
Aged Society: Need of Barrier-Free Legislation in
REFERENCES Japan. to appear in Proceedings of the 2nd
Bilateral Workshop between /te/y and Japan, The
AJJ (1992) Life Safety of People v&h DisabilMes Building Research Institute
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the Architectural Institute of Japan (in Japanese). Standard Law of Japan (in English). (Building
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Symposium on Safety of Buildings Preprint,Building 222
Safety Planning Subcommittee of the Architectural
Institute of Japan (in Japanese). Ministry of Construction (1994) The Act on
Bui/dings Accessible and Usable for the Elderly
ASME (1991) Symposium on Elevators and Fire, and the Physically Disabled (Law No. 44).
ASME.
Pauls, J. & Juillet, E. (1993) Life Safety of
Barrier Free Environments (1994) Areas of People with Disabilities: How Far Have We
RescueAssistance,ADAAG Tech Sheet Series,22p. Progressed? in Proceedings of CIBW74
International Symposium and Workshops
Juillet, E. (1990) Fire Safety of People Engineering Fire Safety in the Process of Design:
Vulnerable to Disasters. in Kenchiku Gijutsu, No. Demonstrating €quivalency, Part 1, University of
470, pp. 191-196 (in Japanese). Ulster, pp. 17-40.
Juillet, E. (1993) Evacuating People with Saxon, R. (1994) The Atrium Comes of Age.
Disabilities. in Fire €ngineering, 146(12), pp. 1o(r Longman.
103.
Sime, J. (1992a) Access and Egress for
Kose, S. (1992a) Barrier-Free Design in Japan. Handicapped Persons in Public Buildings. in
in Building Design for Handicapped and Aged Building Design for Handicapped and Aged
Persons (G.M. Haber & T.O. Blank, eds.), MacGraw Persons, (G.M. Haber & T.O. Blank, eds.), MacGraw
156 Elevators, Fire and ACC~SSIDIIII~