Amendments to the Disability Discrimination Act strengthened the requirements placed on organisations and businesses, making it unlawful to treat disabled or mobility impaired people less favourably than other people.

One key area that organisations and employers will have to focus on is the provision of adequate means of escape from a building in the event of fire or other emergency and determine, what constitutes adequate care for those with mobility impairment.

The risks of evacuating employees or members of the public with mobility problems in an emergency have to be evaluated to establish who is at risk and where the risks will arise.

There are many alternatives when it comes to providing means of escape including fire-proof lifts, ramps and escape chutes, but most require significant alterations to the fabric of buildings, generate considerable costs and are not always suitable for use by the elderly or people with disabilities.

One practical and appropriate solution is the Evac+Chair Emergency Wheelchair. Evac+Chair enables a single user to evacuate a person with mobility difficulties, using continuous rotating V-belts to provide controlled descent down stairways without the need for lifting.

Evac+Chair is a solution to emergency evacuation planning problems, which has many advantages, not least of which is cost when compared with more structural changes to buildings. In the face of budgetary constraints the implementation of the Evac+Chair solution can be phased in over time.

While the Evac+Chair only requires one operator, a conventional wheelchair requires four people to ensure compliance with manual handling CE Directive 90/269, which requires that individuals should not carry more than 25kg. Carrying someone by stretcher similarly requires four people.

DM Wood Medical is the sole distributor for Evac+Chair in Scotland and we have a team of trained advisors and service engineers who provide a complete service that includes:

§ Site survey and advice
§ Training of operators in every location
§ Servicare contracts for annual maintenance and refresher training

Evac+Chair is simple to use and it takes about 40 minutes to get to grips with how to use the chair. The training compliments other emergency skills such as those of Fire Marshals and First Aiders.

Evac+Chair is a simple and effective solution to the problems of safe evacuation of mobility-impaired people.

To find out more about Evac+Chair, log into the main part of our website where you will find that the product is on a special promotion at present, or phone our sales office on 08700 858501. We will be delighted to arrange for one of our Regional Managers to visit you and demonstrate Evac+Chair on your premises.