Braille Escape Route Signs

[Risk Surveyor]

Has the world gone mad..... Its Crazy..... Do we really believe that Blind People have to evacuate on their own... Hands in the air...Searching for signs that are positioned  2 metres above floor level.. As a risk surveyor if I saw these in a building I would assume that the Managers were negligent in the extreme in making a provision that put the Partially Sighted in peril. This is blatant discrimination as only 10% of the Registered Blind read Braille... Don't be sold by misleading  advertisements from Sign Companies.

[Guest]

A good point- well made.

[Guest]

Risk surveyor

Do you think that a textured guideline such as is shown on www.simline.co.uk   would be of benefit to blind people?

[p.b.morgan]

Provided the simline isn't 2m up as well. (Thank goodness I'm not blind as am only 5'.) Interesting idea but where is it placed during non emergencies?

[Risk Surveyor]

With all due respect.... A tactile element of a safety wayguidance system may be of benefit only if the safety wayguidance system has been developed to speed the evacuation for all occupants. It is crazy to provide systems specifically designed for the blind. The killer as we all know is time. There are so many other distracting tactile elements on walls, doors within a building that the mere confusion of the blind trying to locate these elements it is crazy just thinking about the poor soul trying hands and fingers working to the bone and when he finds something there are two types of braille and I have seen at least 15 different tactile escape elements from raised arrows chevrons triangles and combinations of all. I have seen 100mm bands and 30mm bands. This is crazy. The safety wayguidance system should follow the principles of ISO 16069 and interested parties should get together to design a complimentary and standardised component for it to be effective and useful at all.

[AnthonyB]

It's quicker if you have a good fire safety management system & emergency procedure so that a fire warden or staff member the blind person was visiting would automatically guide them to safety than leave them to try & find signs - which still don't help fully if the premises are unfamiliar unless you have them every 30cm.

And if you say thats OK for offices, what about shops etc, most shops & common malls due to layout only have suspended signage and signs above final & storey exits as there is no other room for them. Do you require the blind people to jump up to find a sign, or reduce the sales space of a store by removing whole display rails for a singal sign?

Also, a proportion of blind people have guide dogs - aren't they trained to help them find the way back out?
Also not all registered blind are fully blind and have varying levels of vision. Clear signage in a form that is perceptable to those with impaired vision is surely as good (I believe the colour, contrast, size and shape all matter)

[Guest]

In relation to where the Simline is located and stored in Non emergency situations, it is permanently fitted at waist height along corridors and escape routes.
It would be ideally fitted along existing dado rails and can be of any colour to blend in with its surroundings. The Simline is secured onto the wall and will not interfere or restrict  the use of the corridor.

Imagine you are unfamiliar with the layout of a building, or worse, there is an emergency such as a fire or some other problem that stops you from using your sense of vision for finding your way to an exit.

If the Simline was fitted, you would run your hand over it, and if it felt smooth, you would know you were heading towards an exit. MORE IMPORTANTLY, YOU NOW HAVE PHYSICAL CONTACT WITH A PIECE OF EQUIPMENT THAT WILL LEAD YOU TO AN EXIT.

If a similar piece of equipment gives Fire crews security when working in smoke and darkness, why can't the Simline which is easier to understand, give security to people exiting the building, prior to the arrival of the Fire crews?

This system works simply and effectively, has luminous indicators that will emit light for more than 40 minutes, and can be cheaply and easily fitted to buildings to blend in and increase the occupants chances of escaping , should their vision be obscured for any reason.

Think of the last time you were in a building that you got lost in when you could use your eyes to see, or the last time you were on a ship.
Could you be guaranteed to find your way to an exit within these structures with your eyes shut-  you could if the SIMLINE was fitted!

For further details visit www.simline.co.uk

This posting is intended to promote debate on this new concept and I would greatly appreciate any comments on this idea.

[Guest]

I was involved in trying out this system within a Breathing Apparatus training block in my Brigade and it really is simple to use and everyone said that it is a lot better than the guideline we have at the moment.

Why haven't we got them on appliances yet?

[Billy]

The new design has not replaced the old guidelines yet as they are still going through the lengthy evaluation process as laid down by CACFOA.

Hopefully, some Brigades who are evaluating the Simline for themselves will have the balls to decide to use the guideline with indicators that you can actually feel with your gloves on, realise this new design is safer and easier to use for fire crews, and adopt it as their preferred piece of equipment.

Thankfully, other countries do not have the same constraints and this has allowed me to export the design to them.
The private sector has also shown interest in the Simline to be used as an evacuation device in certain complex buildings and this is moving along at a good pace.

At first, I was saddened by the fact that the Simline was designed, developed and also fully evaluated by UK fire crews but it looks like the American Fire departments will be the first to adopt the system, although I have come to realise that it takes a long time to get something approved by CACFOA and I believe that the approval, if and when it happens, will be worth the wait, as our procedures in relation to firefighter safety is second to none.
This will mean that if we are using the new design, other countries will quickly follow.

[Guest]

Tactile elements for the safety of trained fire fighters are obviously quite different from the needs of the partially sighted evacuee, for one thing the fire fighter knows exactly where to seek the aid and exactly how to use it. The point I make about evacuation route marking is that prime consideration should be given to the able bodied who should always be responsible for the disabled. Sticking Braille Signs around the place is playing silly games and lip service to the real management issue of the DDA and Fire safety needs of the partially sighted let alone those with learning difficulties or mental illness in society.

[Billy]

The way I would describe it is that when any premise is full of smoke or in darkness, everyone becomes partially sighted, so using an evacuation device that is always at waist height and uses the sense of touch which is always available would be an advantage for all concerned.

 This new design is simple enough that anyone could be quickly and easily taught how it works- GRASP THE ROPE AND IF THE INDICATOR FEELS SMOOTH, YOU ARE GOING TOWARDS AN EXIT. What could be easier!

Whether you are partially sighted or not, I would think that if you were unable to see and had the option of holding onto a tactile element that would lead you to safety, you would use it

[colin todd]

If escape from a building is occurring when the escape routes are full of smoke and dark, something has gone far wrong with the fire precautions or fire safety management in the building. Better to spend the money putting them right.

[Billy]

Good Point Colin, and maybe I am a little niaive, but as a firefighter I see the outcome of things going far wrong with the fire precautions or fire safety management of buildings and you are right that it would be better to spend money solving these problems as prevention is better than cure.

But you and I both know that s**t happens and when it does, lives or property are usually lost.

I think that people may think that the Simline is more protection than is deemed reasonably practicable in certain circumstances, but I also think that in this era of increased awareness of building safety, certain employers/owners of buildings will be willing to pay that little bit extra to give the occupants peace of mind, after all if the Simline can get fire crews safely back to an exit, why can't it be used to get the occupants out, prior to the fire brigades arrival.

Just a thought!

[Guest]

Because:

1. Save for a short burst of enthusiasm when it’s installed, occupants are unlikely to be familiar with it or how to use it (and don’t say ‘training’ – can you imagine doing a regular fire drill with everyone instructed to grope their way along the walls?!);
2. The route along the wall will get blocked by furniture, doors, stacks of boxes etc that will inevitably be introduced after this gadget is installed – trip hazards etc;
3. If the escape routes get altered it won’t get reconfigured.

I’m sure that others can think of other reasons.

I’m not normally one to pour scorn on new ideas – we’d never make any progress without ‘blue sky’ thinking.  There are times, however, where a little knowledge and a lot of enthusiasm can be dangerous.  I cannot comment on its use as a guide rope (I’m not a fire-fighter), but I cannot anticipate that this would have any use in directing the occupants of a premises out of the building in case of an emergency.   If you’re trying to move through smoke thick enough to significantly obscure vision then you’re stuffed – you’ll only get a few metres before you are overcome.  Lighting failure should never happen - decent emergency lighting is relatively cheap and easy for a properly trained technician to fit.  It is easy to test & neither difficult nor expensive to maintain.

If a building’s properly engineered and maintained, this thing appears to have no value.  If it isn’t, then there are far better risk reduction measures to spend your money on.

The website itself has some ‘surprising’  claims for the benefit of a fixed installation to fire fighters:

“One final point is the fact that if the equipment is already fitted to premises, Fire crews can also utilise it to tackle the fire quicker and safer, which should lead to less property damage and smaller insurance claims.”

How?  You can’t predict where the fire is – it could be leading them away from the fire when they want to get at it or towards risk when they want to get away!

Simline:  I can see how your kit could be useful to fire fighters, but know its limitations – you need to seriously review its usefulness and safety in use before you attempt to flog it to the public.  If you’ve already sold some, you should think carefully about whether you are happy that it remains in use.

[Billy]

GUEST

I cannot ever remember advocating that the Simline should be used if the visibility is unobstructed - That would be sheer stupidity!

If the route along the wall is blocked and there are trip hazards, they will  present the same problems to occupants whether the Simline is fitted or not.

As to only being able to  move a few metres in smoke, I know of some older firefighters (prior to COSHH regulations) who never used  breathing apparatus at incidents, although they used to come out and cough their lungs up.

You say that lighting failure should never happen, but if you work on that assumption, fires shouldn't happen either!

You also comment on some "surprising claims" in relation to firefighters, namely:-
“One final point is the fact that if the equipment is already fitted to premises, Fire crews can also utilise it to tackle the fire quicker and safer, which should lead to less property damage and smaller insurance claims.”

To put it simply, if it is already fitted, fire crews won't have to fit it and anyone who has used a guideline in an incident will know how long this can take.
The point about it is that you always know where the exit is- that does not mean that you always travel towards it when you are meant to be looking for the fire!
 Your analogy is like saying that if there is an emergency exit sign pointing towards a corridor on fire, people will continue following the signs and burn to death instead of thinking about looking for another exit.

I have been contacted by Fire consultants world -wide who are far more qualified than me in reviewing its usefulness and safety in CERTAIN CIRCUMSTANCES (something I have advocated from the outset) and they seem happy enough with it.

I just came up with the concept and if I could convince intelligent people such as Firefighters, Fire chiefs and fire consultants that this was beneficial, when it really wasn't , I would quit my job tomorrow and go into politics!